Is Shedeur Sanders going to be drafted ahead of the Raiders?
And if he isn’t drafted in the first five picks, will Tom Brady and company be inclined to take him with the no. 6 pick?
That’s one of the major talking points with the draft just over a week away, and rumors intensified on Monday around the idea of the Giants taking Shedeur with the third overall pick.
According to former ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay, the Giants are still in the running for Sanders and have set up a private workout with Shedeur at the University of Colorado this week.
“No one is saying it’s going to happen, but people are telling me ‘Don’t close the book on Shedeur to the Giants,'” McShay said on Monday. “It’s either Shedeur or it’s Adbul Carter and most people think it’s going to be Adbul Carter.”
McShay added on X that there might be an element of ownership impacting the draft decision in New York, and that potential dynamic would be consistent with a lot of what goes on within the Giants’ organization in recent years.
Interestingly, on the same day that rumors reignited around Shedeur and the Giants, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer leaned into the narrative that Sanders is a candidate to fall in the draft.
According to Breer, the league in general seems to be moving away from Sanders as a first-round prospect…
“I’m having a really hard time finding coaches or scouts who believe Sanders is a first-round talent. This, by the way, is separate from any issue anyone has with his personality. Those questions exist, but lots of teams have made exceptions in that department in the past to take on guys with special talents. The problem seems to be that too many folks don’t think Sanders has those types of gifts.
What I keep hearing—and this has nothing to do with anyone having some personal issue with Sanders, or looking for him to fall in the draft so they can draft him—is that he isn’t a great athlete on tape, doesn’t have exceptional arm talent, and too often does things that simply won’t translate to the NFL game. Now, it’s not like Sanders is devoid of ability. Even his critics will tell you that he’s accurate, smart and tough, and credit him for winning consistently at programs where it’s hard to do that. There’s production there that doesn’t happen if a kid can’t play.
But one interesting point that was raised to me in comparing Sanders to Ole Miss’s Jaxson Dart a couple months ago was interesting. The coach I was talking to said, simply, that when you watch those two under duress on tape, you see Dart moving forward, and Sanders moving backward. That essentially means that where Dart would climb the pocket, Sanders would bail out the back of it, and run away from defenders to create time to throw.
It’s a little thing, but to this coach, it was an example of how Dart’s game may translate to the NFL better—and how in a league with freakish pass rushers all over the place, the quarterback who manipulates the space around him has a much better chance than the one trying to create space on his own.
Anyway, I don’t think Sanders is going in the top three. And at this point, it feels like it’d be surprising if the Las Vegas Raiders, New York Jets or Saints took him in the top 10. I’ve had more than one person say to me that if Sanders goes in the first round, it’ll be because an owner got involved. That, of course, is a bit of a guess from a few guys who are clued into how Sanders is viewed. But it’s also a bit of a window into the way evaluators are looking at the Colorado star.”
But not everyone is buying the negative hype around Sanders.
NFL insider Josina Anderson has been one of the gatekeepers on the narratives around Sanders in recent weeks and she is clearly of the opinion that Shedeur is going to be drafted ahead of where the majority of mock drafts have been placing him.
As for the Raiders, Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton thinks Sanders and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty have the best odds of ending up in Las Vegas with the no. 6 pick.
It’s all speculation at this point, but Shedeur continues to be one of the most unique QB prospects to enter the draft in recent years. For different reasons, so does Jeanty.
Most believe Shedeur will be on the board when the Raiders are on the clock, and it will be interesting to see what the decision makers in Vegas do if the draft plays out that way.
As it has been from the start, the team that ultimately drafts Shedeur is going to be a team that’s comfortable with his father in the mix.
For some teams, the looming presence of Deion Sanders won’t be a problem, but for most of the league, that probably isn’t the most enticing dynamic to sign up for.
The Giants need some level of relevance going into the 2025 season and it’s easy to see why their ownership would be interested in signing up for the attention that Shedeur would bring to New York.
The Saints are another team that might be enticed by the instant attention the Sanders family would bring to the organization.
On the Locked on Raiders podcast last week, and host Q Myers said he believes the Derek Carr situation in New Orleans could push the Saints into panicking in the first round.
“I know that they’re saying that this is not something that is just brand new news to them, but with the fact that it’s going to be 10 days out from the draft from today, they’re going to have to make some decisions quick, fast and in a hurry,” Myers said. “Spencer Rattler is not the guy, in my opinion, he’s not that dude. Jake Haener is not that guy either, in my opinion, and I think the Saints know it.”
If the Saints are desperate for a quarterback, could they be considering an aggressive trade with the Raiders for the no. 6 pick?
x: @raidersbeat
Must be the fly🪰on the wall named Greg.
Sanders to the Raiders is not the best kept secret 🙄
Brady is only a MINORITY owner he doesn’t have much power. May have a voice and an opinion. Just because he was a great player at his position doesn’t necessarily make him an evaluator of talent. That’s where Spytek, Kelly, Carroll come in. Beast mode 🌵 desert style coming soon.AJ at 6.