Draft Day is just days away. And Shedeur Sanders still doesn’t have a clear idea about where he might land. This is a far cry from last year, when the top three QBs and their landing spots were basically cemented by March.
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Perhaps that’s why Shedeur chose to have one of the latest Pro Days in recent memory, taking the field on April 4 to strut his stuff for NFL scouts and coaches. That’s less than three weeks before Draft Day — a pretty ballsy move. Whether it works out for him remains to be seen. But we’re not sure evaluators learned anything about him during that session that they didn’t already know from his two seasons of tape at Colorado.
Sanders was thought to be a No. 1 pick back in December, but Miami’s Cam Ward has confidently taken his place since then. Now, there are many possible landing spots for Sanders. However, according to NFL Draft expert Mel Kiper’s fourth and final mock draft, they won’t be in the top five.
Kiper, a legend when it comes to NFL Draft analysis, believes that both the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants will pass on Sanders to take the best player available. After that, the Colorado star is projected to slide down to the next team with quarterback questions: the New Orleans Saints at No. 9. That’s right — in what has become a popular pick in recent weeks, Kiper has Sanders landing in the Bayou.
“For me, Shedeur Sanders makes perfect sense. It did then, it does now. It did before Derek Carr’s injury. Bottom line is: They were interesting long before that. And now, even more interesting if you wanna say that, if Shedeur Sanders is there (available at 9), and we’re assuming guys, he will be there. That’s the assumption. Everybody’s gonna let him pass, nobody’s gonna move up,” Kiper explained.
The analyst then drew an interesting parallel between the criticisms of Sanders’ arm strength and the same critiques that many had about iconic Saints QB Drew Brees two decades ago, when he was coming out of Purdue.
“When you look at what they need, they are the team that fits Shedeur Sanders because of the dome; we talk about that all the time. You wanna criticize his arm? I don’t, but if you want to, that dome’s gonna help. Who else played in that dome? Drew Brees,” Kiper added.
“What did they criticize about Drew coming out? His arm? What did they say after he hurt his shoulder? His arm! We can’t take him at Miami, we gotta go take [Daunte] Culpepper because we don’t want him! He ends up in New Orleans in a dome and became a great quarterback who won a Super Bowl.”
For Sanders to reach the Saints at No.9, it would require both the Giants and Browns to pass. At the moment, that seems highly likely, but you never know. Both teams are in need of a QB of the future, and Sanders is an exciting prospect both on and off the field.
The only other possible caveat for the Saints-Sanders marriage is those pesky Pittsburgh Steelers. They sit back at No.21 and currently have no clear answer at QB. They haven’t done it often, but who’s to say they won’t trade up in front of the Saints to get their guy?
Pittsburgh general manager Omar Khan, who took the reins in 2022, is not like his conservative predecessor, Kevin Colbert. Mike Tomlin doesn’t call him the ‘Khan Artist’ for nothing, so the Saints will need to be vigilant to ensure the Steelers don’t pip them to this potential franchise QB.
