Giants would not leave Shedeur alone at Shrine Bowl before things imploded: Shawne Merriman

While Shedeur Sanders may have fallen wildly far in the NFL draft, interest in him from quarterback-needy teams at the top of the draft wasn’t always a question mark.The East-West Shrine Bowl took place at the end of January — and some of the draft’s top picks were still enamored with Sanders at that point in time.“I talked to [Giants head coach] Brian Daboll and I also talked to the GM there (Joe Schoen), and I can tell you, between the Giants and the Titans, they would not leave Shedeur alone,” former NFL All-Pro Shawne Merriman said on Monday’s “Up & Adams” podcast with Kay Adams.Merriman is the founder and CEO of Lights Out Sports TV, which had the media rights to the Shrine Bowl’s practices.Merriman said that the interest in the polarizing quarterback prospect was so heavy that he was “almost tripping over their digital people with cameras because they were in our way.They were trying to get as close as they were to Shedeur, so I knew they were very high on Shedeur.”While he was blown away by the interest the Giants and Titans were showing in Sanders, clearly something went awry between then and the draft.“I don’t know what happened from the East-West Shrine Bowl and to the draft,” Merriman said.

“But whatever happened, caused everybody to slip or look past or not want to draft Shedeur.Because I can tell you right now that everybody was there to see him even though he wasn’t practicing … the Giants — speaking of Brian Daboll and the GM there — and the Titans were very high on him and that was supposed to be their pick, so I’m not sure what happened at that point.”The Shrine Bowl is an annual game bringing together college football stars to compete in front of NFL scouts and, although he was invited and attended to meet with teams, Sanders elected not to actually play.Merriman believes that this, paired with his lack of participation at the combine and his reported poor meetings, could have been the difference in h...