The internet has been flooded with accusations of racism, as Shedeur Sanders, once projected to be drafted in the top 5, has now fallen past the fourth round without being drafted.
While ESPN hot-take artist and possible future Democratic presidential candidate Stephen A. Smith stopped short of alleging racism for Sanders’ downfall, he did invoke the name of the most controversial player in NFL history, whose protests were inextricably tied to race: Colin Kaepernick.
On Friday night, as Sanders fell out of the second and third round, Smith took to X to call the situation “a damn disgrace,” and accused the NFL of running a “Kaepernick-level collusion” campaign to keep him out of the league.
“This is a damn disgrace. How in the hell is @Shedeur not off the board, not drafted yet. Y’all still think this doesn’t have anything to do with teams hatin on @DeionSanders This kid is a first rounder. In a different way, this is Kaepernick all over again…..being kept out. A damn disgrace. I don’t care what anyone says!”
This is a damn disgrace. How in the hell is @Shedeur not off the board, not drafted yet. Y’all still think this doesn’t have anything to do with teams hatin on @DeionSanders. This kid is a first rounder. In a different way, this is Kaepernick all over again…..being kept out. A…
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) April 26, 2025
In a subsequent post, Smith shared a message he received that compared the situation to “Kaepernick-level collusion” and criticized NFL owners.
Someone just texted me this message and they are absolutely correct: “This is a bad look for the NFL. This feels like Kaepernick-level collusion.” All the hard work the NFL League Office puts in to eradicate these kinds of perceptions, only to turn around and watch as the OWNERS…
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) April 26, 2025
Even though Smith did not explicitly mention race, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy strongly opposed the idea that race was to blame for Sanders’ fall.
“This is insane. All these race takes are insane,” Portnoy wrote. “I love Deion. And I’ve been saying for 2 years, Shedeur would be my 1st QB off the board. BUT NFL GMs, coaches, owners will do ANYTHING to win games, save jobs. The NFL is cutthroat. Owners would stomp on each other’s throats to win.”
Portnoy also pointed out that the first quarterback taken was black.
“If teams thought Shedeur and everything he brings could help them win games more than guys available on the board, they’d draft him. That’s it. End of story. Every other narrative is fantasy.”
