Shedeur Sanders courting interest from Raiders draft order rival

With the end of the season in sight, teams out of the running for the playoffs are in an official race to the bottom.

The prize for each team may vary, but the Las Vegas Raiders have one of the most obvious needs out of everybody: a franchise quarterback. Throughout the season, the Raiders have been linked to every available quarterback in the draft, most notably Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. There is zero question that a prospect of Sanders’s caliber would change the outlook of the Raiders, providing hope to a fanbase that currently has precious little of it to go around.

Unfortunately, the Raiders are not the only team searching for a quarterback this offseason, and one is currently biting at their heels in the draft order.

Similar to the Raiders, the New York Giants hold a 2-11 record, and a large part of the blame goes to their inconsistencies at quarterback. The Giants are all but guaranteed to go after a quarterback this offseason, confirming the need themselves when they released Daniel Jones in November.

Now, according to new mock drafts, the Giants are also targeting Sanders.

“Deion Sanders would probably prefer his son go to the Raiders or Giants, as opposed to some of the other options often mentioned,” said CBS Sports’ Josh Edwards, who mocked Sanders to the Giants. “In this scenario, Shedeur Sanders is taken No. 2 overall. The Giants would not consider employing his father as coach, would they?”

Interestingly enough, in Edwards’s mock draft, he has the Raiders drafting Miami quarterback Cam Ward at number one.

“Cam Ward has been the most consistent quarterback during the second half of the college football season,” said Edwards. “He has lifted Miami to some wins this season and his decision-making has improved. If he were in last year’s quarterback class, he would have probably been the fourth or fifth quarterback prospect.”

Edwards is not the only draft expert to move Sanders to the Giants and Ward to the Raiders, however. ESPN’s Field Yates, who has the Giants drafting first overall, has Sanders headed to New York as well.

“The Giants’ multiyear quest to find a quarterback — recall they tried to trade up in last April’s draft — should come to an end in 2025,” said Yates.

“Sanders has put together an incredible final college season, leading the FBS in completion percentage (74.2%) and ranking top-three in touchdown passes (35) and passing yards (3,926). He is at his best delivering from the pocket, as he throws with natural touch and is extremely poised. Sanders has met big moment after big moment at Colorado, and that unflappability bodes well for his NFL future.”

While Sanders has linked himself to the Raiders at various points throughout the season, there is no doubt that playing in a massive media market like New York would also appeal to him. Sanders has also recently made that interest known, as he and father Deion Sanders were sitting courtside at the New York Knicks’ game against the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden.

The Raiders and Giants will be locked in fierce competition for the rest of the season over the top quarterback prospects. How the final month of the season plays out will decide which team is in the driver’s seat.