NFC executive praises Shedeur Sanders’ ability to make difficult throws: ‘He’s got probably the best collection of those’

Former University of Colorado Boulder star quarterback Shedeur Sanders is projected by some to be one of the first people to hear his name called when the opening round of the 2025 NFL Draft is held on Thursday. His passing numbers in his second and final season with the Buffaloes rivaled those of any signal-caller in the nation.

Sanders was atop his conference in just about every statistical category, as he led the Big 12 Conference in completed passes, passes attempted, passing yards, passing touchdowns, passing yards gained per game played and passing efficiency rating.

One anonymous NFC executive recently gave Sanders some praise for his knack for making tough throws.

“If you look at just ‘wow’ throws, he’s got probably the best collection of those over the whole entire crop,” an NFC executive said. “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.”

There are plenty of people high on Sanders, but it isn’t a consensus opinion that he will be among the players selected in the opening round of the draft. NFL.com’s Charles Davis published a comprehensive mock draft on Wednesday, and the only signal-caller he has getting selected in the first round is former University of Miami star Cam Ward. Specifically, he has the Tennessee Titans selecting Ward with the No. 1 overall pick.

Sanders has seemingly seen his draft stock take a dip in the eyes of plenty of folks in recent months, as he was the betting favorite to be selected with the No. 1 overall pick in December of last year. He is now ranked as an underdog to be a top-10 pick in the draft.

One of the more interesting storylines of the first day of the 2025 NFL Draft could very well be when in the first round Sanders will hear his name called, if he even hears it at all on Thursday.

Fortunately, fans won’t have to wait much longer to find out where Sanders will land, as after months of speculation and hype, the beginning of the draft is right around the corner.

After the first round is held on Thursday, rounds two and three will take place on Friday.