A superfan of Shedeur Sanders is suing the NFL for $100 million because of the stress caused by the former Colorado Buffaloes quarterback being selected much later in the draft than originally projected.
You read that right. The unidentified fan, who is being called “John Doe” in the legal documents, claims he suffered “emotional distress and trauma… as a fan and consumer.” This is because he, like tens of millions of other fans, watched impatiently to see Sanders get picked on Day 3 of the NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns when most sports pundits predicted Sanders would be picked on Day 1 in the first two rounds. He described the wait as “frustrating” to watch Sanders eventually selected as the 144th overall pick, according to a report by The Independent.
Why John Doe is suing the NFL
The fan told the outlet why he filed such a federal lawsuit. “This guy (Sanders) was projected to be the first or second pick, no later than the top five, and to watch mediocre players be chosen before him… it was frustrating.”
The plaintiff accuses the NFL of colluding against Shedeur Sanders
John Doe added, “And to have all the NFL owners collude and not draft him, it was mentally frustrating and debilitating.”
“For them to believe that they can just do this and there’s no recourse, it has to stop.”
The lawsuit, filed on May 2 and obtained by The Independent, states that John Doe will be representing himself in court. He is an avid fan of the Colorado Buffaloes, whom Sanders played for the past two years and whose coach is his father, Deion “Prime Time” Sanders.
John Doe claims the NFL violated the Sherman Antitrust Act
In the lawsuit, John Doe accused the NFL of collusion to avoid drafting Sanders in the earlier rounds. He also said the NFL violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, claiming team owners conspired “to influence the drafting process… [and] to restrain trade and limit competition within the league.” The plaintiff also said in the documents that the “decisions made regarding Sanders may have been influenced by racial discrimination, violating his rights as a player.”
Continuing on, the plaintiff said the NFL “may have engaged in unfair practices by misrepresenting the nature of the drafting process and the qualifications of players,” and that the league’s “actions and the dissemination of slanderous statements have caused severe emotional distress and trauma to the plaintiff, resulting in frustration, disappointment, and psychological harm as a fan.”
