Eli Manning reacts to Deion Sanders’ threat of son Shedeur Sanders ‘pulling an Eli’ in NFL Draft
Eli Manning has seen the talk of Shedeur Sanders and others emulating his move in refusing to play for certain teams. The only reason Manning ever played for the New York Giants was because he refused to play for the team that drafted him. Now, any time an athlete has a chance to do that, the reference is made back to Manning.
Sanders will, according to his father Deion Sanders, have his choice of NFL team. When he declares for the draft, presumably next season, he will be projected to a lot of teams, but the Colorado product will reportedly be declining some teams.
Manning, who quote tweeted the video of both Sanders discussing this, said simply:
"I love me some Deion."
There's no hard feelings over being the golden child of turning a team down, presumably because it worked as well as it could have for Manning. The New York Giants won two Super Bowls, while the San Diego Chargers did not.
Shedeur Sanders draft projection: How good is Colorado QB compared to QBs in 2024 draft class?
The 2024 draft class could have included Shedeur Sanders. The Colorado player decided to return for another year to play under his father. Otherwise, he would likely have been a first-round pick.
At first, he was projected as potentially being the second-best QB in this class behind Caleb Williams. He faded a bit down the stretch and his stock undoubtedly dropped, but he likely would have been in the upper echelon.
Williams tops the 2024 class. Behind him are Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels. There's a bit of a gap, and then J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix and the rest come into play. It's likely that Sanders would've fit right around Daniels.
There's a question right now over who will go second between Maye and Daniels, and Sanders probably would have been in that conversation. If the draft goes in predictable fashion, then Sanders would likely have been the fourth QB off the board to the New York Giants at six overall (ironically) or to the Minnesota Vikings at 11 overall.