Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce, while not the be-all, end-all opinion on what makes a great quarterback, believes Shedeur Sanders looked better than Caleb Williams during the September 30 USC-Colorado football matchup at Folsom Field last season.
“Just looking at the eye test, I thought was the best player on the field," Pierce said (h/t Essentially Sports). "I looked at both the QBs and he showed me he had a strong arm. This was my 1st time seeing Caleb also… Shedeur looked like a pro QB already. What I saw especially in the 2nd half of the Colorado game, I gotta take Shedeur in this one… ”
Again, Pierce wasn't a football player, so this opinion doesn't mean as much as even Keyshawn Johnson's, who was on the same UNDISPUTED panel on March 21. But some NFL executives who have more sway than the scouts they employ may have seen the same thing, which only bodes well for the NFL draft case of the "Grown QB" in 2025.
Coach Prime sure Colorado football star Shedeur Sanders would've been second QB drafted in 2024 draft
Coach Prime isn't sold on the idea that Shedeur would've been taken over Williams in the 2024 NFL draft had he declared -- but he is confident that Williams would've been the only QB taken off the board before his son.
Very confident.
"He wouldn't have been the first quarterback off the board," Deion Sanders said Wednesday, per The Athletic's David Ubben (subscription required) (h/t Bleacher Report). "I think he had the ability but he probably would have been the second quarterback off the board."
"The only reason I know that, don't you think I know people in the NFL? I'm sorry, I played for how many years, 14? Got a gold jacket at the crib, I think. I think I know some people. Jerry Jones. Arthur Blank. I know some people in the game. Roger Goodell. So when I speak I'm not just throwing stuff out of my head. I'm throwing stuff based on knowledge. So let's just get that straight."
Shedeur has at least 12 more chances this coming Fall to show that he should be a top pick in 2025, but he won't get a head-to-head showcase against the likes of Quinn Ewers, Carson Beck, or Drew Allar as he did with Williams last season.