It’s likely we’ll see four or more quarterbacks selected in the first round when the 2024 NFL Draft gets underway on Thursday. We might even see quarterbacks go with the first three picks. Why? Well, not just because teams picking early in the draft often need a QB or because it’s the most important position in sports.
Ask NFL personnel evaluators, and they’ll tell you another big reason: There isn’t much confidence in next year’s crop of quarterbacks.
Looking ahead to the 2024 college football season, there is no alpha QB — the guy everybody looks at as the best player in the country and favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. The race to be the first QB chosen next spring is wide open, and one of the names often mentioned as a possibility is Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.
Sanders is a polarizing prospect to many, and plenty of people would respond to the idea of Sanders being the first QB chosen next year with a hearty guffaw. Those same people would have had the same response a year ago if you had told them Jayden Daniels would win the Heisman and end up as the possible No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, yet here we are.
The great thing about players is they can improve! As the numbers show, Sanders has his strengths and plenty of weaknesses to address. Here’s a look at how Sanders performed last year in some key statistics and where they ranked among Power Five quarterbacks.
|
Shedeur Sanders |
151.7 (18th) |
69.3% (7th) |
7.5 (35th) |
6.13 (45th) |
6.3% (20th) |
0.7% (4th) |
49 (Last) |
3.96 (65th) |
More than the number of games Colorado wins next season, NFL evaluators will want to see Sanders show improvement in key areas. The biggest will be his propensity to hold onto the ball. Sanders was sacked 49 times last season, and while some of those sacks were the result of playing behind a bad offensive line, he bears plenty of responsibility himself. Few players in the country held onto the ball as long as he did waiting for a target to emerge.
Sanders isn’t alone in having this fault. USC’s Caleb Williams held onto the ball too long last season, and he will be the first pick Thursday night. The difference is Williams was far more mobile and used his legs to move the chains far more effectively than Sanders, who won’t wow anybody in the open field. I’d describe him more as fast enough than fast.
Unless Sanders suddenly emerges as a true dual-threat capable of outrunning defenders, his top priority next…
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