No personnel are discussed as hot as Shedeur Sanders before the 2025 draft. Sanders polarizes, partly due to self -confident announcements, partly because of his father – and partly because of the simple question: Who is pouring the young quarterback? And when? However, what should not polarize is his tape. Because that allows a comparatively clear conclusion.
A – admittedly very simple – way to categorize quarterbacks is to answer this question: What is your superpower?
Patrick Mahomes has an extraordinary spatial perception and a sensational arm. Josh Allen may have an even better arm, and is a nature violence as a runner. Lamar Jackson is the most dynamic athlete in the position. Justin Herbert has an elite arm and is outstanding when it comes to manage the pocket and quickly process things post-snap.
It is a very simplified consideration, and yet she tells us a lot when you calibrate your analysis. A quarter-back superpower is what the quarterback sets off. Every quarterback that I would put in a top 5 to top 8 has such a quality that stands out. Which gives his game a dimension that does not have other quarterbacks and contributes to solving problems and creating offense.
Conversely, a superpower is not necessarily what you can see in every play. All the basics such as accuracy, touch, understanding of the game and pocket behavior must always be given at least in a sufficiently good way so that a quarterback has a chance to climb into the top 10 in the position. That is the basis.
And there are also gradations, not every superpower is equivalent. Tua Tagovailoa, for example, plays very quickly, and in a way it also contributes to solving problems. But is it also qualitatively such an extraordinary tool that makes Tua’s game more robust? Or does it not just make it a scheme fit for certain offenses?
The point is this: Each team is looking for a quarterback with a superpower that can be divided and then in the last step in the playoffs. That is the ultimate goal. A goal that is unreachable for many teams for various reasons.
At this point the search for an alternative begins; After a quarterback with which you can win, even if it doesn’t happen primarily because of this quarterback.
And here Shedeur Sanders comes into play.
Is Shedeur Sanders a better prospect than Bo Nix?
In the course of his analysis, I had asked myself the question of what exactly Shedeur Sanders does nothing than Bo. Nothing was a quarterback before the draft in the previous year, which I liked as a high-floor Low-low-keiling prospect for the second round. A prospect with a relatively stable skill set, but without realistic top 10 potential.
A good gradation with the qualities mentioned above is possible here. Because the draft last year had quarterbacks with qualities that I would classify as a “superpower”. Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels above all. At nothing, I haven’t seen such a quality, just as I don’t see it at Sanders.
At the same time, nothing ‘rookie season in Denver underlined that you can win with such a quarterback. If the right Play caller uses it correctly if it does not have to do miracle things if he has to create little himself, especially as a passer, but can orientate and hold on to tight parameters.
In this respect, it is a bit ironic that Sanders are only too happy to speak of the fact that he is ideal for a franchise that wants to change – with him as a driving force, of course. He is probably more dependent on where he lands than other quarterbacks.
Shedeur Sanders: What are his strengths?
Because Sanders’ ideal role is quickly recognizable: he is an Underernath ball distributor.
His game is by far the most constant in every facet. Short dropbacks, designed Quick Game, his footwork is usually good, because his accuracy is reliable, because his reads and decisions are constant. Here you can see how he already recognizes before the snap where he will go with the ball and there were definitely phases in some games in which Sanders dismantled defenses from the Pocket.
His touch as a passer is generally good. Sanders can lay balls between the second and third level of the defense, he meets Seam-Routes, he can even meet deep holeshots with touch and anticipation-i.e. the vertical pass behind an outside corner and in front of a split-field-safety.
If I had to name a superpower in Sanders’ game, it would be his toughness in the pocket. At Colorado he played behind a weak offensive line, which Sanders long ago infamous interview after the defeat against Nebraska publicly threw in front of the proverbial bus.
But it is true that he had to put a lot of hits and act a lot under pressure. Sanders showed good pocket behavior in the beginning, but above all he showed the toughness to throw the ball against pressure and against the immediately impending hit.
The best play I saw from him in this regard was this shot against Oklahoma State.
The quarterback that I always have to think about with this specific quality is Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill was fearless in the Pocket, and in his best years with the Titans, this regularly meant that he stayed the second break in the pocket longer, knowing that he would take a hard hit, which it allowed the receiver on the deep crosser to create the decisive separation. It is not a “superpower” that is flexible. But it makes the offense more dangerous.
Shedeur Sanders: These are his weaknesses
To attribute this to the Bo-Nix point: a quarterback with a good but not an elite skills set too high, the chance increases that this quarterback ends as a bust. Because this usually goes hand in hand that the quarterback comes to a rather bad team with a difficult timeline. Success is quickly expected, the circumstances are not good and unstable. Kenny Pickett and Mac Jones are good examples of this; Bo nothing is the exception of this rule.
These quarterbacks are limited; Both in her college tape and in what is realistic as a forecast. And that definitely applies to Sanders.
Sanders’ arm is okay, but no longer as mediocrity, measured by NFL starter quality. He gets the ball downfield, but if he has to act off-platform, he quickly gets problems. Here you can see that he lacks arm strength and core-strength, also out of the pocket at Scrambles and then the throw from the movement. His accuracy suffered noticeably when he had to play out of an unclean pocket.
Sanders can create a little as a scrambler, but he is not a top animal athlete. He cannot react quickly to a changing situation with power or agility. He simply lacks the physical and athletic tools both as a passer and as runner to create reliably at NFL levels. In the event of deep passes, it will be dependent on ball winnings, because many of his deep passes are either inaccurate or end as contested jump ball that the receiver has to win.
And for the profile, which then results from this, Sanders must become even more constant and safer down for down as a passer. His dropback and his footwork as a whole were still inaccurate, so that the dropback was improvised or he did not move his feet in sync with his progression. When he throws a shaky base, his throws have a tendency to sail up.
Too often he hung on the first read, then became sluggish in the pocket and either threw balls too late, which he should no longer throw, or collected sacks that he could have avoided. This is a direct connection: Sanders does not have the superpower -in that case either the top animal arm or the spectacular mobility -in order to be able to afford to be too late with its reads or with its technology.
Draft forecast: Who is dragging Shedeur Sanders?
Sanders is simply not a dynamic player, even if the father would not suggest it. And the best quarterbacks in the NFL, but also the best quarterback prospects in the draft, are dynamic players.
Cam WARD this year has completely different options with his arm. Jalen Milroe is several stages under where Sanders is, but Milroe has an enormous upside through the athletics and through the arm. Sanders doesn’t have it, but he brings a certain floor. It is not much imagination to remember the role of Sander in the NFL a solid, maybe even a good quarterback.
The exciting question then is: Which team could this be realistic?
The Browns and Giants are the first logical candidates associated with Sanders. Cleveland has the number 2 overall pick, the Giants peck afterwards. Both need a quarterback, both probably have no chance of cam ward, starting from the fact that the titans are pattering.
In both cases, there are some building blocks offensive with which you can work. Both teams are also a good deal away from putting a quarterback that would need exactly the nest made. The Saints with the number 9 pick are now increasingly being traded as a possible Sanders team, here would be the exciting dynamic that Derek Carr as starter is even more than a Russell Wilson in New York around 2025, and Sanders are not immediately thrown into the cold water.
If you apply all of the parameters that have now been worked out, Pittsburgh would be the best spot for Shedeur Sanders. Behind a young, aspiring offensive line, in a quarterback-friendly scheme, with two excellent ball winnings on wide receiver and a defense, which can at least prevent shootouts at least.
The Steelers peck on 21 and while we know on the one hand that the big quarters back and the fear of being able to cope with the recent past without a promising option without a promising option without a promising option.
In Draft 2022, neither Malik Willis nor Matt Corral or Desmond Ridder went off the board in round 1 or round 2. Teams proved patience. Only one team struck in the first round after waiting: the Pittsburgh Steelers, who selected Kenny Pickett with the 20th Pick.