Late Friday night, after the Las Vegas Raiders shook up the quarterback market by acquiring Geno Smith from the Seattle Seahawks, a high-ranking AFC executive was mentally scrolling through potential landing spots for Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders when he delivered a note of caution.
“I wouldn’t cross the Raiders off yet,” he said. “Let’s see what happens between now and [the draft].”
This is a lesson that was learned across the NFL last season. The Atlanta Falcons signed Kirk Cousins to a massive deal in free agency, leading virtually everyone inside the league to remove them from the 2024 draft’s quarterback matrix. Then the Falcons shocked the world and selected Washington’s Michael Penix with the No. 8 overall pick, and the message to the rest of the NFL became clear: When a team is desperate to resolve a quarterback problem, all bets are off when it comes to the limits of their pursuit. Especially when the owner of the franchise is arguably the most desperate person in the equation.
For now, that’s what keeps Sanders in play in Las Vegas, adding to the growing mystery of his draft stock — which has been speculated anywhere from the No. 2 overall pick, to sliding out of the first round entirely. With that in mind, I polled 12 NFL evaluators, including general managers, heads of player personnel, heads of football operations and others, to share their thoughts on where Shedeur Sanders’ value stands heading into Colorado’s pro day, which is slated to take place as part of the broader Big 12 pro days between March 18-21.
Shedeur Sanders is the biggest mystery of the 2025 NFL Draft. (Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)
The key takeaways …
Don’t forget what happened with the Falcons and Penix last offseason
An NFC general manager spelled out a new normal when it comes to quarterback talent and NFL teams that are willing to throw everything at the problem: You can’t predict anything anymore. The Falcons made the unthinkable strategy more plausible…
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