From irrelevant to irrefutable. Inspirational even. Brock Purdy’s rise from being the absolute last pick in the ‘22 NFL Draft to spearheading an NFC Championship run is just as unfathomable as this scenario that’s just spawned from the Pacific coast. As much as Purdy’s done to relitigate that draft pick, partisan notions and prejudice continue to follow him. The masses have come around to the fact the 49ers QB1 isn’t a mere flash in the pan. However, he’s still Mr. Irrelevant. That monicker is proving tough to shake off. So much so that there’s reporting around him being replaced by Shedeur Sanders! Now conceded, there’s a rationale and heck, even merit to doing this. But one NFL analyst is stumped at the suggestion, calling it a “madness.”
The only thing more polarizing than Brock Purdy is Shedeur Sanders’ draft grade. Certain factions believe he’s a top-3 overall pick. Others, not necessarily skeptical but wary, reckon he could slide out of the lottery altogether. This has led to SI’s Grant Cohen floating the idea he could be on his way to San Fran with the #11 pick. Cohen’s been covering the 49ers for over a decade and his words don’t fall on deaf ears. That said, he’s lost Rich Eisen with this one. But what’s the thought process behind this rather out-there suggestion, if any at all? Cohen pointed to Shedeur Sanders being a similar archetype of QB to Purdy. A pocket passer who’s not the most athletically gifted but makes up for it with accuracy and poise. Scratch the surface and you realise this proposal about Shedeur potentially replacing Brock goes from stupid to shrewd.
Brock Purdy’s rookie-scale contract has been the biggest steal in sports. The Niners have essentially had him for pennies on the dime. This has allowed them to assemble the most stacked roster in the league around him. However, Purdy’s big payday is around the corner. This means the front office faces a conundrum. Sign Purdy onto a contract north of $50 million a year and deplete their roster elsewhere? Or trade him and then reset with another QB, ala Shedeur Sanders, on a cheap rookie deal? HC Kyle Shanahan has proven his worth in making multiple mid-tier QBs shine in his system. Jimmy Garoppolo and Purdy both weren’t perceived as world-beaters, but led them to the Super Bowl. With all these hypothetical positives baked in, Rich Eisen sided with a cliche in some ways. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Source: Imago
Speaking over his namesake show, Rich Eisen said, “I think that would be nuts to do,” when confronted with the idea of replacing Purdy with Sanders. He acknowledged the fact Shedeur will relatively be very cheap over the next 4 or so years and will allow for spending elsewhere. However, Eisen retaliated with some very obvious negatives. “I think that would be madness. You just don’t want to go into the rookie quarterback mosh pit and hope they turn out like Brock Purdy, when you have the actual Brock Purdy. He led you to the big game. ‘Can you be the next guy to take us to the Super Bowl?’ Well, let’s not pay the guy who was the last guy to take us to the Super Bowl and be an MVP finalist in the process. It’s a little insane,” remarked Eisen.
Purdy did leave the field with the lead in the Super Bowl as a sophomore. We’ve seen Kyle Shanahan and the Niners’ brass enter the draft sweepstakes and it go horribly with Trey Lance. Shedeur Sanders has arguably got more in his repertoire than Purdy, granted. But it’s a gamble that could take the franchise 10 steps back. This only makes sense if they don’t trust Brock Purdy’s a franchise quarterback in the NFL. But that’s a whole different can of worms. From Shedeur’s perspective, he could do much worse than land with a franchise that was home to Joe Montana and Steve Young. A perennial contender who’re smack-bang in the midst of a championship window. It’s unlikely and yet hopeful scenarios like these behind why his father Deion Sanders took the stance he did regarding Shedeur’s future landing spot.
Deion Sanders opens Shedeur Sanders’ future to the entire field
Deion Sanders has been on a bit of a media tour lately, as he tends to do. The difference is this time around, he’s been quelling discourse rather than instigating it. Coach Prime has been extinguishing fires that Shedeur Sanders fanned the flames of regarding his interest inbeing drafted by the NY Giants. Shedeur flirted with the Giants rather openly. He wore cleats clad in their colors at the Alamo Bowl and even projected an uber-confident demeanor when linking HC Brian Daboll at an exhibition game earlier in the year. For the longest time he seemed destined to land in the Big Apple with the #3 overall pick. However, this love hasn’t been reciprocated from the Giants’ side.
They’ve signed on two veteran QBs in Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson on one-year deals. This has really made a move for Shedeur unlikely. With his son’s future more inconspicuous than ever, Deion has explicitly stated to Skip Bayless that he’s open to absolutely any of the 32 franchises drafting Shedeur. This is a bit of a reversal of course, after he’d previously said he’d try and steer the ship clear of certain franchises. Ones who’ve been in purgatory for a while and aren’t conducive to Shedeur Sanders’ growth and development. Well, this switch in stance does imply things are getting a little desperate for the Sanders clan as options condense down.
Alas, the answer to this intriguing mystery is now less than 4 weeks away. The 49ers are a very far-fetched possibility. But as long as they don’t pay Brock Purdy, it remains on the board of outcomes. Trading away Purdy and replacing him with Sanders isn’t necessarily a one-to-one comp. It’s about the 40-odd million you can save and what you can do with that when you spread it across the team. Something that’s been the Niners’ modus operandi during the course of this championship window, which they wish to sustain.
The post Shedeur Sanders Stranded After Firm 49ers’ Brock Purdy Move Stance Amid Coach Prime’s Clear Message to 32 NFL Teams appeared first on EssentiallySports.
