Revisiting My Pre-Draft Breakdown of Shedeur Sanders Ahead of His First NFL Start

Shedeur Sanders will make the first start of his NFL career in Week 12 vs. the Raiders. That means it’s a great time to take a look back at my pre-draft analysis of Sanders to get an idea of what you can expect on Sunday (You can check that out below).

I also provided analysis of his preseason performance during the first episode of The Football Film Room Show here:

2025 Pre-Draft Breakdown

During Tom Brady’s rookie season, he found himself alone in a room with his quarterback coach’s notebook. Like any of us would do, Brady opened it up and found an evaluation of himself.

As Brady described it in the 2001 Patriots America’s Game documentary, it said, “Slow on reads. Slow to react. Doesn’t deliver the ball on time.

Everything he needs to do, he needs to do quicker.”

That same description could be applied to Shedeur Sanders.

As a thrower and a runner, Sanders does not have elite talent. He’s an accurate passer, but that’s sometimes impacted by his inability to drive the ball with velocity on certain throws. He has some evasiveness and can make plays while scrambling, but he’s not special enough to live that way as frequently as he does.

For Sanders to be successful in the NFL, he’ll need to get the ball out quickly and to the right place. He’ll need to be precise with his timing. He’ll need to throw with anticipation consistently and be disciplined with his footwork and pocket presence.

Right now, he’s not quite that type of player. He’s the quarterback that still needs to do the most important things quicker.

Sanders is comparable to Geno Smith in terms of those key attributes like timing, anticipation, and decision-making. But Smith is far more gifted as a thrower and can get away with more.

Sanders needs to model his game after someone like Brock Purdy. They have more comparable physical skills, but Purdy is far ahead in terms of timing, anticipation, and decision-making.

And that’s where I think Sanders’ ceiling is - somewhere between Purdy and Geno.

Of course, as the Tom Brady example above showed, there might be room for development far greater than what anyone can see or predict at the moment. But you can say that about anyone.

Sanders will need a good system and talent around him to be successful. He is unlikely to transcend a bad roster. Which means a team picking at the top of the draft that has holes in too many places would be making a risky bet by taking him.

Now let’s dive into the film below.