Shedeur Sanders

2025 NFL Draft Rumors: Sanders, Beck, Campbell

December 20th, 2024 at 8:29pm CST by Ely Allen

The 2025 NFL Draft is fast approaching as the college football season comes to an end and the pre-draft process begins. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders has likely solidified himself as a first-round pick — even a top-five draft pick — but according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, he isn’t currently projected to be the first quarterback off the board.

Per Howe, that honor currently belongs to Miami Hurricanes journeyman passer Cam Ward. Both had impressive seasons; Ward finished the year second in the nation with 4,123 passing yards while leading college football with 36 passing touchdowns to only seven interceptions, while Sanders was third in passing yards (3,926) and just a step behind Ward in touchdowns (35) and interceptions (8). Both received Heisman-buzz — an award Sanders’ teammate, Travis Hunter, won — but Ward was a finalist, finishing fourth in voting, while Sanders finished eighth in voting.

In order to overcome Ward as QB1 of the class, Howe posits that “Sanders will need to nail the interview process.” Both players have committed to participating in their respective bowl games, and it doesn’t appear that either will gain or lose much ground through the Scouting Combine or their respective pro days, having already had their play thoroughly evaluated throughout the season. If Sanders can establish in the interview process that he can be a stand-alone leader without his father on the coaching staff, he may be able to edge out Ward.

Here are a few other draft rumors in the aftermath of college football’s regular season:

After Ward and Sanders, there’s a big perceived dropoff in quarterback talent in this year’s draft class with other prospects like Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart all being projected as Day 2 or 3 picks. While Georgia passer Carson Beck is also projected to fall past the first round, that wasn’t the case last year, per Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. Breer claims that scouts gave him the impression that Beck had a chance to be among the six other quarterbacks who were drafted in the first round of last year’s draft. Instead, Beck stayed in Athens, in hopes of perhaps bettering his chances and draft slot. A year later, three separate three-interception performances and an otherwise disappointing redshirt senior season for Beck has plummeted his draft stock. The injury to his throwing arm in the SEC championship game has a chance to hurt that draft stock even more.
The 2025 draft class is projected to be disappointing in its depth at left tackle with no elite options sticking out at this point in the process. LSU tackle Will Campbell has received a good amount of buzz as the class’s best prospect at the position, but according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, many believe Campbell is a bit overrated. Short arms and questions about his overall game have scouts doubting whether or not he can solidify the left tackle spot of an NFL team for the next five-plus years.

Draft Rumors: Tackles, Buffs, Sanders

November 30th, 2024 at 2:51pm CST by Ely Allen

Often in the NFL Draft, offensive tackles are slotted into some of the top picks of the draft, usually as contenders for a No. 1 overall draft pick. Recent years saw Joe Alt and JC Latham taken in the top 10 in 2024, Paris Johnson and Darnell Wright in 2023, and Ikem Ekwonu, Evan Neal, and Charles Cross in 2022 alone. This year, while there are surely some candidates to be first-round picks in this year’s class, an elite, top-10 tackle seems to be absent among them.

LSU’s Will Campbell is seemingly the only offensive lineman who has been granted a consensus opinion as a first-rounder, but many doubt that he will continue to play tackle in the NFL. Per Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, a perceived lack of strength has scouts shifting him inside to guard at the next level. Kelvin Banks Jr. at Texas held first-round potential for much of the year, but up-and-down performances throughout the year, accompanied by a rough performance against Georgia at home, have put that promise in doubt. Lastly, Ohio State tackle Josh Simmons likely held the highest chance at being a top-drafted tackle, but a torn patellar tendon will limit his availability until summer and diminish his draft stock.

ESPN’s Jordan Reid agrees with Breer’s sentiment, claiming that the entire offensive line group lacks the depth and top-end talent of last year’s group by a wide margin. He notes that Campbell, Banks, and Arizona’s Jonah Savaiinaea could all slide inside to guard and adds that most players in the class are getting Day 2 or 3 grades.

Here are some other rumors coming from the 2025 NFL Draft class:

While the merit of early Heisman attestations is still to be determined, Colorado’s Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders likely couldn’t care less. With several NFL teams in attendance to watch a drubbing of the lowly Cowpokes at Oklahoma State, Hunter and Sanders likely had eyes on late-April. According to Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports, one NFL executive claimed that not only are Hunter and Sanders going to be drafted in the top five picks, but he also believes they will go back-to-back at Nos. 1 & 2 overall.
In support of that prediction, Breer noted that the Giants sent a bevy of executives — general manager Joe Schoen, assistant general manager Brandon Brown, director of player personnel Tim McDonnell, and special assistant Jessie Armstead — to Boulder for practices and the game this week to get looks at Sanders with quarterback Daniel Jones already gone. In our latest look at the most-updated draft order (if the season were to end today), the Giants slotted in at No. 2 overall, tied with the Jaguars and Raiders with a 2-9 record. Since then, the Giants and Raiders have both lost additional contests, moving them up to Nos. 1 & 2, respectively, but if the Jaguars also fall tomorrow, they would be reinstated at No. 1.

Giants Expected To Retain GM Joe Schoen; Brian Daboll On Steady Ground?

November 24th, 2024 at 10:00pm CST by Sam Robinson

The past few offseasons have featured momentous swing-and-miss transactions on quarterbacks. The Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson moves proved the most costly, but they did not (as of yet, at least) lead to GM firings. A spotlight on how the Giants’ ill-fated Daniel Jones contract will impact their current regime is shining, but New York is still only expected to feature one GM vacancy this offseason.

With a third of the season to go, the Giants are still looking to stand pat with Joe Schoen. The third-year GM is not on track to follow Joe Douglas to the chopping block, according to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones. Although a recent report pegged Brian Daboll as coaching for his job over the homestretch, Schoen may be on steadier ground.

Mara said in October he did not envision Schoen or Daboll being booted before season’s end or in 2025, but the Giants have not won a game since those comments. While momentum for a third Joe Judge year surfaced before his eventual firing, Jones adds Daboll is also still presumed safe due to the owner wanting more stability.

The quick hooks given to Ben McAdoo, Pat Shurmur and Judge are benefiting Daboll, who has gone 8-19 since his 2022 Coach of the Year season. That 2022 showing led the Giants to pay Jones (four years, $160MM), and the team is set to eat the remainder of the QB’s guarantees at signing this year and then $22.2MM in prorated bonus money come 2025. Tommy DeVito will have a significant say in whether Daboll is brought back, and Mara’s past at GM would suggest Schoen is safer than Daboll.

Jerry Reese received an extended chance to return the Giants to contender status, as the two-time Super Bowl-winning GM oversaw four seasons without a playoff berth before the 2016 slate — one coming after a free agency splurge for defensive help — led to a return. Mara canned Reese and McAdoo after an Eli Manning benching late in the 2017 season, but Reese’s extended run preceded Dave Gettleman being given four full seasons; none of those brought a postseason berth. Schoen being dropped after three years, the first of which being viewed as a rebuild, would seem hasty by comparison.

Additionally, Jonathan Jones notes Mara’s involvement in Giants day-to-day operations made the owner well aware why the Giants paid Jones in 2023. This well-chronicled sequence eventually led Saquon Barkley to Philadelphia, and while Hard Knocks portrayed Mara as somber once the running back bolted this offseason, the Giants had long held a Jones-over-Barkley stance in 2023. Mara also stumped for Jones in 2022, proclaiming he would remain the starter despite struggles in prior years. The owner cited an inability to build a team around Jones back then, and although Schoen authorized the QB’s second contract, the owner being onboard with that move points to Schoen having a chance to acquire his own quarterback.

Schoen passed on the Michael Penix Jr.–J.J. McCarthy–Bo Nix trio to draft Malik Nabers this year, doing so after the Patriots rebuffed his Drake Maye-centered trade offer for No. 3 overall. This proved risky, as the 2025 QB class is not held in the same regard as this year’s crop. But Schoen was in Miami for the Hurricanes’ Wake Forest matchup, per Jones; Miami, of course, rosters one of next year’s top prospects in QB Cam Ward. The team has already been tied to Shedeur Sanders as well. With Ward and Sanders viewed as next year’s top two QB prospects, connections to the Giants should persist.

The Giants chose their last QB1 in what was viewed as a down draft, having passed on both Sam Darnold and Josh Allen (to take Barkley) in 2018. Unless the team would be OK with a veteran replacing Jones, it appears another dive into a maligned draft pool at the position is on tap. As it stands, it will be Schoen making that call.

Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders Playing In Shrine Bowl

November 22nd, 2024 at 10:12pm CST by Ely Allen

It’s become clear that scouts only view two quarterbacks in this year’s draft class as elite prospects: Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward. While it’s almost certain that both players will be taking the next step to the NFL following this college football season, Sanders pretty much made it official this week by accepting an invite to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl this winter.

Sanders has been one of two leaders on an electric Buffalos team that is still in the running for the Big 12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff. Sanders ranks sixth in the FBS with 322.2 passing yards per game and is tied for second with 27 passing touchdowns, adding four scores on the ground. He has a chance to end the season with a bang by rattling off some wins here to close out 2024 and continue elevating his stock in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Ward is right up there with Sanders. He leads the FBS in both passing yards (3,409) and passing touchdowns (32) and has four additional scrimmage touchdowns of his own (three on the ground and one receiving). He’s led the Hurricanes to a 9-1 record through 10 games, and like Colorado, Miami is in position to appear in their conference title game and secure a spot in the 12-team playoff.

Past Sanders and Ward, though, experts view 2025’s quarterbacks class as relatively barren. In a discussion with Brock Huard of FOX Sports and Steve Serby of the New York Post, ESPN’s Matt Miller claimed that “it’s Shedeur 1…Cam 2, and then…there’s a bit of a gap between (them and) the next crop of quarterbacks,” including guys like Carson Beck of Georgia, Quinn Ewers of Texas, and Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss.

Miller sees Sanders and Ward as the only two likely first-round picks in the class of passers. He projects Beck, Ewers, Penn State’s Drew Allar, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier as potential mid- to late-round projects but goes so far as to suggest that Milroe and Nussmeier should return for another year of development in the SEC.

Even though Sanders and Ward are seen as clear favorites and leaders of this class, Miller speculated where the two would fall in last year’s draft class in a discussion with another NYP writer, Ryan Dunleavy. Miller claimed that, despite Sander’s “surgical” accuracy and Ward’s “ability to dial up velocity like crazy,” both would fall lower than four of the first five quarterbacks taken last year in his rankings, Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, and J.J. McCarthy. He believes they compare more favorably with the other two first-round passers taken last year, Michael Penix and Bo Nix.

Just because he views Sanders and Ward more in the realm of Penix and Nix, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be drafted in the 8-12 range like those two were. Teams in need of a new, young passer don’t have the luxury to wait around that long and hope that no one trades ahead or takes a flyer on their future franchise arm. A QB-need tends to make NFL teams antsy, often forcing them to overvalue a passer past their actual worth.

There’s plenty left to be seen through the remainder of the college season, conference championships, and the College Football Playoff. Following all that will be prospect games, like the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Bowl, the NFL Scouting Combine, and each school’s pro day. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even see Sanders for the West suiting up against Ward for the East in Frisco, TX, this winter for the Shrine Bowl. Until then, both quarterbacks still have a lot to prove in order to hear their names called early on the first night of the draft next April.

Interest In 2026-27 QB Prospects Outshining 2025 NFL Draft

November 15th, 2024 at 8:09pm CST by Ely Allen

There will inevitably be some teams at the end of the 2024 NFL season that will be aching for a new quarterback for 2025. Rumors abound concerning the job security of Daniel Jones in New York, no one seems to be taking firm control of the starting job in Las Vegas, and uncertainty surrounds the recent investments in the position made in Indianapolis, Cleveland, Carolina, and Tennessee. The 2025 NFL Draft class may not offer enough answers for all these teams, so many are doing their research on the next couple of draft classes.

That doesn’t mean there are no options in 2025. Two passers seem to top the list for the upcoming draft: Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward. Sanders and his father (head coach and NFL legend Deion Sanders) have worked hard over the past two seasons to put the Buffaloes on track for a berth in the Big 12 title game and a chance at the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. Not quite elite with his arm or his legs, Sanders succeeds on technique utilizing good timing and ball placement to lead his offense. Having only played under his father in college, scouts have concerns about Sanders’ maturity and leadership abilities.

Ward, who formerly declared for the 2024 NFL Draft before withdrawing to transfer from Washington State to Coral Gables, has earned his place in the first-round conversation. Starting as a zero-star recruit at Incarnate Ward at the FCS level, Ward found a home in Pullman before joining the Hurricanes. The 22-year-old has led the Canes to a 9-1 record, throwing for 348 yards and three touchdowns in the team’s only loss. His composure in the pocket and elite arm talent make him an enticing prospect but can lead him into making some questionable decisions. He’s an obvious contender for the Heisman trophy, but his draft stock is still far from solidified.

Behind Sanders and Ward, there’s a pretty significant drop off to players like LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Georgia’s Carson Beck, and Penn State’s Drew Allar. All four players hold mid-round intrigue, but there’s plenty of time for any of them to work their way into the first-round conversations late like we saw Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix do last year.

While a couple teams will be in a position to take a quarterback early in the 2025 draft, and some may decide that Sanders or Ward are a fit for their organization, others are already doing their homework on the next few classes of college passers. Two redshirt freshmen and one true freshman have scouts licking their chops before they’ve even reached draft eligibility.

In Austin, redshirt freshman Arch Manning has been quietly building a ton of anticipation from the bench. The grandson of former Saints quarterback Archie Manning and son of Peyton and Eli’s brother Cooper, Manning has waited patiently behind the Longhorns’ starting passer Quinn Ewers. Seeing time in six games in relief of Ewers in 2024, Manning has shined in spurts for Texas.

Another NFL legacy player, Dylan Raiola — son of long-time Lions center Dominic Raiola — started off his true freshman season for Nebraska hot before falling off in recent weeks. After drawing early comparisons to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (mostly visually), Raiola came on strong in his collegiate start, throwing nine touchdowns to only two interceptions in his first five games. Since then, the Cornhuskers passer has cooled off quite a bit throwing only one touchdown to six picks.

Lastly, South Carolina has a redshirt freshman passer in LaNorris Sellers whose name is resounding in NFL scouting circles already. While his arm isn’t electric quite yet, Sellers has been effective en route to a 5-3 record as a starter. He also adds some dynamism with his legs averaging about 50 rushing yards per game on his way to four scores on the ground.

The talk for players like Manning, Raiola, and Sellers is obviously far too premature, as can be seen by Raiola’s midseason slump. The existence of such conversations, though, seems to underline the lack of excitement from the NFL in the 2025 draft class. Sanders and Ward are well on their way to hearing their names on the first night of the draft, but Nussmeier, Milroe, Beck, Allar, and others have some work ahead of them if they’re going to convince NFL squads to take a shot on them this offseason.

Deion Sanders Not Talking NFL Future; Latest On Shedeur Sanders

November 14th, 2024 at 9:19pm CST by Ben Levine

With Colorado sitting 18th in the AP Top 25 and the Buffaloes appearing to have taken a clear step forward, coach Deion Sanders has already drawn some speculation about a pivot to professional football. While that could ultimately be Sanders’ ultimate plan, Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz says the coach hasn’t had any “official conversations with anyone” about heading to the NFL.

However, Schultz does seem to be keep the door open regarding a future move to the NFL, as the reporter notes that Sanders’ current focus is on winning at Colorado this season. Sanders’ NFL opportunities would be reliant on an organization’s willingness to take a chance on the divisive coach, and it’s worth noting that he still has three years remaining on his Colorado contract after this season.

Even if we assume Sanders doesn’t get an NFL job this offseason, he’ll still surely be in the news as his son, Shedeur Sanders, pushes to be an early selection in the draft. As Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports writes, the elder Sanders is ready to “step in” if he decides that the “wrong” organization is targeting his son. In fact, Deion’s considerable influence over Shedeur has already led to “significant apprehension” from NFL squads as they weigh the pros and cons of selecting the Colorado QB. While some executives are generally low on the prospect’s NFL future (one described Shedeur as “Tyrod Taylor 2.0″), there was also a sentiment that the player just wasn’t “worth all the extra stuff.”

Still, there will be surely be one team that takes a chance on the player’s upside, even if it means Shedeur ends up sliding down draft boards. Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal recently noted the connections between the Sanders family and the Raiders. Deion has generally been a fan of the organization, including head coach Antonio Pierce and team president Sandra Douglass Morgan. Shedeur has also been mentored by now part-Raiders owner Tom Brady, and the prospect has been spotted visiting Las Vegas multiple times this year.

While it’s uncertain if they’d fit Deion’s lofty standards, the Giants have also been mentioned as a potential suitor for the QB prospect. Members of the organization visited the University of Colorado last month to get a first-hand look at Sanders (per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones), with assistant general manager Brandon Brown even speaking to the Colorado squad after practice.

The Sanders duo will continue to steal headlines over the next few weeks, especially if Colorado makes a push for the playoffs. For better or for worse, that won’t be the last that we hear from Deion and Shedeur, as the tandem will continue to be central characters during the NFL’s offseason.

QB Rumors: Dak, Cowboys, Dolphins, Tua, Titans, Rudolph, Willis, Sanders

August 14th, 2024 at 7:10pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Cowboys continue to drag out their complex contract situation, one headlined by Dak Prescott‘s contract-year status and enormous leverage. One of the issues believed to be factoring into the quarterback’s negotiations: when the contract’s escape hatch emerges, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. This would pertain to when guarantees vest. Considering Prescott’s built-in advantages stemming from no-trade and no-tag clauses, along with his lofty 2024 cap number and a $40.1MM void years-driven penalty that would go on Dallas’ cap if he reaches free agency, the ninth-year QB is undoubtedly pushing for most of this contract to be guaranteed. Rolling guarantees, which feature money locking in a year early, are also likely coming up during these talks. The Cowboys prefer five- or six-year deals, though they are not in good position to dictate term length or guarantee structure to their longtime passer.

As could be expected, a host of execs are critical of Jerry Jones for slow-playing this. Some are puzzled (via the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora) the Cowboys owner has lost this much leverage with Dak. The Cowboys are believed to be closer on terms with CeeDee Lamb, but one GM told La Canfora that Jones “totally screwed this up” re: Prescott. A $60MM-per-year contract, or something close to it with a player-friendly guarantee structure, will almost definitely be necessary for the Cowboys to keep Dak away from free agency come March.

Here is the latest QB news from around the league:

Tua Tagovailoa‘s Dolphins deal features a rolling guarantee structure. The Miami QB’s $54MM 2026 base salary will shift from guaranteed for injury to fully guaranteed in 2025, Florio notes. Of Tua’s 2027 base salary ($31MM), $20MM is guaranteed for injury; $3MM of that total shifts to a full guarantee by 2026 before the remainder vests in 2027. A $5MM roster bonus is also due in 2027. Tagovailoa’s 2028 base ($41.4MM) is nonguaranteed. Miami has set up a potential 2027 escape hatch, though the southpaw starter would still collect more than $150MM from 2024-26 in the event the team moved on three years down the road. Two void years are included to spread out cap hits, the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin tweets.
Mason Rudolph has displayed accuracy at Titans camp, to the point Titans.com’s Jim Wyatt notes Malik Willis has been unable to gain ground — even though he has looked more comfortable in Year 3 — in the battle for the QB2 job. In the team’s preseason opener, Rudolph came in first and went 10-for-17 for 126 yards. Willis entered midway through the third quarter, going 5-for-7 for 38 yards (but rushing for 42). The Titans gave Rudolph a one-year, $2.8MM deal with $2.7MM guaranteed. A 2022 third-rounder, Willis is tied to a $985K base salary. Cutting the erratic third-year QB would cost the Titans only $466K, and it is certainly worth noting neither this coaching staff nor GM Ran Carthon was in Nashville when Willis was drafted. The Titans are open to carrying three QBs, but will this staff continue to develop an inherited arm given Carthon’s Will Levis investment?
NFL evaluators are split on Shedeur Sanders‘ stock for the 2025 draft. While ESPN.com’s Jordan Reid slots him as his No. 2 quarterback (behind Georgia’s Carson Beck) for the ’25 class — though, as a late-Round 1/early-Round 2 prospect — one NFL exec tabbed the Colorado QB as a Day 2 pick. Another evaluator labeled the returning Buffaloes passer as a first-rounder based largely on what is viewed as a weaker quarterback crop. Deion Sanders‘ influence on his son’s career is certainly not lost on execs, Reid adds, as the NFL legend/Colorado HC has already said he does see a cold-weather team as a fit (despite the duo’s current Boulder, Colo., location). Sanders’ impact on his son’s value has come up in NFL circles already and will likely remain a talking point moving forward.

Latest On Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders’ 2025 Draft Stock

May 19th, 2024 at 10:09pm CST by Rory Parks

There was a historic run on quarterbacks in the 2024 draft, with six signal-callers picked in the first 12 selections. In addition to the fact that QB is the most important position in sports, the flurry of passers flying off the board was partially explained by the talent of this year’s crop and the current belief that the 2025 class of prospects is not a particularly deep one.

Of course, much can change between now and next April, and there will surely be a number of players who author standout performances in their final collegiates seasons and put themselves on the radar of teams eyeing franchise quarterbacks. One player that we already know will be a focus of such clubs is Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders.

Sanders, the son of NFL legend and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, was eligible to declare for the 2024 draft, though he elected to remain in school for one more season. Per Jason La Canfora of the Washington Post, there is a variance of opinion as to where Sanders would have been picked if he had entered the 2024 draft, but a number of top execs believe the Buffaloes’ star will be firmly in the No. 1 overall discussion in 2025.

The GM of one club who could be in the market for an elite QB prospect next year said of Shedeur, “absolutely, he was a first-round pick [in 2024]. Absolutely. There would have been seven [QBs taken in the first round]. We obviously didn’t do as much work on him as the other quarterbacks once he announced he wasn’t coming out, but he would have been in the top three [quarterbacks] for us this year, I think, had he gone through the entire process. He probably would have been up there with [Caleb] Williams and [Jayden] Daniels.”

The Buffaloes were the talk of college football at the beginning of the 2023 season, when they stormed out to a 3-0 start with the dynamic father/son duo leading the charge. The bloom fell off the rose pretty quickly, though, as Colorado lost eight of its nine conference games to finish at the bottom of the Pac-12 standings.

For his part, Shedeur completed just under 70% of his passes for 27 touchdowns against just three picks last year. That followed an even more impressive 2022 season in which he connected on over 70% of his pass attempts and piled up 40 TDs and only six picks, although that performance came as a member of Jackson State, the FCS program that his father coached before he moved to Boulder.

An agent who recruited many members of the 2024 class of QBs told La Canfora that the Commanders would have seriously considered Sanders if he had entered in the 2024 draft, while a different talent evaluator who is employed by a team that did select a QB this year said, “I would have been stacking him right there with Daniels or [Drake] Maye. Definitely would have had him before [Michael] Penix, [J.J.] McCarthy or [Bo] Nix. If this kid comes out, he’s going in the top five or six picks. He could be the first pick of [the 2025] draft.”

Several of La Canfora’s sources said that Deion’s involvement in the process could be a complicating factor, with one such source calling him a “loose cannon,” but that will surely not deter a team who places a first-round grade on Shedeur. If the younger Sanders can put together a 2024 showing similar to his 2023 output, it sounds as if he could be the first player off the board in April 2025.