Colorado's Shedeur Sanders: I Don't See QB Better Than Me in 2024 NFL Draft Class

Shedeur Sanders is returning to Colorado for the 2024 season, but if he had chosen to declare for this year's NFL draft, he believes he would have been the first quarterback off the board.

"I'm biased, but I don't see a quarterback that's better than me," he told SI.com's Brice Butler. "I don't see a quarterback that went through as much adversity as me, that had four [offensive coordinators] in four years. Coming from an HBCU, coming to a Power Five [program], having real pressure on me. A lot of people don't understand, that's a lot more adversity than you think just even being the son of Deion Sanders."

Most NFL draft pundits probably wouldn't agree with Sanders' assessment of his own draft stock, however.

Both Caleb Williams and Drake Maye were regularly considered the top two quarterback prospects in this year's draft, and while Sanders got legitimate first-round buzz, it's hard to imagine him jumping over a Heisman Trophy winner in Williams and a player like Maye who has the prototypical size and tools that NFL teams covet.

"I had no idea he could spin it like that," an AFC scouting director told ESPN's Matt Miller in January (h/t Josh Tolle of SI.com). "You saw him against small-school dudes before Colorado, but he came in dealing, and his poise in the pocket really impressed me. He would be in the QB3 conversation this year if he came out."

Four other NFL scouts agreed with that general assessment, per Tolle.

Sanders, 22, threw for 3,230 yards, 27 touchdowns and just three interceptions this past season, completing 69.3 percent of his passes. He added four touchdowns on the ground.

Colorado struggled mightily in the first season of Coach Prime's tenure, going 4-8 overall and just 1-8 in the school's final Pac-12 season, but the quarterback play from Sanders was absolutely a bright spot. He absolutely has a future in the NFL.

But Williams has earned loose comparisons to Patrick Mahomes. The B/R NFL Scouting Department has Maye as the top overall quarterback in this year's draft, calling him the "prototypical quarterback prospect. Size, speed, arm strength; he's got all the tools you look for in a franchise quarterback."

Sanders very well could be a top-five pick in next year's draft, and the top quarterback off the board. In that regard, waiting one more year before heading to the pros probably makes sense, because it's hard to imagine he would have leapfrogged Williams or Maye this year.