“Shady”: Michael Irvin’s Accuses 32 NFL Franchises of Blackballing Shedeur Sanders With Alarming Message

In 1989, Deion Sanders showed up at the NFL Combine like a man with the answers to a test he didn’t study for—and didn’t need to. When the New York Giants dared to hand him a two-hour psychological exam, Prime Time didn’t blink. He smirked. “What pick do you have?” they asked. “10th? I’ll be gone before then,” he shot back. He was right. Gone at No. 5 to the Falcons. Gone like a ghost through a secondary. Deion didn’t just survive the NFL Draft—he owned it.

Fast forward 36 years, and his son, Shedeur Sanders, entered draft weekend with that same Prime swagger. The suit, the shades, the smile—they all screamed confidence. But as the draft clock kept ticking Thursday night, Friday night, the reality set in: the same doors that swung open for Deion? They slammed shut for Shedeur.

First round? Nope. Second round? Crickets. Third round? Still waiting. Instead of a Prime coronation, Shedeur sat in his draft suite, flanked by family and cameras, forced to wear a brave face for a moment that wasn’t supposed to happen. “Under no circumstances should this have happened… but we understand—we’re on to bigger and better things,” he said after Day 1, with a poise that only masked the sting.

But bigger and better will have to wait. Now, the NFL legends are speaking out as Shedeur remains undrafted after another day of selections. Cue The Playmaker. Michael Irvin, Hall of Fame receiver and longtime Sanders family ally, lit up the airwaves Friday night, calling out the NFL with accusations. “The NFL, for me, already — this looks funny. This looks fishy. I am sorry,” Irvin started.

“I told you how much I love and respect [football] because it gives a brother like me — a young brother that had nothing — an opportunity to get out… How can you not love so much that thing that brought you out of a hellhole and gave you a life?”

This wasn’t just an ex-player venting frustration. It was a man who once was the 11th overall pick, who once caught touchdowns while the Cowboys crawled back from rock bottom to dynasty. He was the one of the Dallas Triplets (with Aikman and Emmitt) that led the Cowboys to 3 Lombardi trophies (’92, ’93, & in ’95). So, to him, it was all a little confusing because the league he once trusted wasn’t playing fair with a young Sanders. And then Irvin dropped the bomb: “But I gotta say—this sh*t is shady. This is shady.”

Irvin didn’t just stop at gut feeling—he came with receipts: “We can’t talk about, ‘well he didn’t get enough play,’ because he threw for 4,000 yards. We can’t talk about, ‘well he didn’t make enough plays’—he was the best player of the year. Nor can we say, ‘Well it’s not a position of need’—he plays quarterback.”

Irvin wasn’t done breaking it down either. He even went into QB scouting lingo: “I never, in all my time of watching this young man, saw him snap that ball on one hash and dirt a long out to the other hash. That ball always got out there. Always.”

In Irvin’s eyes, the excuses don’t stick. The missed throws don’t exist. The film doesn’t lie. So why is Shedeur slipping? Why did five other quarterbacks—including names like Tyler Shough and Dillon Gabriel—get the call while Sanders still waits by the phone? Irvin’s only conclusion is that there are answers to this beyond our understanding. But even he could only come with one thing: “This looks shady.”

Shedeur Sanders might lose patience, but that’s the test he needs to pass

As much as Michael Irvin’s shocked, he feared this was going to happen to Shedeur Sanders. “I don’t see him getting drafted by any of the other teams… These teams all coming up now don’t need a quarterback,” he said after the Day 1 Shedeur snub. Alas, it happened and here we are.

But the frustrating part is, Sanders’ numbers stack up. He passed for over 3,000 yards, 27 touchdowns, and showed off the kind of leadership that should have NFL teams sprinting to the podium. But as the rounds pass and the social media takes swirl, the whispers have shifted: not about his game, but about his image.

Reports surfaced about concerns over his “coachability,” his “entourage,” and whether teams are getting a quarterback—or the brand of Shedeur Sanders, Inc. Fair or not, it’s clear: some front offices don’t just see the tape anymore. They see the cameras, the press conferences, the Prime DNA—and they’re scared.

This isn’t a new NFL problem. Backup QBs are supposed to be boring, invisible until needed. Instead, Shedeur would walk into a locker room as instant news, just like Irvin once walked into Dallas and flipped the energy of an entire city.

For quarterback-needy teams—Cleveland, Las Vegas, Dallas—Shedeur still represents value. A steal, even. But every round that passes chips away at his leverage, his story, his shot at that Day 1 dream.

In 1989, Deion Sanders dared the NFL to doubt him—and made the league regret every second of it. In 2025, Shedeur Sanders is still waiting for his moment to respond. The question is… will he get the chance? Because while he still writes stuff like, “Thank you GOD for everything,” he has to feel lost and helpless. And that’d be justified. He loves to ball. But that love could only translate to success if we hears his name called out. If not, this has to be a story: ‘What went wrong?’ 

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