Shedeur Sanders' Draft Drama Is a Lesson In Idol Worship
America's addiction to idolatry is quite astounding when you sit back and observe it. There is no inanimate object, ideology, or person we won't turn into a god. And we do it so obliviously, so shamelessly, and so often, learning nothing in the process. The narrative surrounding Shedeur Sanders' fall in the NFL Draft is yet another example.
Once projected as a first-round pick in the NFL Draft—some even floated the notion of being a top-five pick—Shedeur, starting QB for the University of Colorado, plummeted to the fifth round, landing with the Cleveland Browns at No. 144 overall.
Shedeur Sanders falling to the 144th pick has absolutely nothing to do with his skin color. Nothing. Zip. Zero. But that didn't stop the legion of race hustlers from painting Shadeur as another victim of racism. The Root published a piece likening his draft-day drop to a white "Karen" cashier dropping change into a black customer's hand to avoid contact. Former NBA player and weed smoker extraordinaire Stephen Jackson says Shedeur fell in the draft because "they hate to see confident niggas." By "they," he means white people.
Shedeur Sanders, for all his talent and swagger, has been transformed into a false idol—a symbol of perceived racial injustice rather than an individual facing the consequences of his own choices and limitations. It's a betrayal of both Shedeur and the truth.
Ironically, the clearest commentary came from someone outside sports media. Pastor Charles E. Hamilton Jr., a black former pro athlete, posted a clear-headed, common-sense take on the Shedeur Sanders saga. And I nodded along the whole way. He gets it. He is not lost in the sauce of race hustling or blinded by celebrity worship.
Are we supposed to believe that Shedeur slid in the draft because of racism? That is an insult to intelligence. It's an insult to every black athlete who has earned his spot through perseverance, discipline, and excellence. It is an insult to Cam Ward and Jalen Milroe, the two black QBs drafted before Shedeur.
The real reasons Shedeur was a fifth-round pick are simple: there were questions about his work ethic, questions about his decision-making under pressure, concerns about his athleticism at the NFL level, doubts about whether he can lead an NFL locker room the way he led a college team with his dad as head coach. A leader in the QB room doesn't get in the face of a ball boy during a game.
Shedeur Sanders got in the face of a ball boy.
— Cryptid Politics 🇺🇸🐊 (@CryptidPolitics) April 26, 2025
That’s what an arrogant prick the guy is.
No, it shouldn’t be a surprise that NFL teams don’t want to deal with this nonsense.
pic.twitter.com/rTte8LfK8E
These are legitimate football issues, not racial ones. But instead of addressing these issues head-on, we choose to clutch our pearls and cry wolf. Why? Because victimhood sells. Because victimhood is easy. Victimhood is the prelude to idolatry.
We've placed Shedeur, his brother Shilo, and their father, Deion—a 57-year-old who still wants to be called by his high-school nickname, Prime—on a pedestal so high they can't see the ground anymore. We have turned them into untouchable gods immune from criticism and protected from reality.
Here's the funny thing about idols: they are not real. They are projections of our own insecurities, desires, and fantasies. Shedeur's fans do not love him for who he is. They probably don't know who he really is. They love him for what he represents. To them, he represents the perceived battle of black versus white.
It's lazy. It's cowardly. It's spiritually bankrupt.
Deion should know this better than most. First of all, he is a professed Christian. Second, his Hall of Fame career was built on undeniable excellence, not excuses and victimhood. Deion used his God-given talent and outperformed everyone around him. But somewhere along the way, even Coach Prime got caught up in the wave of idolatry that has engulfed our culture. His reality TV antics, his tirades against white reporters, his "me against the world" branding. He has morphed into a caricature of his former self, let alone someone worthy of worship.
Worship of anyone other than The Most High God is a fool's errand. It always leads to destruction. If Moses were alive, he would tell you about the Israelites who worshipped a golden calf. Think of the Philistines who worshipped the statue of Dagon.
Idolatry blinds us. It convinces us that failure is always someone else's fault. It keeps us in a hamster wheel of anger, entitlement, and disappointment.
We don't need more celebrities. We don't need more idols. We need regular, everyday people willing to work, lead, love, and pursue truth. We need parents willing to let young men struggle and occasionally fail. It is only through struggle that greatness emerges.
Shedeur still has a chance to carve out a successful NFL career. He's talented, confident, competent, and has the DNA of a champion. But I hope he struggles out of the gate. He won't reach his full potential without facing some adversity. As long as Shedeur's idolaters, including his close friends and family members, keep shielding him from reality, he will never achieve the greatness he is capable of.
The same can be said of America's young black men who aren't blessed with the DNA of a professional athlete. The more we coddle them, the more we brainwash them into believing their success depends on the thoughts and actions of white people, the worse off black communities will be. America, as a whole, will suffer the consequences.
If we want better outcomes, we must raise better men. And we can't raise better men by sacrificing them to the altars of grievance and self-pity.
The Shedeur Sanders draft drama isn't a tragedy. It's an opportunity for him to prove himself. Shedeur would be better off putting the phone down, ditching the gaudy jewelry and custom draft rooms, picking up the cross...
And getting to work.
