Devy Digest: Shedeur Sanders

Shedeur Sanders is the betting favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. Is he that guy?

Colorado Buffaloes
Position: Quarterback
Shedeur Sanders
6’2” 215 lbs
Age: 22
Draft Eligible: 2025

Stats

Who is Shedeur Sanders?

Sanders was a three-star in the composites and attended Trinity Christian School in Ceder Hill, Texas, where his father, Deion Sanders, was the offensive coordinator for the entire duration of Shedeur’s High School career. Sanders was a four-year starter and compiled 12,627 passing yards, 166 passing touchdowns, and completed 66% of his passes. 

Sanders held 24 offers, but when his father was named the Head Coach at Jackson State, it was widely accepted that Sanders would follow suit. The Sanders duo would play an intricate part in flipping the number one overall recruit, Travis Hunter, from Florida State to Jackson State. Sanders was a starter on day one and simply outclassed the competition for two years. When his father was named Head Coach at Colorado, Sanders would transfer to Boulder and become the starter against Power five competition. There’s a wide variety of opinions regarding Sanders and his overall game and how it will translate to the next level. Let’s break it down.

Strengths

Sanders adjusted to the tougher competition just fine and showed the ability to lead an offense without a full supporting cast. Colorado was inept at blocking, and the Offensive Line, as was the run game, was atrocious this past season. Offensive Coordinator Sean Lewis would have to put Sanders in a situation to be successful and devise plays to get the ball out fast to limit the pressures Sanders would face. With a lack of a running game, the offense would use a lot of short area throws as an extension of the run and mix in deep shots when they could. 

Sanders throws a perfect deep ball, and my favorite attribute that he possesses. His deep ball is accurately placed where only his guy can come down with it. Those deep shots were few and far between, but you can see why there is NFL buzz when you watch those throws. Sanders has made difficult throws and can layer his throws in. Sanders has been very cautious with the football in limiting turnover-worthy plays. He can get the ball out quickly to allow his playmakers to create after the catch and keep the offense ahead of the chains. He has shown that he is willing to operate within in offense, not play off script too often, and not try to do more than he asks.

Improvements/Concerns

Sanders struggled at the end of the season, and Lewis calling plays propped Sanders up and made him look better than he ever has. We saw a massive decline in his overall game when Lewis was demoted. With Lewis calling plays, the completion percentage was 70.1%; without, it was 60.8. Passing yards per game went from 357.1 to 197.6, and big-time throws went from 2.6 per game to just two overall. When the short area plays weren’t called, Sanders held onto the ball too long. Sanders is too careful with the ball and will not throw into tight windows, and if he doesn’t like his options, he will try to scramble around and bide time, but the issue with that is Sanders is not a very good athlete and is a detriment to the offense when he tries to create on his own. Sanders is not good at pocket navigating and didn’t understand that his offensive line was not good last year. 

There were rumblings that Sanders would take sacks over throwing them away as he wanted his completion percentage to look good. Sanders took 49 sacks last season. There are many plays on film where Sanders could have thrown it away but chose not to. People who state Sanders is a good athlete have not watched him play and assume that he must be athletically gifted because of who his father is. Sanders also panics when under duress, and you see his footwork disappear and make questionable decisions. I question Sanders' ability to process the entire field in a timely manner. We didn’t see it this past season. Most passes were under ten yards due to the structure and weakness of the offense. My biggest concern is that Pat Shurmur has not been relevant this coming season since 2017. Since every stop, he has been unable to help the offense and only made it worse. We saw Colorado take a massive step back in the games where Shurmur called plays this past season.

Beyond the Numbers

Sanders had 78 throws that went between 10-19 yards; of those, only 28 went outside the numbers, and Sanders only completed eight of them. If we further enhance that to all throws past ten yards that went outside the numbers, Sanders only completed 22 of 66 passes, which is a 33% completion rate. If we extend that to his HBCU days, it’s still a 45% completion rate and 121 completions on 267 passes. I wanted to offer the easy competition with his HBCU stats to showcase subpar defenses, but Sanders struggled with those passes. Sanders isn’t comfortable pushing the ball down the boundary and would instead target the middle. This is due to not being able to process the entire field, and he looks to see where the deep safety is going or what the linebackers are doing and throws to the soft coverage. When Sanders is pressured, we see his numbers decline as well.

This past season, Sanders was under pressure 36.8% of the time and completed 48.4% of his passes, and all of his interceptions took place while under pressure. When Sanders is kept clean, his average time to throw is 2.38 seconds, but when he is pressured, he holds onto the ball for 3.76 seconds. Sanders doesn’t go to his hot read nor see the potential pressure pre-snap to make adjustments to get into a better play. That has been a concern for Sanders regarding how he processes defenses. In the three years being the starter, Sanders has a history of receivers dropping footballs. We saw this trend continue at Colorado, and I question if it’s more how he throws the football than his receivers being unable to bring it in. We see his accuracy take a dip past ten yards. While watching his tape, there are times when he will throw it at the receiver and not throw him open or anticipate where his receiver will be but where he is. Not all drops are due to the receiver; we see this when we watch the tape on Sanders.

2024 NCAA Outlook

Colorado moves into the Big 12 and has obstacles in front of them. Colorado will be fighting for a bowl bid. Colorado added more bodies to the offensive line, but the quality of players added is a question. The running back position has changed with Dallin Hayden and Rashad Amos. Colorado only won one of their final nine games last year and needed a last-second field goal to beat Arizona State. Sanders will be asked to do more, and the team will only go as far as Sanders can take them. Colorado went into the portal and grabbed a plethora of Wide Receivers that included LaJohntay Wester, Cordale Russell, Will Sheppard, and Terrell Timmons Jr. They brought in true freshman Dre’lon Miller to help Sanders. 

2024 NCAA Schedule

Colorado begins the season with North Dakota State, Nebraska, Colorado State, Baylor, and UCF before their bye week. Their next stretch is Kansas State, Arizona, and Cincinnati before their next bye. The final stretch is Texas Tech, Utah, Kansas, and Oklahoma State. Six wins is in the range of outcomes, but it could very well be four. With the possibility of multiple losses and trailing in games, Sanders will need to be used in the passing game, and if he can show the improvement from last season, he will have multiple chances to show an improved tape for scouts as he heads into the 2025 NFL Draft.