"Pulling an Eli Manning" is a unique approach to the NFL draft for players and families who can see the writing on the wall as it pertains to whatever team has just drafted their kid. Typically, it's reserved for when they get picked by a team that's simply a losing franchise - like the Carolina Panthers, the New York Giants, or the Cleveland Browns, for example.
As we head towards the final weeks of the NFL season, it's clear that the Browns have a ton of work to do to rectify the mistake of overpaying for Deshaun Watson while floundering in the AFC North and AFC in general. Sitting at 2-7 ahead of a Week 11 clash with the equally-bad New Orleans Saints, it's still up in the air how the Browns are looking to attack the rest of the season - do they genuinely try to win and make the postseason in a weak conference, or do they gracefully tank?
Read more: Browns mock draft roundup: Cam Ward seems destined for Cleveland
Either way, the last few seasons for Cleveland since trading for Watson have been nothing short of a failure. Watson has failed to lead the team to the postseason - that honor, in fact, goes to Joe Flacco - and his contract has made it impossible for the team to surround him with any more help beyond who they already have rostered - an aging Nick Chubb and several wide receivers that have yet to form chemistry with the oft-injured quarterback.
So, on the surface and in the long term, this is not a good football team. Sure, Kevin Stefanski is a former coach of the year winner and the defense is rock solid, but beyond that, the Browns have nothing to brag about. It then makes sense why earlier this week, Deion Sanders told Speak on FS1 that he'd "step in" if anyone took his son, Shedeur Sanders, who they didn't feel would set him up for success.
.@DeionSanders says he will step in if the wrong team drafts Shedeur. 👀 pic.twitter.com/WK67vSyouY
— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) November 12, 2024
Sanders isn't wrong for wanting to step in if the Browns take Colorado QB
Sanders told the "Speak" hosts that he'd step in "privately" to prevent his son from going to a bad team, and he'd do the same with Travis Hunter as well. Sanders went on to say that he wants a team that "can handle the quarterback" that Shedeur Sanders is, and "handle and understand what he is capable of, and someone who's had success in the past handling quarterbacks, or someone in the organization that understands what they're doing."
That frankly sounds nothing like the Browns front office or ownership, and doesn't sound like OC Ken Dorsey at the moment. Stefanski, again, has had success with quarterbacks and should be given the benefit of the doubt if given an opportunity to work with a new QB, but with Sanders saying he doesn't want his son being "thrown amongst the wolves," it's hard to see how he'd allow him to line up behind such a shoddy offensive line and with a team that has a history of throwing its young backup quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson into bad game situations.
"Forget the line, he's played with lines that aren't great and he's done his thing. Just the infrastructure of the team and the direction of where we're going. He can deal with anything. This kid loves this game and he has an insatiable appetite to win. And, I want somebody to be able to propel him to that next level."