It would be easy to convince me that racism exists at a team level in the NFL. It would be harder to convince me that all 32 teams are so racist that they don't want to pick a "loudmouth negro" QB high in the draft. It's going to be VERY hard to convince me that the Steelers passed on him multiple times because the organization is racist.
We tend to forget that when a GM/coach draft a QB in the first round, their cart is tied to that player. If the player succeeds, the management are geniuses. If the player tanks, often the GM and/or coach's careers tank with them. A draft candidate is not just trying to convince teams that they're talented enough, they're trying to convince coaches that all of their traits align to give both the coach and player the best chance at a long and successful partnership.
I keep seeing commentators reference Johnny Manziel. Well.....he's what teams are trying like crazy to avoid.
Shedeur clearly had more wrong with him than racism. I believe every NFL GM and coach are there to win and winning is greater than any race issue or they would certainly not have a job in the NFL.
My only argument, which is just being ignored because of woke, is that we will not and do not know how much racial stereotypes played in the decision. Was it a minor factor, was it no factor at all. Not all 32 teams needed a QB.
Like you said -- if you're betting the franchise on your QB you are absolutely including character into that consideration. How you view a confident, outspoken black man absolutely impacts that character evaluation.
In the first 3 rounds there were only 5 teams that picked a QB. 5 teams who thought they had a significant enough hole in their QB room to warrant a top end pick. And one of them has a 30M+ new FA QB (GO HAWKS).
That's why I want to see the video. Was Shadeur unprepared, did he not know ball? Did he disrespect the organizations? Maybe he just didn't come in kissing ass like Cam or Jaxson, or Tyler, or even Jalen and Dillon. We've seen plenty of comments of how "humble" Cam is.
But that kind of soft talking nonsense isn't what makes great QBs. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning weren't humble. Mahomes is extremely outspoken and confident. Baker Mayfield, who was wasted by Cleveland, wasn't the icon of humility.
It's just hard for me to have watched Shedeur play college ball. See his talent. See his projections. See the common viewpoint of him being at least a 1st round or at worst 2nd round pick and fall to the fifth round and the only thing that makes sense without being in those interviews is that something didn't work -- and was his character evaluation influenced by biases solely because of his skin color matched with his confidence.
It's a valid
question, not an answer. It's a theory backed only by our social experience. It's not a theory out of thin air, it's meritable, it's also not conclusive. You can only answer the question by having proof either way. I don't necessarily give it any more weight than he went into the interviews and just sucked. But being dismissive of it is just ignorance.
