Shedeur Sanders entered the league as one of the most fascinating yet polarizing prospects in the modern era. Sanders has no off-the-field concerns and constructed an impressive resumé during his time at Colorado.
However, the questions that faced him coming into the league were only enhanced by his family name. Shedeur, the son of Colorado head coach and NFL legend Deion Sanders, scooped up a vast collection of doubters over the last few years.
Deion has never been one to do things by the book and his style clashed with the norm in the college game. That reputation and admittedly some of Shedeur's own mistakes through the draft process led to a shocking slide to the fifth round of the draft.
Whether that is fair or not, it's the situation that Sanders was drawn into, now the essential fourth or fifth-string quarterback on the current Cleveland Browns roster.
The ridicule online and from behind the screen has only gotten louder. As he works on navigating that cesspool of negativity and blocking it out, he does realize there is one perfectly clear reason why this hate carries on, he told Cleveland.com.
"They don't care about other people's opinion of you," Sanders said. "They go based off their own — 99% of hatred [directed at me] is toward pops. And then I'm just his son. But [the kids] didn't grow up in an era where they watched him play.
"It's just the older generation that does it rather than the younger people. Because when I come in person, there's no negativity I see. But it's all over online."
Deion may be at the root cause of this, but he has also taken a step back to let his sons proceed forward as professional athletes. He will not be following them into the league as a coach and he separated from both Shilo and Shedeur as their lead representation.
The late-round selection has added to the mystique of his professional prospects. After choosing No. 12 with a not-so-subtle attribution to Tom Brady, that only added fuel to the fire for his naysayers.
Regardless of all these moves, the reality is that Sanders has one goal in mind and that is to solidify himself as an NFL quarterback. Beginning in a crowded quarterback room in Cleveland, he has a long way to go.
