Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders is one of the more polarizing players eligible for the 2025 NFL Draft, with some viewing him as worth the No. 1 overall pick while others question if he’s a first-round talent. While he has another year to prove himself, Sanders has drawn an intriguing NFL comparison.
For as special of an athlete as Shedeur’s father Deion Sanders was, the Buffaloes’ quarterback isn’t that level of a player. While his -77 rushing yards in 2023 was a greater reflection of how many times he was sacked (52), it does partially capture that he’s not an elite dual-threat quarterback.
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- Shedeur Sanders stats: 63.1 ESPN QBR (56th), 3,230 passing yards, 69.3% completion rate, 27-3 TD-INT, 7.5 yards per attempt, 151.7 QB rating, 52 sacks taken
However, Sanders is a smart passer who does an excellent job progressing through his reads and makes quick, accurate throws. It’s even more important for success at the next level and there is no doubt that he has enough talent to be an NFL quarterback.
On a recent episode of This Is Football with Kevin Clark conducting an early 2025 NFL mock draft, ESPN’s NFL Draft analyst Jordan Reid shared his NFL comparison for Sanders.
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“One that I thought was perfect for him was Geno Smith. I think eh reminds me so much of Geno. if you remember when Geno was coming out of West Virginia, a lot of people thought he was going to be a very high first-round pick…What I think they have so similar is that calmness under pressure, they’re natural throwers of the ball, but their A+ trait is they’re deadly accurate. That’s something that’s consistent with Shedeur. Whenever he’s protected, he’s so accurate…The thing that’s always consistent in his game is just the ball placement, that’s something that’s gonna have to carryover into the NFL and I think it will.”
Jordan Reid’s NFL comparison for Shedeur Sanders
As Reid went on to explain, Sanders (6-foot-2 and 215 pounds) and Geno Smith (6-foot-3 and 220 pounds) also have similar size. Neither is on the upper echelon of quarterbacks in terms of athleticism, but their arm strength and accuracy are far more important for success.
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While Smith struggled early in his NFL career, the Seattle Seahawks starting quarterback does have a 96.8 QB rating, 67.4 percent completion rate and 50-20 TD-INT ratio over the last two seasons. If Sanders could become that caliber of quarterback at the next level in his prime, it should be considered a very successful career.