Typically, pre-draft debates start with anonymous sources and end with talking heads shouting each other down. On Saturday, a back-and-forth originated not from those paid to talk about football but those paid to play it.
The topic? The impact of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders's habit of patting the ball before the throws it. It was on display during his Pro Day workout on Friday.
Jets safety Andre Cisco tweeted that Shedeur "better stop patting that ball, we breakin onnat earlyyyy."
Giants receiver Darius Slayton disagreed with Cisco's message. Said Slayton on Twitter: "I promise he can pat the ball and be just fine if DB’s was so good at breaking on ball pats they’d all have 8+ picks a year. Same guys that fall for a 2 man dagger concept and give up the dig on 3rd&long every season all season long talkin bout a ball pat what a joke."
Cisco brushed off the response by suggesting that Slayton was sucking up in advance to the guy who could be his quarterback in 2025.
Then, possibly to the dismay of current or former teammates, Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons got involved. First, he retweeted Cisco's reply to Slayton. Then, Parsons said this while reposting Slayton's tweet: "You realize [a pat] on the ball can be difference between a sack or a throw away/completion?"
Slayton had a rebuttal. "Tom Brady literally the king of getting the ball out fast patted the ball when he threw. So actually no patting the ball is not the difference," Slayton said.
Then came Parsons, with a subtle shifting of the the goalposts on the subject from whether patting the ball is a problem: "Comparing the greatest quarterback ever to sanders is why I’ll never entertain a football conversation with you!! Like what are we doing here??"
Slayton had the last word, posting a video of various quarterbacks (Brady and others) patting the ball.
Parsons has yet to respond.
So is patting the ball an issue for Shedeur? I'll defer to our in-house quarterback; Chris Simms and I will discuss the issue on Monday's PFT Live. Tune in at 7:00 a.m. ET on Peacock, SiriusXM 85, or the free and easy to use NBC Sports NOW.
And we won't be shouting each other down. Unless we legitimately disagree on something. The last thing you'll see on our show is a contrived effort to have one person take one side and the other make the counter argument.
