5 best team fits for Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL Draft

These five teams would be the ideal fit for the polarizing Colorado quarterback

Sep 21, 2024; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) warms up before the game against the Baylor Bears at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images / Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

5 best team fits for Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL Draft

1. Seattle Seahawks
2. Tennessee Titans
3. Las Vegas Raiders
4. Pittsburgh Steelers
5. Cleveland Browns
6. — Enjoy more free NFL Draft coverage with NFL Draft on SI —

There is not a more polarizing prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft class than Colorado Football quarterback Shedeur Sanders. And through four weeks of the College Football season, he has shown he can take strides forward from some low points in his game a year ago.

His pocket presence last year was rough to say the least. However, against Baylor in the comeback win last weekend, Sanders (despite being sacked eight times!) showed he was more than willing to hang in ugly pockets, step up, and deliver throws down the field. He even showed the willingness to use his legs more to pick up positive yards as a player who wants to hang in the pocket to almost a fault.

As a result, Sanders is locking himself in as a first round pick. The question is, however: where does he come off the board? We help to sift through some of the scheme-specific stuff, personnel stuff, and more to give you his best five fits at the NFL level when it gets to 2025 NFL Draft day. Here are his best five fits in the NFL:

Seattle Seahawks

I am firmly team Extend Geno Smith, but if the Seattle Seahawks decide to draft his heir apparent instead, then why not draft the guy who gets compared to Smith more than any other player in the draft? There are so many similarities between Sanders and Smith. From the velocity they generate on the football, to their ability to navigate the pocket, to their unbelievable deep ball accuracy.

Again, it is extremely hard to find a quarterback in the NFL, so the Seahawks should buck up and pay the one they have on some sort of long-term deal (three years with an out after two has a nice ring to it). But if they do proceed to start plan for life without Smith, there would be no cleaner transition than to hand the keys over the Sanders.

Tennessee Titans

Brian Callahan is already at his wits end with Will Levis after just three weeks on the job in Nashville. He's called a successful offense (extremely successful at that) with a quarterback who does not have a massive arm, but gets the ball out on time, and with anticipation and accuracy in Joe Burrow during his time in Cincinnati.

This is not to compare Joe Burrow and Shedeur Sanders, but to say the pocket presence of Sanders would be leaps and bounds better than what he is working with now. The Titans will still need to get Sanders some wide receivers and playmakers that don't qualify for AARP, but this is a good start for the new regime in Nashville after investing first round picks in the offensive line the past two seasons.

Las Vegas Raiders

For aesthetic purposes, there is no better fit for Sanders than to wear the iconic silver and black. And for the Raiders, they are in desperate need of a quarterback after a summer of the world's worst quarterback battle, and the benching of Gardner Minshew just three weeks into the season for Aidan O'Connell.

The Raiders also lack talent on the offensive side of the ball, so they may want to let Minshew bridge one more season, but Sanders has the abillity to elevate a team of underperformers (as he has done for two years at Colorado). From a branding perspective, Sanders in Vegas, in the iconic Raiders uniform is as good as it gets.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers have been searching for a quarterback since the retirement of Ben Roethlisberger. And while Justin Fields has them sitting at 3-0 on the season thus far, they are not kidding themselves about his long-term future as the starting quarterback of the team. They need a quarterback still, and badly.

And there are not many head coaches who have the locker room to bring in a guy like Sanders (who has always been the center of attention and the big man on campus) and work him into his new life as a professional quarterback like Mike Tomlin. We all know that some of the stuff about the way Sanders carries himself on and off the field, the way he has talked about his teammates, and more will not fly in the NFL. And Tomlin and the veterans in that Pittsburgh locker room like Cameron Heyward and TJ Watt would help to curb that quickly.

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns cannot let the Deshaun Watson experience go on another year. They may not be able to let it go on another week. So why not bring back Jameis Winston for one more season as a bridge quarterback, and draft Shedeur Sanders to take over in 2026?

The strength of Sanders' play is in his ability to diagnose quickly, get the ball out on time and on schedule, and deliver accurate throws deep down the field. The Browns have been lacking a quarterback who can do this no matter how hard head coach Kevin Stefanski begs for one. Sanders would be the ideal fit for Stefanski and in the two-time NFL Coach of the Year's offensive system.

— Enjoy more free NFL Draft coverage with NFL Draft on SI —

2025 NFL Mock Draft

Week 4 helmet stickers: Which 2025 NFL Draft prospects shined brightest?

Undersized but not overlooked: Georgia LB Jalon Walker is a playmaker

2025 NFL Mock Draft has Panthers taking Quinn Ewers No. 1 overall

Texas RT Cameron Williams is exploding onto 2025 NFL Draft scenes