The improvement Shedeur Sanders made from his junior to senior year at Colorado was a major factor in the Buffaloes’ turnaround in 2024. They went from a 4-8 record to 9-4 and a Bowl appearance, as Sanders earned Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year honors. He also set a new NCAA career record for completion percentage (71.8) while throwing for over 4,000 yards and 37 TDs.
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In December, Sanders was viewed as the favorite to go No. 1 overall in the 2025 NFL Draft. However, Miami’s Cam Ward has surpassed him by a significant margin. In fact, some evaluators don’t even believe Shedeur will be drafted in the top half of the first round anymore. Reactions to Sanders in the team meetings and media portion have been polarizing, to say the least. But, there are still some who are singing the praises of Deion Sanders’ son.
Good Morning Football‘s Kyle Brandt recently jumped on the Shedeur Sanders bandwagon, but not for the reasons most like him as a prospect. It’s not his otherworldly accuracy or his clutch play that gets Brandt excited. Rather, it’s the quarterback’s toughness that has made the creator of “Angry Runs” a Shedeur supporter.
“He gets hit and hit and hit, and then it’s like I don’t see jewelry or any privilege. I just see old-fashioned, like 1980s toughness. That is a really, really hard thing to do. To have that upbringing and be that tough physically, it’s really easy to just fall back and say, ‘Screw it, I don’t need to do any of this stuff,'” Brandt said confidently.
The analyst was effusive in his praise of Sanders, even though he did acknowledge that the Colorado QB isn’t a perfect prospect. However, seeing that level of toughness in someone that grew up in the spotlight and plays the quarterback position is rare. Brandt won’t be the only one hoping for the youngster to succeed either.
“I’m really rooting for him. I know he has flaws, and he’s far from a perfect prospect, but of all the things you would think someone who grew up the son of Prime Time, tough as hell and looking for contact, I absolutely love it. I think it’s really impressive.”
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There has been a lot of criticism of Shedeur through this process. But there are some big names still backing him up. ESPN’s Todd McShay recently made the argument for Sanders to go as high as No. 2 to the Cleveland Browns, and fellow Colorado alum and NFL Draft expert Joel Klatt has been talking Shedeur up throughout the draft process too.
Perhaps the most surprising line of support came from Skip Bayless. In a recent USA TODAY mock draft, Sanders slipped all the way down to No. 26, which made Skip’s ears perk up. He called out the Shedeur critics and the white NFL execs and GMs who still can’t deal with a confident black athlete, citing reports by Mike Freeman and Josina Anderson.
“The other day I read two stories in USA TODAY that knocked me off my chair,” Skip said. “The first was a mock draft in which Shedeur Sanders falls all the way to [26th] at which point, according to this mock, the Jets trade up to take Shedeur, which would be the steal of the century for the Jets.”
Bayless, staying true to form, even pleaded for the Cowboys to take Shedeur at No. 12 — if he falls, of course. The veteran sports commentator had no problem completely dismissing their $60 million QB and doubled down by claiming Shedeur is already a better player than Dak Prescott.
