I want to make myself very clear because it could seem like I am trying to stoke the racism fires and that is ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE
I do not think race played a factor in any of this.
I do think there is a disconnect between Baby Boomers and Gen Z, these new players entering the NFL
Some of these noobs already have more money than they will earn on their rookie contracts
Will dip out of the non-football Sander's stuff after this but let me meet you half way here.
Kids now have it harder than I did growing up, least IMO. Sure, some things were harder then. Few if any kids are getting shoved in lockers or beat up anymore. But they are getting blasted on social media. If I peed my pants in school the whole school might know by the end of the week. Now, kids in a district 30 miles away would know before my pants dried. Sander's definitely has had more public scrutiny that Eli, or probably anyone from earlier generations has had. But I think scrutiny from the league and the teams drafting these guys has stayed much more level. Again, I'm sure it's increased a bit, but mainly because so much of people's lives now have a digital footprint. Thank the lord there isn't a digital record of what 17 year old me thought about the world.
And, this is where I think people's viewpoints will start to vary more, but I feel (and it seems I'm not alone here), Sheduer (and Deion) did themselves 0 favors here. Not only did they not try to stay lowkey, they went the complete opposite direction and just about every decision, interview, tweet, etc. was seemingly to garner more attention. So, while from a macro view I can feel some empathy for kids today and what they have to go through past generations never did; it's hard to have that same empathy for someone who spent the majority of his time in college and the pre draft process actively seeking this attention out, even in negative ways.
The fact reports started leaking as soon as the combine about his negative attitude and demeanor (and had to get attacked by people like Josina Anderson slapping the race card on it), and are still coming out about him playing card games, taking phone calls, giving attitude to coaching staffs during his literal job interviews... sorry. I'm not going to be able to muster up a whole lot of compassion for this kid right now. I think he got a taste of what the youngins would call FAAFO these days. I keep reading "what about these other guys with criminal charges!"; what about personal responsibility? What about the world is fair? I'm sure everyone you work with that gets paid more must be because they are smarter and harder working than you? Or maybe they just kiss butt better. Maybe they know how to "play the game". Maybe they just hound their bosses for raises more often.
Sander's has an opportunity to make this whole debacle the brief first chapter of a what could be a best selling book. And realistically, it shouldn't be that hard. Gabriel is his only real competition to being potentially the best QB Cleveland has had in a decade +. But nepotism isn't driving the bus anymore. He's can't throw his line under the bus like college. He can't change the OC calls on the line and blame them when the play busts. He can't refuse to shake hands with someone over a twitter beef. He can't rely on Dad to carry the load and clean up the mess. It's likely to be the hardest he's ever had to work in his life to this point doing things which he's never had to do. Because, especially being QB, it's a lot more than on the field stuff that paves the path to his success. It's knowing your place, being a good teammate, putting the weight and blame on your own shoulders, listening to coaches even when you disagree, doing things even if you don't think it's the right thing to do. IMO, that'll all be ten times harder for him than beating out a 40 year old Flacco, because its seemingly stuff he hasn't put a whole lot of effort into up to this point.
But very possible for him. And if I picked one family member to have in my ear of his whole crew, it'd be Shilo. That kid did and said just about everything right through all this, and probably should get more credit for it. Hope he finds success with the Bucs. He "fired" his dad and hired an actual agent, so that's already a head start.
