Draft Expert Mel Kiper Ranks Shedeur Sanders Above Cam Ward: “He Dealt With NFL Conditions”

For the better part of March, Cam Ward has been heavily projected as the first overall pick in April’s NFL Draft, while the initial top pick, Shedeur Sanders, has slid to third. Some are even projecting him to fall as far as ninth to the Saints.

However, Mel Kiper has remained steadfast in his belief that Shedeur is the better QB than Cam and insists he should be the first one off the board. Why? His consistency and ability to adapt to a new environment filled with adversity are all you need to see to reach that conclusion, Kiper says.

It sounds like a hot take today, but just two months ago Shedeur was being slotted ahead of anybody in the draft boards. Then suddenly, the college football season ended, and draft experts began to fall in love with Cam. Not only that, but people started criticizing Shedeur, arguing that he doesn’t have the same arm strength or athleticism as his QB counterpart. One unnamed scout even tried to label him as a “brash” personality and an “arrogant” individual.

But that doesn’t change Shedeur’s pedigree as a QB. And Kiper has been around this block several times with players. After all, he’s been creating mock drafts for ESPN for over 40 years. He’s seen Hall of Fame-caliber QBs fall on draft boards in the days leading up to the draft for no apparent reason—Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, and Lamar Jackson, to name a few.

Kiper elaborated on why he continues to argue for Shedeur over Cam on First Take.

“I’ve had him [Shedeur] number one, QB1 all along, really, since last year,” Kiper expressed with conviction.

“Love everything about the kid. People say, ‘Well, he takes too many sacks,’ Yes, he has to get the ball out a tick faster. But he dealt with NFL conditions… He was 11 of 13 games at 70% [completion] or higher. He never completed less than 60% of his passes in a game… You can win big in the NFL by going about your business like Shedeur Sanders does.”

It was high praise for the young, exciting prospect from Kiper. He hasn’t been tempted by the Cam Ward bait and continues to argue that Shedeur will be a once-in-a-lifetime QB. And he may be correct. Shedeur already showed that he can handle a jump from Division Two college football to Division One. Who’s to say he can’t handle another jump to the NFL?

The fan reaction to the post was all over the place, however. Some agreed with Kiper, but some didn’t, arguing that Cam would be better. Even others dropped their hot takes that neither will be good. It just shows how confused the NFL world is over the two prospects. And NFL scouts have done no help in clearing up which will go first.

It’s safe to say there’s no public consensus on whether Shedeur will be good or not. Most people probably just want to wait and see if he works out at the NFL level. But others love to make predictions before the fact and tear him down or prop him up even further. It’s the way of the pre-NFL Draft landscape.

There’s an entire three-month period between the end of the NFL season and the Draft where people online overthink and concoct weird arguments for taking one player over another. You can try to ignore it, but at a certain point, the noise seeps its way into legitimate discussions.

It’s hard to disagree with Kiper here, though. We’ve been gushing over Shedeur’s talents for years, yet now as the Draft approaches, he’s suddenly not the best player available. People have gotten caught up in the Cam hype and are overlooking a possible generational talent.