Boulder, Colo. -It already call it a professional day or a showcase, Shedeur Sanders had a goal at the Indoor Buffs Practice Center: to impress the NFL teams they attend, including the Titans, Browns and Giants, the teams that choose one, two and three, and all with great needs in the quarterback, which he is one of the best players in this kind of of a top-5 selection.
This was the first time I see Sanders throw the person. While seeing it heating my immediate conclusion, it was that it has a faster release than I saw on the tape. He also has an arm better than he thought and reconfirmed what he had seen countless times in the last two years in Colorado: he places the ball extremely well on the second level routes and is the best deep ball pitcher in this draft.
Now, with 20 days to the draft, all that remains is the wait. That, and some private training with necessary QB equipment that collect near the top of the board. But hay, as the saying says, is in the barn. And Sanders has done its part. He is probably the hardest player in university football in the last two seasons, he helped revitalize a stagnant Colorado program, he constantly made great plays in great moments and talking to any of his teammates, a man who will tell him that Sanders is a natural leader.
No matter how many hits he received in his pocket, he always climbed again, got into the group and called the next play without pointing his fingers or raising his hands or appearing to his teammates. You never saw the body language you can see from players who can frustrate when things are not in their own way. And it is that adversity that will serve Sanders well, and, honestly, not all players who enter the League had to face at the University.
One of the things that you often listen about Sanders is that it is distant in the best case, arrogant at the worst. And you can talk to people from the league that will tell you that he did not interview as well as Cam Ward in the harvester. And that could certainly be the case.
But hearing Deion Sanders talk about his son, and Shedeur speaking for himself, is more than the field marshal is monitored with whom he leaves in his world. He has lived most of his life in the center of attention, a center of attention that can lead people to your orbit that only want some of you. In that sense, being cautious with strangers and trusting only those closest to you seems a natural defense mechanism. In other words: do not confuse the subject for arrogance. Just listen to your teammates talk about him. Or listen to him to speak with the former GM of the Titans and my with the first selection, he directed Cartchon, in a fairly frank conversation after his launch session:
For now we wait. And as long as we do, I will only say this: if you are a team that needs a quartback, do not think about it too much. Ward is my QB1 and I think the Titans will first take it in April 24. The Browns choose the second place and, although Travis Hunter has redefined words as “special” and “transcendent”, the only thing he cannot do is play as a quarterback (although he would believe you if you would tell me what I could). Cleveland He desperately needs a QB And it would make all the meaning of the world take Sanders.
The same goes for giants at number 3. Brian Daboll was hired in New York in part due to the amount that Josh Allen improved when Daboll was the offensive coordinator in Buffalo. And we saw glimpses of that in year 1, when Daboll obtained the most of Daniel Jones. Sanders is a better perspective that comes out of the university than Jones, who was the general selection number 6 in the 2019 Draft. If Sanders passes to the giants and except an exchange, the next place of logical landing is the Saints in number 9. But if New Orleans does not take it, things get interesting. Here are the teams that choose from tenth to 20: Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Miami, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Arizona, Cincinnati, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Denver. Of those 11 teams, exactly zero need A field marshal.
But do you know who does it? The Pittsburgh Steelers at number 21. I’m quite sure that Omar Khan and Mike Tomlin don’t think about it too much.
Travis hinter still finds a way to highlight
Look, I do not have much to say about Hunter because every week the past fall (and the previous one), did something that none of us had seen before. He took him to a higher level on Friday and was in shorts and a shirt. He is the best athlete I have seen not called Deion Sanders, and made him catch passes during the launch session of exciting Shedr. Hunter did it after deciding the day before to participate in the training and had the softer reception training that I can remember, and everything without using gloves. His change of direction, hands, acceleration: every other world, or as Ran put it in our podcast recapitulation, “Travis is an alien.”
Know Will Sheppard
I talked about the outstanding week of Sheppard practice at Shrine Bowl in January and then was not invited to the harvester. It seemed like a supervision at that time. But control what you can and that is what Sheppard did in the showcase. He measured in almost 6 feet 3, 196 pounds, knocked down the weight room with its vertical jump of 40.5 inches and ran a time of 4.53 40 yards. And then we could see much of what Sheppard showed in the fall.
Sheppard is a long strider, but he also has an open field management that can leave flat standing. And although it might seem a possession receiver that stands out in disputed captures and track deep balls, it was also used in the fast colorful game, where it showed the ability to run constantly through tacle of arms.
Sheppard admitted me after the showcase that he has a chip on his shoulder due to the combined desaire. But he used Friday as an opportunity to show the teams that he can align anywhere in the field, he has explosiveness and hands to be a factor in the league. As his agent, Will Felix III pointed out, if you see some Mike Evans in the Sheppard game, that is not a coincidence; Sheppard has been working with the Buccaneers star and the future member of the Hall of Fame.
My compipard is the former Utah container, Devaughn Vele, which is remarkable because …
Seeing was in the seventh round a year ago. Don’t be surprised if Sheppard listens to his name called much earlier.
Do not sleep in Shiloh
Just or not, Shilo may not be the first Sanders who come to mind when thinking about this kind of draft. But he had a good week at Shrine Bowl after a solid season, and was one of the most affected insurance in Big 12 in 2024. It is better to be downhill than in coverage, but on Friday he looked good in agility exercises and ran a respectable 4.52 40 times. Not only will you have a real opportunity to make a NFL list, but you will probably listen to your name on the 3rd of the Draft.
