Todd McShay airs out major grievance with Mel Kiper Jr. amid Shedeur Sanders drama

For years, Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. got into spirited debates on ESPN around NFL Draft time. That changed last year when McShay was laid off, leaving Kiper to work with Field Yates, Matt Miller and Jordan Reid on draft coverage.

Now independent, McShay has his own podcast and newsletter. But he still follows Kiper’s work – and he sees something he never saw during his time working with the longtime analyst.

Even though Shedeur Sanders came in as QB2 in Kiper’s latest mock draft, he said the former Colorado star will be the better player at the next level than Cam Ward. Other draft analysts and reporters around the league are high on Ward. To McShay, Kiper is “planting a flag,” and it’s something he never saw while working with him.

“It’s frustrating because I spent I think 17 years at ESPN, I want to say like 13 of them going back and forth with Mel,” McShay said on Don’t @ Me with Outkick’s Dan Dakich. “And my biggest complaint – outside of the Notre Dame quarterbacks, which I still believe he had a tie with an agent and someone was in his pocket … my biggest frustration with Mel was he never planted a flag with a quarterback. He always was, like, right down the middle of the fairway, 230 yards, nice and easy. Hit the double, whatever you want to call it. He would never have a stance that kind of went against the grain a little bit.

“Now, all of a sudden, I’m out on my own, doing my own thing, pleased to be. But I’m not there to kind of combat him. And this would’ve been a lot of fun.”

Todd McShay: Shedeur Sanders ‘has a really good chance to be a top-three pick’

Ward is widely considered the top quarterback in this year’s draft, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported the expectation is the former Miami standout will go No. 1 overall no matter who makes the pick. The Tennessee Titans currently own the selection, but questions continue to swirl about whether they make a move with six weeks to go until draft day.

Ward’s ability to improvise is what gives him a higher ceiling, in the eyes of NFL scouts. To Todd McShay, though, Sanders still has traits to like as he heads to the next level. Whether it’s in Cleveland with the Browns or in New York with the Giants, McShay said Sanders can still be successful at the next level.

“I like Shedeur a lot – I think Shedeur’s got a really good chance to be a top-three pick,” McShay said. “I think if he winds up with Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland, that’s a good marriage. I think it would be a little different from Brian Daboll and what Daboll’s used to, but I think Brian can develop quarterbacks well. So I like Shedeur.

“But I don’t know how when you get done with your evaluation, you don’t see the traits and the more upside with Cam Ward, and I think that’s what Tennessee’s kind of seeing right now and I think a lot of people in the league are seeing. I think that’s why he’s the presumptive No. 1 pick. But I do give Mel credit that he’s finally ‘planting that flag,’ if you will.”