Shedeur Sanders had two double-digit win seasons and won nine games with Colorado in 2024. The "Grown QB" built himself substantial hype and delivered on the promise of being a top NFL draft pick. Most expect him to go in the top three this April.
But USA Today's Matt Hayes believes the "generational" tagline has no place in any Shedeur conversations. Nor does it belong in most conversations that don't involve Kansas City Chiefs star Patrick Mahomes.
"Joe Burrow isn’t generational. Nor is Trevor Lawrence or Caleb Williams or any other quarterback not named Patrick Mahomes," Hayes wrote.
"Now that we’ve cleared that up, we can stop the generational hype of Shedeur Sanders.
"He’s an uber-talented thrower, a player who – despite the challenges of playing for two college teams in transition – put up ridiculous numbers and consistently showed an ability to carry a team.
"He’s worthy of the first overall pick in April’s NFL draft, and the Tennessee Titans would be foolish to not select him.
"But he’s not generational, not a can’t-miss, plug-and-play, stand back and watch him cook player. And here’s a dirty draft secret: no one is."
Hayes ultimately settling on no one in this draft being generational is premature. Shedeur can turn out to be. Cam Ward can turn out to be. Jaxson Dart can turn out to be. Perhaps Jalen Milroe can figure out his accuracy and turn out to be. Someone we're not even thinking about could turn out to be.
But tempering expectations for Shedeur is a good thing. Everything "Prime Time" related gets blown out of proportion, and that could escalate with the "Grown QB" playing in front of a much larger audience.
We'll see where he lands. That has more of a say than anything else when it comes to being a generational QB.