Chris Klieman believes Shedeur Sanders should be the first quarterback taken in NFL Draft

Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman knows how talented Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders is. So much so, the Wildcats’ coach believes Sanders should be the first QB taken in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Kansas State heads to Boulder this weekend for a Big 12 matchup and he’ll see Sanders up close. Both teams are 4-1 and this game is vital for conference positioning at the midseason point.

Klieman is ready for everything Colorado will throw at the team, but Sanders is top priority.

“There’s a lot of concerns that we have” Klieman said. “Obviously go to the offensive side. And I think Sanders will be the first quarterback picked off the board. He should be. In the film that I’ve seen of a lot of the top guys, I think he’s an excellent thrower. You can’t really confuse him. I’ve seen a lot of different teams try to manipulate coverage in disguise, and he does a really good job pre snap to post snap, and he can make all the throws, and has a lot of guys to throw the football to.” 

The way Klieman sees it, a simple solution would be to keep the ball out of Sanders’ hands for as long as possible.

“And then on defense, they’re going to be aggressive,” Klieman said. “We’re going to see, probably, a lot of man coverage and some pressure. And so we have to be able to win in man coverage, and we have to be able to find ways to run the football.”

In five games this season, Sanders has 1,630 yards, 14 touchdowns, three interceptions and a 70.1% completion percentage. He’s on pace to pass his numbers from last year, when he played in 11 games.

In Mel Kiper’s most recent Top 10 quarterback rankings for the 2025 NFL Draft, he had Sanders at the top of his list. ESPN College GameDay host Rece Davis thought the same.

“I think right now I’d take Shedeur Sanders. I think,” Davis said. “There are some things – holds the ball a little bit. You want to make sure that in an NFL locker room that guys will come to him and play for him. But he can move. He can make throws going a lot of different ways. You know, I mean, he can really, really spin it.”

Sanders and Colorado host Kansas State and Klieman at 10:15 p.m. ET Saturday.