Breaking Down Shedeur Sanders as an NFL Draft Prospect
The biggest storyline from the first full week of the 2023 college football season was Colorado's epic road upset over TCU, as head coach Deion Sanders led his team to a memorable win in his first game leading the Buffaloes.
When it comes to NFL draft buzz, the biggest revelation from that game was the performance of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion's son.
Sanders carved up the Horned Frogs defense to the tune of 510 yards and four touchdowns through the air, with no interceptions. That kind of performance has Sanders' draft stock headed through the roof.
How does the skill set Sanders displayed Saturday translate to the next level?
Kyle Crabbs of Athlon Sports broke down Sanders' best traits in his recent scouting report:
Sanders is a patient passer, a testament to the comfort he feels in the pocket and his field vision to see the defensive pursuit of both him and his receivers. Sanders walks the tightrope of big-play mentality and efficient quick-game quarterbacking quite well in spite of his ability and willingness to hold the ball and let things develop.
Sanders is a matchup headhunter; if he gets isolated 1-on-1s that he likes pre-snap, he's not afraid to isolate and take the big shot and let his receiver win with a well-placed football. This has shown up on vertical routes down the field and comebacks. If you want to play aggressive and don’t disguise your coverage well, Sanders is going to take his shots on you and test your defensive backs on an island.
As a whole, Sanders is judicious with the football, and has illustrated strong ball security in spite of his creative flair for off-schedule passing and his desire to hit big plays. He’s selectively aggressive, but offers a fairly notably vision cone to ensure routes he’s targeting have leverage.
No prospect is a finished product, though, and Crabbs also took a closer look at some of the areas in which Sanders still needs some refinement as a pro prospect:
Sanders’ foundation and understanding of the game has put him in, ahem, prime position to be successful. The nuances of the position offer him significant upside to continue to tap into. Because Shedeur plays the position very loose and patient, his consistency in ball timing to some routes and targets may not always be perfectly synced. With increased precision in this regard, Sanders can become more surgical as a passer and continue to create more run-after-catch opportunities.
I would consider Sanders a sufficient athlete; he typically runs to pass. While he’s got a sixth sense for pass rush closing around him, Shedeur is not going to gouge teams with man coverage to the same degree that more dynamic athletes will outside the pocket. As a result, Sanders must continue to lean on his ability to throw on the move and field vision to distribute the football, even once he’s outside the pocket.
Next year's quarterback class is loaded with promising talent, but outside of USC's Caleb Williams and North Carolina's Drake Maye, there hadn't been a leading contender for that QB3 spot in most early rankings. Sanders' dominant start to the 2023 season plants him firmly in that discussion.
To check out Crabbs' full scouting report at Athlon Sports, including how early he currently projects to come off the board in next year's draft, click here.
