"Cost him $50,000,000" - Jason Whitlock hints Shedeur Sanders’ NFL draft reputation may be undergoing damage control

Shedeur Sanders' draft slide is arguably the most notorious one in NFL history since Aaron Rodgers found his dreams of playing for the San Francisco 49ers in his home state of California dashed two decades ago. And Jason Whitlock believes the Cleveland Browns rookie is still trying to recover from that fiasco.

Speaking on Monday's episode of his Fearless podcast, the veteran sportscaster said (begins at in the video below):

"Somebody said that the Giants won't release the video of Shedeur’s visit because it's so bad it would bury him. But all of this seems like Deion, Shedeur, and their marketing team realized that Shedeur’s reputation and the way he carried himself cost him $50 million and they're trying to rehabilitate this guy's image."

He concluded:

"I think they're hoping that someone has an injury during preseason or early in the season and Shedeur has some trade value."

Over the previous week, USA Today's Jarrett Bell interviewed multiple executives across the league to obtain more thoughts on why Sanders' slide happened. One of them blamed it on the micromanaging that his father Deion did in the build-up:

“I think his dad’s involvement hurt him. Some of the things his dad said, I think that weighed on people’s minds.”

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Chris Canty says Steelers will regret passing up on Shedeur Sanders

One of the teams that passed up on Shedeur Sanders was the Pittsburgh Steelers. who held the 21st overall pick at the time. Despite concurrently facing uncertainty over Aaron Rodgers' decision, they elected to bolster the defensive line with Oregon's Derrick Harmon.

During a recent press conference, head coach Mike Tomlin defended the snub:

“I think he’s a great prospect, but the off-the-field distractions don’t align with the players we draft.”

But for former Super Bowl-winning defensive end Chris Canty, it is a decision that the franchise may start regretting come Week 1 if the rookie quarterback becomes a starter for the Cleveland Browns. Speaking on 101 ESPN's Unsportsmanlike podcast, he bluntly said:

“Listen, if the Pittsburgh Steelers passed on Shedeur Sanders and he ends up being the franchise quarterback for a division rival, that is an absolute embarrassment.”

A round after Sanders went off the board, the Steelers did select a quarterback - Ohio State's Will Howard.