Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about Colorado’s pro day on April 4 is the fact that numerous reporters and analysts walked away from those workouts believing that both the Cleveland Browns (pick No. 2) and New York Giants (No. 3) will pass on selecting Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders on the night of April 24 even though neither team has a long-term answer at the sport’s most important position.
Multiple NFL executives offered some alarming evaluations of Sanders’ pro day performance that were shared by Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer on Monday.
“The quarterback didn’t spin it great,” an unnamed AFC executive who attended the pro day said about Sanders. “He threw it well. You just don’t have the tight spiral with velocity, but he showed good accuracy, a good deep ball.”
Browns reporter Tony Grossi of ESPN Cleveland/The Land on Demand noted that “Sanders tossed a decent percentage of wobblers among his 60-plus throws” as evaluators from NFL clubs looked on. That’s concerning, considering pro days are set up to emphasize players’ strengths and hide certain weaknesses.
“With a top-five pick,” the AFC executive said about Sanders, “you want him to look like Troy Aikman, Justin Herbert. He’s not that, but he’s a little bigger than I thought he’d be, standing next to him. There’s just no elite trait there other than he’s really instinctive and he knows how to play, and does a lot of things well. He’s also got some things to clean up.”
While predicting via his latest mock draft that Sanders will slide to the Pittsburgh Steelers at the 21st overall pick, The Athletic’s Nick Baumgardner mentioned that he feels Sanders is not “ready to help fix a truly bad team” and will “be a much better fit if he lands somewhere that can give him a supporting cast.” Meanwhile, a different executive told Breer that Sanders didn’t showcase “a ‘wow’ arm on intermediate or shorter stuff” during the workout.
“Very efficient workout,” a third AFC executive said about Sanders. “Nothing special, stayed within what he does well and was solid.”
A team that spends a high-value draft pick on a quarterback usually wants more than “solid” play from that signal-caller over time, even if the club plans to sit the player throughout his rookie season. For example, the Las Vegas Raiders could take Sanders at choice No. 6 but start Geno Smith through the end of the 2026 campaign.
The New York Jets (No. 7), New Orleans Saints (No. 9), Indianapolis Colts (No. 14), Seattle Seahawks (No. 18) and Los Angeles Rams (No. 26) are other teams that could take Sanders in the first round but then let him develop as an unused backup until at least next year.
As of early Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Saints as the betting favorites at +300 odds to select Sanders at some point during the draft. Perhaps sharing a quarterback room with Derek Carr could help Sanders eventually become more than a “solid” player at the highest level.
