Shedeur Sanders Reportedly Has 2nd -Round NFL Draft Grade From 'More Teams than Not'

It might be a good thing Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders wasn't invited to attend the 2025 NFL draft.

CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones reported Wednesday that "there's a very good chance" Sanders slips to the second round. He said "more teams than not that I speak to" graded the Buffs standout as a Round 2 prospect:

Among the notable stars in the 2025 class, nobody has a wider projection variance than Sanders.

"He could go anywhere from No. 3 to the Giants to the second round," ESPN's Peter Schrager wrote in his mock draft.

Sanders went 20th to the Cleveland Browns, who traded back into the first round, in Bleacher Report's final mock draft. The Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 21 are a popular choice, too, because they're in need of another quarterback.

Even that may be no sure thing, though.

Matt Miller of ESPN projected Sanders to wind up in the Steel City but said, "I still don't feel great about it."

"This is the most popular destination for Sanders, but there is no consensus on where the Steelers could go in this slot," Miller wrote. "One rival GM said there's a '40 to 50 percent' chance Sanders goes to Pittsburgh."

There isn't an inciting incident or new revelation that caused Sanders' draft stock to fall. Instead, teams seem to have scrutinized his game more thoroughly and come to the determination he's not quite the player a lot of people viewed him to be months ago.

Sanders threw for 7,364 yards and 64 touchdowns at Colorado, and his 71.8 percent completion rate is the highest in FBS dating back to 1956. But the 6'2" signal-caller was also sacked 94 times in 24 starts, and he's not an explosive athlete who turns nothing into something with his feet.

"If you look at just 'wow' throws, he's got probably the best collection of those over the whole entire crop," one NFC executive said to NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. "It's just the other stuff. It's the ability to do stuff from structure, in the pocket, checkdowns, the easy gimmes. But if you want to just isolate the high level, high degree of difficulties, then to me, there's a difference between him and the other guys."

The NFL draft is often a joyous occasion for aspiring pros because it's the moment when they officially arrive. Sanders might instead be in for a nerve-racking night Thursday.