If Shedeur Sanders falls in the draft, would Rams have no choice but to take him?

With the NFL Draft just over a month away, it is officially the season of smoke screens and misinformation being spread as teams look to manipulate the draft in their favor. The Los Angeles Rams tend to remain quiet throughout the draft process, but sitting with the 26th overall pick, there is a chance that they could benefit from a prospect’s stock falling. This is what happened last year when they landed Jared Verse at 19.

One of the major topics of discussion for the Rams even after re-signing Matthew Stafford is what they’ll do at the quarterback position. While they re-signed Jimmy Garoppolo to a one-year deal for 2025, the Rams also need to get a younger player behind him. That’s not to say they need to force it with someone like Jaxson Dart at the end of the first round, but it is something they need to be thinking about as Stafford gets older. General manager Les Snead mentioned as much in his post-Combine press conference. Said Snead,

“We probably would approach it ASAP. I do think part of the equation that’s the hardest part of that equation is, it’s one thing to identify QB, it’s another to actually be able to acquire him.”

It’s become pretty clear over the last two preseasons that Stetson Bennett probably is not a long-term solution as a starter or a backup. This may not be the strongest crop of quarterbacks, but players like Tyler Shough and Kyle McCord do bring some level of upside. A draft scenario that has come up recently is Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders sliding in the draft.

Following the Combine, there were several reports of Sanders coming off unprofessional in meetings with teams. Former ESPN Draft analyst and currently of The Ringer, Todd McVay said,

“The two people that I spoke to who were in these individual meetings, teams in the top 10 drafting that need a quarterback. The two people that I spoke to in these positions left the meeting feeling like Shedeur Sanders was not overly concerned with what they thought of him. They had the 15 minute meeting with him and when they were done, they both said in different ways, different words that they did not feel like Shedeur Sanders cared all that much about what that organization thought of him.”

NFL Reporter Josina Anderson also reported that a quarterbacks coach from a team drafting in the top seven described him as “brash” and “arrogant” during their meeting. Said Anderson,

“I am disappointed to hear that a quarterbacks coach from a team drafting in the top 7 referred to Shedeur Sanders as coming off “brash” and “arrogant” in his team interview and making his assessment known to a number of people, per source.”

As mentioned previously, these are the types of stories that tend to get pushed throughout the draft process. This could be true, or it could be a team selecting in the 5-10 range trying to get Sanders to fall to them. It also doesn’t help that the draft process began with Cam Ward and Sanders being seemingly a 1a-1b and now the Miami quarterback has created a pretty clear gap. In a weaker quarterback class, a team may force their hand and select Sanders or it is very possible that he slips.

This has been shown in recent mock drafts. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has Sanders sliding to 21 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, a more interesting scenario came from NFL Media’s Lance Zierlein. Zierlein had Sanders falling all the way to the 29th overall pick. In this scenario, the Cleveland Browns traded up to 29 to take Sanders. A similar scenario took place in a mock draft conducted by The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner. The New York Jets traded up to 28 to take the Colorado quarterback.

While neither scenario had the Rams taking Shedeur Sanders, if the Colorado quarterback was available with the Rams on the clock, a serious conversation would have to take place. If the Rams continue to plan on competing, it’s not going to be very often that a quarterback like Sanders falls to them. Taking Sanders at 26 gives them a future beyond Stafford and gives them a rookie quarterback with five years of control.

This isn’t to say that Shedeur Sanders is Joe Burrow, but they do have some similar traits when it comes to timing, accuracy, and layering throws. There are some shades of Burrow in Sanders’ game. As noted by The Ringer’s Danny Kelly,

“He has a point guard’s mentality and throws with zip and accuracy in the short and intermediate areas. He varies his velocity and layers passes over second-level defenders, using touch and ball placement to lead his receivers away from defenders. Sanders can drop a pass into a bucket deep down the sideline. He can extend plays with his legs, keeping his eyes downfield to find an open man.”

The ability to layer throws and hit the intermediate areas of the field with timing and accuracy are key components to executing the Sean McVay offense.

It’s hard to say whether or not the Rams would select Sanders to sit behind Stafford for two years. They are in a win-now position and taking a quarterback in the first round to sit on the bench doesn’t invest in that ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl. Is it possible to balance the two when investing so much in a younger quarterback? Snead addressed this in his press conference,

“We do have Matthew and we want to chase ‘special,’ whatever special may be so maybe it’s best at that moment to draft another position player and keep going that way. You’re always balancing those two things but finding the next QB, that one is easier said than done.”

A similar scenario nearly played out in 2023. Kentucky quarterback Will Levis was a projected mid-first round quarterback who slid into the second round. With the Rams selecting at 36, there was a lot of discussion on whether or not they would select Levis if he was available. However, the Tennessee Titans traded up from 41 to take Levis with the first pick of the second round.

If Sanders were available at 26, the Rams would also have to heavily consider trading back. The Philadelphia Eagles got two second round picks and a fourth round pick in return when they traded back with the Baltimore Ravens in 2018 for quarterback Lamar Jackson. A second-round pick in 2026 would give the Rams ammo to move up in next year’s quarterback class that is supposed to be much better.

In all likelihood, Sanders will go in the top-10 and won’t fall outside of the top seven. Even through the opening days of free agency as quarterback-needy teams sign veteran quarterbacks and if Deion Sanders doesn’t allow his son to be drafted by the Browns, it seems far-fetched that the Colorado quarterback would last past the New Orleans Saints at nine. If he does get past the Saints, a slide could happen and the Steelers are the next team to watch.

There is still over a month to go before the draft and teams are already heavily pushing certain storylines. While Sanders may not make it to the Rams at 26, he would be a player they would have to heavily consider if a slide does happen.