If the Rams draft a quarterback in the first round, it might not be Shedeur Sanders — and not because he’s off the board
The pre-draft process couldn’t be much worse than it has been for Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. That doesn’t mean that Sanders won’t be a top-10 pick, it just means that as we get closer to the main event that the media has been more willing each day to report that the NFL isn’t nearly as high on Deion’s son as we were led (by the media) to believe.
SI’s Albert Breer reported on Monday, although this is something that a few people have been saying for months, that Sanders probably won’t go to the Browns or Giants in the top-3. But that’s not all.
Breer went further, writing that it would surprise people if Sanders is a top-10 pick, and that as a reporter he’s having a hard time finding teams that believe he should go in the first round at all. That would mean that not only does Sanders drop to the L.A. Rams at 26, but that Les Snead and Sean McVay could pass on him entirely.
I’m having a really hard time finding coaches or scouts who believe Sanders is a first-round talent.
Anyway, I don’t think Sanders is going in the top three. And at this point, it feels like it’d be surprising if the Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets or Saints took him in the top 10.
I’ve had more than one person say to me that if Sanders goes in the first round, it’ll be because an owner got involved. That, of course, is a bit of a guess from a few guys who are clued into how Sanders is viewed. But it’s also a bit of a window into the way evaluators are looking at the Colorado star.
Breer notes that “an owner would have to get involved” for Sanders to be a first round pick, but if you know Stan Kroenke at all, then you know that L.A.’s owner doesn’t meddle in Snead and McVay’s business. He lets the football people make football decisions.
Sanders has not really been praised for much as an NFL draft prospect aside from being a fast mental processor and accurate within the short to intermediate distance. However, “he got his mom’s athleticism” according to one quote I’ve heard thrown out there, he doesn’t have a strong arm, and he’s one of the least accurate deep passers in all of college football.
In other words, if his name was “Shedeur Milton” or something and he played for Colorado, would we even be talking about him as a top-100 pick?
This could all be a moot point and Sanders goes to the Jets or Saints, but it sure doesn’t seem like that will be the case and not “because of smoke” or anything like that. Though the New Orleans Saints have come up a lot lately with connection to Sanders because Derek Carr is in danger of missing the entire season, nobody should believe that Sanders is going to be a better option in 2025 as a rookie than available veteran options.
Just because he is a quarterback doesn’t mean he is the quarterback.
At pick 26, don’t be surprised at all if the Rams draft the best available prospect (and that definitely won’t be a quarterback) or if Sanders goes after Cam Ward, Jaxson Dart, and potentially even Tyler Shough and Jalen Milroe.
Nobody knows what will happen in the draft until the draft — I remember in 2019 when Drew Lock was often cited as a top-10 pick and Daniel Jones was someone teams might “settle for” on day two, but then the Giants took Jones at 6 and Lock was the player who fell to 42, also going later than Dwayne Haskins — but just because you’ve been told by people for months (or even years) that Shedeur Sanders is a first round pick that it’s a “smokescreen” just because many of those people are now changing their tune.
