Saints Pick Jaxson Dart Over Shedeur Sanders at 9 in Todd McShay's NFL Mock Draft

Many are expecting Colorado star Shedeur Sanders to be one of the first two quarterbacks selected in the 2025 NFL draft, but one expert made a prediction that will surely shock the football world if it came true.

During Thursday's episode of The McShay Show (32:20 mark), NFL draft guru Todd McShay unveiled his latest mock draft and projected that the New Orleans Saints would pass up the opportunity to select Sanders with the No. 9 pick and would instead use it to draft Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart.

McShay explained that first-year Saints head coach Kellen Moore had success with quarterbacks who share similar traits with Dart, so he believes the former Runnin' Rebel fits better in New Orleans than Sanders.

"Kellen Moore has been an offensive coordinator in the league in three places: Dallas, L.A. Chargers and Philly. Dak [Prescott], [Justin] Herbert, [Jalen] Hurts," McShay said at the 35:19 mark. "In what world is he drafting Shedeur Sanders over Jaxson Dart? He is used to a bigger, mobile, stronger-arm quarterback, and those are three qualities that Jaxson Dart has. It doesn't necessarily make Jaxson Dart better than Shedeur. In some places, Shedeur fits better. Kevin Stefanski, I think, would have an awesome time with Shedeur Sanders, because Kevin has won with those guys."

McShay's last statement seemed a bit prophetic, as he later predicted in his mock draft (59:50 mark) that the Cleveland Browns would trade back into the first round by acquiring the No. 15 pick from the Atlanta Falcons and using it to select Sanders, which would give Stefanski his ideal quarterback.

McShay further explained during a Thursday appearance on The Rich Eisen Show (7:15 mark):

"I just look at it from a football perspective, and whether I have Shedeur rated as QB2 or Dart as QB2, when you sit down and start looking at what could happen draft night, well... When I talk to people in the league, I'm not getting any sense that Shedeur's going two or three to Cleveland or the Giants. I also feel pretty strongly that he's not going to go to the Jets at 7. I think it's very unlikely that he goes to the Raiders at 6, so now all of a sudden you look at the top 10 and you say. 'Alright, the Saints. That's the landing spot. QB2 could be the Saints.' And then I look at the history with Kellen Moore."

B/R's NFL Scouting Department ranks Sanders and Dart as the No. 2 and No. 4 quarterbacks in this year's class, respectively. However, it sounds like some surprises are in store when the first round kicks off on April 24, as teams could pass up on the higher-ranked player to select the best fit for their roster.