Mel Kiper Jr. pounds the table for Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter: 'Both will be Hall of Famers'

Mel Kiper Jr. is extremely confident in his evaluations of the Colorado tandem of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. The latter is the No. 1 player on his Big Board and has been there since this past August. Sanders, meanwhile, is No. 5 and Kiper’s top ranked quarterback.

Kiper thinks both are special players. And by the time their NFL careers are done, the ESPN NFL Draft analyst believes both will be getting fitted for Gold Jackets.

“When you look at Travis Hunter, he’s No. 1 on my board since August. That’s never changed. I’ve been big on Hunter, I’m big on Shedeur Sanders,” Kiper said Tuesday on Get Up. “I’ll go down fighting on both of these Colorado Buffaloes. I think both these kids will be Hall of Famers.”

That’s a big statement from Kiper. Not necessarily when it comes to Hunter, as most draft evaluators have him atop their boards as the No. 1 ranked receiver and cornerback. But when it comes to Sanders, opinion is a bit more split.

There’s no question Sanders is talented. As a senior at Colorado this past season, he led the nation with a 74% completion percentage. Sanders also totaled 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns, along with just 10 interceptions on 477 pass attempts.

Mel Kiper Jr. explains why he believes Shedeur Sanders will excel in NFL

But there are concerns about Sanders’ arm strength, athleticism and size. It didn’t impact him much at Colorado, but the NFL is a different beast. Kiper, however, is confident in Sanders’ ability to perform at the next level.

“What do you want in a quarterback? You want toughness, you want accuracy, you want decision making, you want leadership, you want intelligence, you want someone that’s clutch in big spots. Clutch quarterback. What’s he lacking?” Kiper said. “I go to Johnny Unitas, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, Drew Brees, Joe Montana. What did they all do? They won from the pocket. They didn’t have the greatest arms or were the most mobile quarterback.

“But all those other boxes were checked. Everyone wants that. You want toughness, accuracy, precise passing, decision making. … Shedeur has all that.”