Ryan Clark sheds light on media hypocrisy toward Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders ahead of draft night

Zain Bando

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Ryan Clark sheds light on media hypocrisy toward Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders ahead of draft night image

The NFL draft is under six hours away, and the media buzz around Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders has been nothing short of remarkable—and arguably unfair.

According to former NFL safety-turned-podcaster Ryan Clark, he has a differing view of how Sanders should be viewed entering draft night.

 

"The media coverage of Shedeur Sanders has felt extremely purposeful & personal. The anonymous quotes that have circulated are mostly negative," Clark tweeted. "Which is strange. A young man that has never been in trouble, never involved in an off-field incident, & quarterbacked two Universities to a resurgence had 0 behind-the-scenes qualities?"

Clark took it a step further, saying whichever team drafts Sanders is getting a misunderstood talent who needs time to develop to adapt to the pro level.

"There have been other quarterbacks with true issues that haven’t been subjected to this sort of pre-draft slander," Clark added. "If he falls out of the first round because execs & coaches don’t believe he has the physical tools then that’s fair… but let’s stop with the anonymous, unchecked personal attacks because they bring people to your page."

Sanders got "X" riled up Thursday with a one-word tweet that should have NFL fans eagerly anticipating his pick.

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"Legendary," Sanders tweeted.

SN's Vinnie Iyer has Sanders as the second-best quarterback in the class, so the intrigue for teams to take a chance on him is certainly a possibility. It's just a matter of which one.

We'll find out sooner than later.

Zain Bando

Zain Bando is a freelance writer for The Sporting News. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism. Over the years, Bando has written about various beats surrounding Illinois, Northwestern, and Kansas State Athletics but sticks to the Big Ten as his primary expertise. Outside of collegiate reporting, Bando covers MMA and boxing for MMA Knockout On Sports Illustrated and hosts/co-hosts two podcasts as part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network – Bando's Breakdowns and The MMA Outsiders, which air weekly on YouTube and are distributed on all podcast platforms Tuesday nights and Wednesday afternoons. Bando is a Chicago Suburban native and a member of the FWAA and USBWA, continuing to hone his professional skills as a sports journalist and media personality. Since June 2019, Bando's byline has been seen across many mediums, including MSN, Yardbarker, Deadspin, FanSided, BJPenn.com, Bridge Media Network (Sports News Highlights), Mike Farrell Sports, Reuters, and more. When Bando is not writing, he binges on old UFC fights, spends time with family and friends, memorizes every Super Bowl, and manifests all the places he still has to travel to (even while bringing his laptop).