BuffsBeat's Josh Tolle believes comments made by an AFC scouting director to ESPN's Matt Miller about Shedeur Sanders actually diminished what the former Jackson State star accomplished before joining his father Coach Prime's Colorado football program.
"An AFC scouting director says Sanders would be the third-best quarterback on the board, according to ESPN's Matt Miller," Tolle prefaced before saying, "However, the comments by the unnamed team official dismisses the level of talent at the FCS level and what Shedeur accomplished at Jackson State."
The director called Shedeur's FCS competition "small-school dudes."
"I had no idea he could spin it like that," the official said. "You saw him against small-school dudes before Colorado, but he came in dealing, and his poise in the pocket really impressed me. He would be in the QB3 conversation this year if he came out."
Shedeur Sanders' Colorado football return believed to be harmful to NFL draft stock
Shedeur is returning to Colorado for one final ride alongside his brother Shilo in 2024, but not everyone is bullish on the idea of another ride in Boulder behind a Buffs offensive line that, at least in 2023, was porous and left the QB needing to be a glutton for punishment to get through each game.
Draft Wire’s Natalie Miller believes the idea is career-altering injury is possible with a return to CU for the youngest Sanders son.
“There is so much at risk should Sanders opt to stay in Colorado and it could be a legitimately career-altering movie,” Miller wrote. “It’s unlikely Colorado will be able to turn the offensive line around in a single season and the top weapons in the country are not going to come to Boulder anytime soon. Sanders should seriously consider flexing the talent showcase he put on this year and enter the 2024 draft as one of the premier prospects and avoid a potentially career-altering injury of production change should he stay with the Buffaloes.”
Since Miller wrote that, Coach Prime and new offensive line coach Phil Loadholt added Jordan Seaton and rebuilt the offensive line with another blue-chip, Houston transfer IOL Tyler Johnson.
Shedeur may just be well-protected once and for all in 2024.