Why Arkansas' TeSlaa has been drafted while Colorado's Sanders has not

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Friday evening when the Detroit Lions traded up to bring Arkansas receiver Isaac TeSlaa back to his home state to start his NFL career, it was a bit of a pleasant shock.

Apparently the Lions were able to see all of TeSlaa's film, which means it was revealed how often he ran open unseen by his quarterback, leaving lots of yards on the field. It also means they noted his size, deceptive speed and strong hands that keep him from dropping balls.

However, after a few seconds of adjusting to TeSlaa being the first Arkansas player off the board instead of defensive end Landon Jackson, it hit. He not only beat all of his fellow Razorbacks to the draft stage, TeSlaa beat ESPN media darling quartrback Shedeur Sanders also.

As of this writing, history will show TeSlaa will be at least a full round higher in the draft than Sanders. It's an idea so utterly preposterous that a few days ago it's unlikely anyone could have gotten odds at the casinos on such a bet.

Yet, that's the world everyone lives in now. The question is how is it possible?

After a bit of thought, the fall of Sanders isn't that big of a shock. The question shouldn't have been how has this been possible?

The real question is whether he has so many reasons not to draft him that the thought has to be whether he will be drafted at all.

Of course, there are a lot of the reasons already put forth. He apparently bombed multiple interviews with NFL teams so badly that they walked away not willing to touch him.

There's also concern that the perception of Sanders as an elite quarterback has more to do with the ESPN hype machine and the Deion Sanders PR circle than the NFL level skills he possesses. There are concerns about arm strength and a habit of holding onto the ball too long that knocked him down a few spots on draft boards.

However, one of the most damaging moments in regard to Sanders' draft status took place after Colorado's first loss of the season against Nebraska. Unlike TeSlaa, who increased his draft status by continuing to be a team player even when the ball wasn't coming his way in moments where it should have, Sanders took the first opportunity available to face adversity by throwing his offensive line under the bus.

Sanders said a big reason the Buffaloes lost was because his offensive line let him get hit too much, couldn't block for the run and couldn't be counted on short yardage. He wanted to go down swinging with their best shot, which was him trying to overcome his linemen by throwing the ball around the yard.

Arkansas fans know firsthand how a promising season can turn when the offensive line no longer wants to stomach its quarterback. NFL teams can't risk that type of leadership.

However, the biggest reason for Sanders' slide has only a little to do with him. Instead, it's concerns about his father.

If Sanders had been taken to be a starter and the shortcomings NFL teams have listed caused him to not be successful, think about how that might have played out.

Every head coach facing the prospect of Sanders coming to his team had to picture a world in which Deion wants their job so he can coach his son at the NFL level. The second things don't go well for Sanders on the field, it's easy to envision Deion chirping on social media and in television interviews.

The criticism of the coaches not being able to get the most out of his son would potentially be loud and public. Making things more dangerous, unlike most heavily involved sports fathers, Deion has a direct line to get in the ear of team executives.

It wouldn't take long before he possibly talks a team into firing its coaching staff and hiring Sanders to take over. While it might not end up playing out that way, there's not a coach out there who wants to put his job in jeopardy by testing those waters.

It's hard to imagine a coach of a team that doesn't already have a highly successful starter on the roster being willing to agree to take on Sanders. Otherwise, it's a lose-lose with no insurance to protect them.

The likely scenario where this ends for Sanders is a situation like they have in Dallas. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is a friend of the family, so he might be willing to take the Colorado quarterback on as a favor to Deion.

There's not as much pressure because Sanders not only would clearly be the back-up with little hope of unseating starter Dak Prescott, the NFL's highest paid player, but new head coach Brian Schottenheimer has longer rope than some coaches by way of having just taken over.

Outside of an injury to Prescott, there won't be any room for Deion to complain about how his son is being coached and the opportunities he is getting. If he does, no one would be willing to take him seriously.

There's still a lot of draft left. It's possible there's a perfect situation out there, although Sanders will have to swallow his pride and understand he's likely only signing four at best fourth round money.

However, if he goes undrafted, it won't be shocking either. The shock moment goes to TeSlaa, who worked hard doing things the right way to earn his dream opportunity with the most Arkansas friendly team in all the NFL.