Nov 23, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) jogs onto the field during the game against the Kansas Jayhawks at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images

NFL Draft Analyst Makes Interesting Comparison Between Shedeur Sanders and Caleb Williams

Originally posted on New York Giants on SI
By Stephen Lebitsch | Last updated Apr 5, 2025 12:00 PM ET

As the New York Giants hone in on which 2025 NFL Draft prospect they’d most want to take at No. 3 overall–the choice seemingly between Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders or a non-quarterback member of the field–the already infamous gunslinger is suddenly carrying a major red flag in the eyes of one draft analyst who cautions those looking at taking him.

In the leadup to his entrance to the professional level, Sanders, who is currently widely projected as the second-best quarterback prospect in this year’s class, only behind Miami quarterback Cam Ward, who expects to be gone by No. 1, has been praised by many for his NFL-ready attributes, including his highly accurate arm and excellent field vision that extends the pocket.

Like any incoming rookie quarterback, if he is placed into the right situation, Sanders can produce at a very high rate, as evidenced by his numbers at Colorado in 2024. He can also serve as one of the brightest examples of a fundamental passer for any offense that is just missing that element to start succeeding again.

However, according to NFL draft analyst Todd McShay, who has been watching film of Sanders and other top quarterbacks endlessly before the draft, a closer look at his tape would reveal a potentially concerning trend that has marred recent novice quarterbacks before him.

McShay, breaking down Sander’s film this past week on The McShay Show via The Ringer, points out how the Colorado product tends to play an unhealthy dose of “hero ball” that he said was eerily similar to what scouts saw out of Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams when he was coming out of USC.

“Caleb Williams is the one that scares people," McShay said on his show’s Wednesday airing.

"Because as a rookie, all the stuff that we were worried about and the people who were coming out and saying 'I'm not sold on Caleb,' it's the hero ball, it's the holding onto the ball too long, drifting, not taking the easy money, going for broke.”

“And I see a lot of that in Shedeur's tape. Now, is it because of the protection? Or is it because that's how he plays ball?"

If one were to come to Sanders’s defense, it’s been widely acknowledged that he wasn’t playing behind the best offensive line in all of college football during his two seasons under center with the Buffaloes.

The program’s front ranked 47th among 134 FBS programs in Pro Football Focus’s standings for pass blocking grade with 71.6 in 2024, only a slight improvement from the 70th place grade of 65.2 they earned the prior year.

Sanders was often one of the most pressured quarterbacks in the nation, as evidenced by his 48.8% completion rating on 195 dropbacks with pass rushers cracking down on him and the 21 times he had to scramble out of the pocket, which stood second worst in the country last fall.

While he was still fairly productive despite frequently dodging pressure in his face every Saturday (Sanders completed 61 throws for 860 yards and a 9-3 TD-INT ratio in that span), the numbers signaled he was holding onto the football far too long in the backfield did raise some questions.

According to PFF metrics, Sanders averaged 2.97 seconds to throw in normal circumstances during the 2024 season, the seventh-longest time for quarterbacks with at least 131 dropbacks in the Big 12 conference. Yet, because he often had more than 2.5 seconds in the pocket before feeling the heat, he sought more than the simple gimme plays in the short field.

Instead of taking what McShay coined the “easy money” throws to keep the drive moving, Sanders gets caught drifting away from the pocket and extending his time to between 4-5 seconds to throw. That ultimately led to missed opportunities right before him and a whopping 42 sacks with a pressure-to-sack rate of over 25%.

Those same sorts of stats were what marred the rookie season of Williams, who had a pretty good debut, finishing 17th in overall passing yards with a 3.3 TD-INT ratio but was taken down behind the line of scrimmage a whopping 68 times to lead the NFL with the Bears.

And it’s a trend that Sanders will have to break if he truly wants to excel at the next level, let alone the Giants offense that has been suspect in its protection. He’s made a name for himself in this class with his ability to produce at a high volume, given his accuracy with the pigskin, but he was never the same big-shot thrower as Cam Ward was coming out.

If the Giants go to select Sanders, they should want him for the game manager side of his play style, which finds the short—to mid-range gaps in the opposing defense and extorts them down the field with the bevy of weapons he would have at his disposal. Not the frisky side that drifts around the pocket too much and gets reckless with the ball, bringing on potential loss of yardage or even turnovers.

They’ve had enough of that play with Daniel Jones and their three other quarterbacks that saw snaps in 2024, and they need to hone that mishap with Sanders if he comes to New York. The two could still be a perfect pairing based on their skill set and the coaching staff around him, as long as this miscue doesn’t kill his legacy after an impressive resume at the college level.

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