2025 Scouting Report: QB Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
Shedeur Sanders is an interesting prospect… we all know about Deion being his father and all of the extracurricular baggage that comes with him. I feel like combining Sanders ‘meh’ play and the off-the-field stuff in the background, we could have a disaster of a pick.
Shedeur faced Nebraska in their second game this past season, and he was completely rattled. Nebraska had a top-20 defense so this is a spot you’d like him to rise to the challenge but he didn’t. This was Sanders's worst game of his season, with 1 TD pass and a 60.5% completion rate. Shedeur was also sacked 5 times in a 28-10 loss, in a game where a true freshman Dylan Raiola looked better.
In Colorado’s only other game against a top-20 defense, the bowl game against BYU, once again Sanders put a terrible game on tape. Sanders threw 2 TDs and 2 INTs, were being shutout 20-0 at the half, then accumulated some garbage time stats as the game turned to be 36-7 after the end of the third quarter. In a game where he was sacked 4 times, Sanders was once again rattled by a good-great (college) defense.
From what I see on tape, it tells a similar story as his stats. Colorado had some great receiving options with Travis Hunter (second best in the class), Jimmy Horn is another speedster that is great after the catch. A lot of Colorado’s passing attack was designed to make Shedeur look good – which makes sense since his dad is the Head Coach. Sanders surrounded Shedeur with great receiving talent, a simple, quick, one-read passing game that will have a high completion percentage complimented by uber-athletic talents catching the ball. It is a great system that another coach could replicate and play in Bowl games for years.
Sanders got into trouble when 1 of two things happened…
His first read isn’t open. Sanders would find the open guy eventually, but rarely did I see him throw open a wide receiver. If his first choice wasn’t open he would throw the ball to Travis Hunter and Travis would magically come down with the ball.
He’s under pressure. Sanders looked to be afraid of contact, the complete opposite statement I had said just a few days ago about Cam Ward. Contact avoidance is a good trait to have, but that worried feeling would translate into Sanders passing, and he would either make a mistake or just take the sack because he’s one of the least mobile QBs I’ve scouted in recent years. (Caleb Williams without the natural talent?)
As I said earlier, the passing game was designed for quick, short throws. This was Shedeur’s bread and butter. It’s the one thing he was pretty good at… when he wasn’t hurried. Even in the quick passing game, Shedeur doesn’t throw the ball over the middle very often… a huge knock against him in my eyes.
Since Shedeur is such a high-profile prospect, it seems like everyone likes Shedeur because of his cockiness or hates him for the same reason. Shedeur is one of the least humble players I’ve scouted, he has the opposite demeanor you look for in a QB, he has a diva-WR mindset. Shedeur has been gifted the greatest coaching money can buy and is riding off of his HoF father’s last name. This reminds me a lot of another overhyped prospect from 2024…
I’m not going to keep beating the dead horse on this, everyone has their opinions on how Shedeur conducts himself by now, but the best story I read while researching this side of Shedeur’s life is that when he bought his Rolls Royce, Deion asked Tom Brady to help talk him out of buying the car. It didn’t help. Shedeur also has a Maybach, a Hellcat, a Corvette, a Cybertruck, and a Lamborghini.
The Data on Shedeur Sanders
In Shedeur's two games against top-20 defenses (Nebraska and BYU) he averaged a 63.9% comp. Pct., 226 passing yards, 1.5 TDs, 1.5 INTs, 4.5 sacks, and an impressive -32 rush yards (Sacks are counted as rush attempts/rush yards in NCAAF).
In those games, Shedeur went (0-2) and was outscored a combined 48 to NOTHING in the first half of those games.
As you can see in the chart below, the data likes Shedeur as a prospect… a 6.6 ThrowRtg generally puts him in that capable backup/low-end starter range. As I’ve discussed prior, on tape things are not all rainbows and unicorns with him. If I were an NFL GM I would give Sanders a 6th-round draft grade a put a big red DO NOT DRAFT sign over his name, that way we don’t even entertain the idea of picking him.
| ThrowRtg | MobRtg | H | W | Player | Team | adjCompPct | adjYds/Comp | adjAtt/TD | adjAtt/INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.687 | 2.2715 | 74 | 215 | Shedeur Sanders | Colorado | 78.4 | 12.4 | 8.3 | 22.0 |
ThrowRtg = Combination of passing stats, adjusted stats, and strength of schedule.
MobRtg = Trying to identify/reward QBs that are more mobile than traditional passers, as teams look for more athletic QBs
ThrowRtg and MobRtg are on a scale of 0-10, but there are instances where players can be above or below the 0-10 threshold.
Adj. = Stats weighted against strength of opponents
Draft Outlook:
I just know some NFL team is going to get suckered into drafting Shedeur in the early first round, whether it’s the Giants, Saints, Browns, or some other QB-needy team, Sanders will be a top-10 pick. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Titans drafted him first overall to be completely honest, despite Levis working with QB guru Jordan Palmer this offseason.
Career Outlook:
Shedeur will be drafted highly bringing along all of the extra stuff that comes with him, and once he doesn’t succeed fans will start to turn on him. Year two is when the media will turn on him, they’ll be slower to react in fear of being called out by Deion. I don’t think Shedeur has the same mentality or work ethic that Sam Darnold had, a QB who got run out of town but worked for years and finally found himself as a player about to cash in for a huge contract. Shedeur will always be fighting for the spotlight.
Image Source: (AP Photo/Annie Rice)
