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Shedeur Sanders
A lot of people were surprised a few months ago when I said, in a few different places, that Sanders could go No. 3 or he could go 33—at the time, conventional wisdom held he was a top-10 pick.
I still think that wide range is in play.
The first question to answer is whether the New York Giants are in on him with the third pick. They have, indeed, done a boatload of work on Sanders over the past couple years, largely as part of a massive effort to turn over every rock at the most important position on the field through that time, an effort that first led to a push, before last year’s draft, to trade up for Drake Maye, and then a very busy travel schedule for the scouting brass over the past year.
I’ve heard they’ve had ups and downs with Sanders through a process that encompassed the Giants assessing all the top 2025 quarterbacks, and even getting an early look at some of the guys who figure to go early in ’26. They had him in for a 30 visit in East Rutherford, and had dinners with him in Colorado before his pro day and his private workout last week.
My guess, and I’m not 100% on this, would be that they won’t take him with the third pick, even though they liked him as they evaluated him in the fall. Maybe they get another shot at him at 34 or trade back into the first round for him. Maybe they like Jaxson Dart or Tyler Shough, both of whom they worked out and met with a bunch of times.
If Sanders gets past the Giants, I’m not sure what happens next. I would be pretty surprised if the New Orleans Saints took him at No. 9 (again, crazier things have happened). After that, maybe it’s the Pittsburgh Steelers at 21. If the Steelers pass, he could fall out of the first round all together.
It’ll fascinating to see how all this played out. To his credit, I have heard he’s been more modest the past couple weeks with teams—early on, some got the impression he was trying to steer his way to certain destinations—and has left those teams with a better feeling than some over the early parts of the process.
Still, plenty of uncertainty and intrigue remains. It’s interesting, too, because I’ve had a couple guys say to me that the only way Sanders will go in the first round is if an owner gets involved. I don’t believe that, but the idea does illustrate the complexity of Sanders’s situation.
And at the end of all this, I bet Sanders will have a heck of a story to tell.
