Kurt Warner highlights his biggest concern with Shedeur Sanders as NFL prospect

There are a few interesting quarterbacks available in this year’s NFL Draft. One of the chief among them is Shedeur Sanders out of Colorado. However, one Hall of Fame quarterback does have a major concern with his pocket presence as an NFL prospect.

Kurt Warner, who once led the Greatest Show on Turf, recently appeared on The Joel Klatt Show. There, he explained that while he’s by no means an NFL Draft guru and that there is also a lot to like about Sanders, how he handles the pocket remains a concern.

“I’m not a draft guy,” Kurt Warner said. “So, I don’t go back and watch every single snap that all of these guys have. To me, it’s getting a sense of who they were in college, getting a sense of what they do well, and then I’ll let somebody else project where they go or what they’re going to be at the NFL level because I just think it’s such an inexact science that I’m not trying to get into that world.”

There is a lot to like about Sanders. Coming from a family steeped in football success, Sanders is an incredibly accurate passer. In particular, Warner praised him for throwing the best ball among the draft-eligible quarterbacks.

“I will agree that Shedeur may throw the best ball,” Warner said. “And what I mean by that is the most catchable, the most accurate ball of all of these guys. I love that he can place the ball, but he never, you know, whether it’s because of arm strength or whatever, he never throws it hard. He never has to throw it through you. So, I like that aspect of things. I like guys that understand how to make different throws. He’s got great touch. I think he throws a really good deep ball. All of those things.”

However, the big issue remains his pocket presence. In particular, Warner notices him get uncomfortable too quickly and not go through his progressions, trying to create too soon.

“I watched the last four games for all of these quarterbacks,” Warner said. “You mentioned the offensive line. When I break down quarterbacks, I try to eliminate what’s happened all year long. I try to eliminate everything that’s happened in the game and I try to look at it play-to-play… Did you do the right thing on this play? Did you make the right throw, did you make the right read, as opposed to stacking it all together? With that being said, I felt in the last four games that Shedeur was very uneasy in the pocket. Very seldom did I see him strong in the pocket and get back and set and read and deliver the ball. It was almost like he was always uneasy back there.”

During his time with Colorado, the Buffaloes have had plenty of offensive line issues. After it was a noticeable weakness in 2023, the staff turned the line over in 2024 with the Transfer Portal. Still, it didn’t improve as much as the team would have appreciated.

“Maybe that all led into these last four games I’m just uneasy because I’ve gotten hit so much. But that was the thing that concerned me was that I felt like he very seldom went through the process. It was kind of [drop] back, see the first guy, and get uneasy and try to create a throw,” Warner said. “As opposed to just playing the game. So, that’s a concern for me, but is that something was only because of the situation, only because of the offensive line and he can be more solid in the pocket and he can work through things and not get impatient in the pocket?”

Shedeur Sanders finished his final college season completing 74 percent of passes for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns to 10 interceptions. He did that in an offense that should have better prepared him for the pros than most other offenses in college.

“So, that was my concern when I watched him. Like the throws. As you said, I like some of the different throws and concepts that he had to play through,” Warner said. “Because that’s always exciting to me… I feel like Colorado with Coach [Pat] Shurmur does some of that [NFL-style concepts]. So, Shedeur had to run some more pro-style offense there. I like that part of it too. You’ve been exposed to it, you’ve played in it, you’ve had a lot of success in it. I just want to see him more solid in the pocket and the ability to process quickly so he doesn’t have to get uneasy after first look and go create a throw. To stay in there, see it, understand it, and get the ball out a little bit more on time than I saw.”

In a recent mock draft, Shedeur Sanders was mocked to be selected first overall by the Tennessee Titans.