NFL Draft experts ‘blown away’ by Shedeur Sanders skillset

Nearing the halfway point of the 2023 season, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders has made a big name for himself. Now, Sanders has even made himself one of the most interesting quarterback prospects for the NFL Draft.

On the First Draft podcast, Field Yates was joined by Matt Miller and Jordan Reid to discuss quarterbacks, including Sanders.

“I’ve been blown away by Shedeur Sanders,” Reid said. “I’ve really enjoyed diving into his film. As a former quarterback, I love seeing guys who are super accurate and I think he has the best accuracy of any quarterback in this class. He has a plan all the time, he understands how to attack coverage, but the thing that I like the most about Shedeur is he embraces the spotlight.”

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“A lot of times being Deion Sanders‘ kid, being in the spotlight, all eyes are on you. The whole nation watches you, and he loves it. He thrives off of that.”

Reid pointed to Sanders’ poise in the Colorado State game. When the lights were incredibly bright, he kept his poise.

“Everybody knows they’re not good up front but he battles through that every single week. I think he’s taken over 20 sacks this year. That’s partly his fault. I think he needs to get rid of the ball a little bit quicker than he’s doing.”

Shedeur Sanders was a three-star recruit and the 33rd-ranked quarterback recruit in the 2021 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings. He initially went to Jackson State to play for his father Deion Sanders before transferring to Colorado when his father changed jobs too.

“I compared him to Geno Smith and that’s not a slight. I think Geno was a very good football player coming out of West Virginia. A lot of people don’t remember how good Geno was his senior year, but the poise, the precision that he plays with, the accuracy, and then how ice cold his veins are down the back stretch of games. I’ve been really impressed with him but the IQ and just the football smarts, I think that’s the trait that best describes Shedeur and how he’s playing this year.”

Through five games, Sanders is completing 74.8 percent of passes for 1,781 yards and 15 touchdowns. Jordan Reid clearly loves his play and Matt Miller agrees that he’s excellent. Miller even compared him to Tua Tagovailoa.

“He’s so surgical and accurate and the touch passes are there and he’s poised, like Tua, he’s not exceptionally mobile but he’s gonna give you something. I think Shedeur’s probably a better runner just because he doesn’t have the injury history of a Tua right now. But I can’t think of a player I’ve been more impressed by this season. I love watching Shedeur Sanders play,” Miller said.

“Week 1, I was the biggest skeptic of how’s this gonna work? He met his offensive linemen two weeks ago, how’s this gonna work? How’s this gonna come together with 80 new players? And even this past weekend without his two best receivers arguably, to be able to lead that comeback against USC just showed his field vision as good as his accuracy. I’m with you guys, the most accurate quarterback I’ve seen this year. His field vision, and he doesn’t have seven seconds to throw like Caleb Williams, his field vision has been phenomenal.”

While Miller likes Sanders, he doesn’t like him as much as some others. At the same time, he also doesn’t think Sanders will actually declare for the NFL Draft after this season.

“So, I’m all aboard the hype train for Shedeur Sanders. I don’t know if I’m with Mel [Kiper] putting him up there with the number two pick or wherever Mel has him, but I’m a huge fan and I’ll say this now, I don’t think we need to worry about Shedeur Sanders for 2024 because I don’t think he’s going to leave Colorado and leave that program they’re building for the NFL. I think that would be a shocker at this point.”

Deion Sanders on Shedeur Sanders going to the NFL

Despite the success that Shedeur Sanders has had and the praise he’s receiving from NFL Draft experts, his father recently shared that there’s no rush for him to make the jump to the NFL.

“It’s about a whole lot of other things, teams, position, round projection, all of that plays a role. Because now with NIL and who they are, shoot, you can make just as much money here (college) as you can there (NFL) unless you’re one of the first five picks,” Sanders said.