Shedeur Sanders Explains Why He Would Be First QB Selected in 2024 NFL Draft

Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders is not entering the 2024 NFL draft. He’ll be playing for his father and coach Deion Sanders once again next fall as the Buffaloes attempt to rebound from a 4–8 season.

But if he was taking that first step into professional football this spring, he’s confident that no quarterback—not USC’s Caleb Williams, not North Carolina’s Drake Maye—would be selected in front of him.

“I’m biased, but I don’t see a quarterback that’s better than me,” Sanders said in an exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated’s Brice Butler at Radio Row in Las Vegas. “I don’t see a quarterback that went through as much adversity as me, that had four [offensive coordinators] in four years.

“Coming from an HBCU, coming to a Power Five [program], having real pressure on me. A lot of people don’t understand, that’s a lot more adversity than you think just even being the son of Deion Sanders.”

There’s plenty of debate in terms of which NFL team will select Williams, but he’s been the consensus top pick in the 2024 draft for a while. Maye is not far behind him, and LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels is fresh off winning the 2023 Heisman Trophy. J.J. McCarthy, who led Michigan to a national championship last month, is also expected to be drafted in the first round.

Sanders, who threw for 3,230 yards, 27 touchdown passes and just three interceptions in 11 games for the Buffaloes last season, still believes he would be first off the draft board.

“You put any of those guys in [my] situation, they’re not doing that. I respect their game, I respect what they’re doing because to be able to be a first-round draft pick, to be able to have success on the field, it takes a lot of hard work and determination and everything. 

“But the most pressure and the safest bet is me.”