Giants GM Joe Schoen Praises Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders
![Jan 14, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders laughs as he watches the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets during the second half at the American Airlines Center. Jan 14, 2025; Dallas, Texas, USA; Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders laughs as he watches the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets during the second half at the American Airlines Center.](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_7510,h_4224,x_0,y_347/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/giants_country/01jjqmmn9ka6aa8sj1p0.jpg)
New York Giants general manager Joe Schoen is already knee-deep in evaluating college prospects, particularly quarterbacks.
And Schoen, the head of a Giants team that desperately needs a franchise quarterback, told reporters at the Senior Bowl this week that Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, with whom he, head coach Brian Daboll, assistant general manager Brandon Brown, and other top Giants personnel executives met with at the Shrine Bowl earlier this week, has impressed him.
"He's a great kid, a really good personality, football smart, his dad is a football coach," said Schoen during a break at the Senior Bowl practices.
"It's a little bit cliché, but he checks all the boxes of a [player with a] dad who is a football coach and the passion with which he approaches the game.”
The question for the Giants, though, besides whether Sanders will even make it to them at No. 3 in the draft order where they are slotted to pick, is whether Sanders is truly the best of the quarterback options in this year’s draft class.
This class also includes Miami’s Cam Ward, also expected to be a first-round pick, and projected Day 2 picks such as Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, and Syracuse’s Kyle McCord.
Sanders, who finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy voting this year, had his best season for the Buffaloes in 2024.
He finished his two-year stint at Colorado with a 71.8% rate and led the FBS with a 74% completion percentage in 2024.
His 37 touchdown passes were second (behind Ward) for most thrown by a 2025 draft-eligible quarterback with at least 330 dropbacks.
Sanders was also named the 2024 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and received the 2024 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award.
As impressive as Sanders has been, though, the Titans and Browns, both quarterback-needy teams, draft ahead of them. There has also been some speculation that the Las Vegas Raiders are interested in the young signal caller, though thus far, Sanders has only been linked to the Raiders via mock drafts.
If Sanders and Ward, the other quarterback linked to them, aren’t there when the Giants go on the clock, Schoen isn’t too worried.
"We're going to be open to anything," he said. "We're in a good position sitting at three with the available players. By process of elimination, we know we're going to get a good player. Regardless of what happens the next couple of months, we know there's going to be a really good player there."
For now, the Giants brass, which has since moved on to the Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Alabama, this week, will continue doing their due diligence, which is sure to include a formal meeting with Sanders at the combine and a visit to his pro day.
"It was good getting to meet him,” Schoen said. “He's had a really good career at Colorado and obviously looking forward to getting to knowing all those guys in the rest of the process."