Was ‘certainly some thought’ for star Colorado transfer to leave Buffs

There was “certainly some thought” for Shedeur Sanders to leave his father’s Colorado football program for the NFL draft following the 2023 season according to The New York Post’s Christian Arnold.

“There was certainly some thought that Shedeur could enter this year’s draft and capitalize on the notoriety he had during the 2023 season, and experts predicted that he could be the third-best QB in the draft,” Arnold said following a citation of Coach Prime’s comments to USA Today that revealed that Shedeur and Shilo would be declaring for the 2025 NFL draft.

“We do things as a family, and my sons respect the heck out of me and my decision-making and getting them to where they desire to go. … It’s always been our dream that they’re going into the draft together, and we didn’t know how that would manifest itself with (the COVID-19 pandemic) and everything,” Deion Sanders prefaced before saying, “It just so happened properly that they’re going in the same draft at the conclusion of next season.”

Shedeur Sanders’ draft stock fell too much not to return to Colorado football in 2024

Given the timing of the Buffs’ Big 12 jump, returning to Colorado is a no-brainer for Shedeur — whose draft stock plummeted precipitously throughout the season after being held in check by Oregon in a 42-6 blowout loss and even somewhat against ASU.

Of course, there’s more than enough evidence to support Shedeur being an NFL quarterback — especially considering the level of quarterback play the NFL has seen throughout the 2023 season — but he lost the narrative as a first-round talent, projected by some to be a round-two talent at best. It’s also possible he’d make more as the University of Colorado’s QB1 than he would as a late day-one/day-two NFL talent.

Shedeur coming back to Colorado for one last dance is the best-case scenario for everyone involved.

Coach Prime is, perhaps, the biggest beneficiary of his son’s prodigal return.