The New York Giants are entering the offseason with an obvious need at quarterback. After the Daniel Jones era came to a tumultuous end this past season, the team will aim to find their next franchise quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft.
With the third overall pick in their possession, there is no guarantee that they will be able to select the quarterback of their choosing. The consensus top two quarterbacks in this year’s class are Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. However, one of those top-two quarterback prospects seems to be slipping down the draft boards.
NFL Draft analysts are seemingly not as high on Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders
Sanders was once projected to be the top quarterback in the draft. However, those around the league don’t seem to be as high on the Colorado star anymore. Matt Miller of ESPN recently released his ranking of the top 50 prospects in the draft class with Sanders coming in at No. 22:
“Sanders has some bad habits he needs to clean up, such as throwing late over the middle and holding onto the ball for too long. That will ultimately determine his NFL success, but his accuracy and ability to make off-platform plays from different arm angles should get him drafted early in the first round,” Miller wrote.
Sanders was one of the best quarterbacks in college football this past season with 37 touchdowns, 4,134 passing yards, and a 74% completion rate, all of which led the Big 12. He helped lead the Buffaloes to a 9-4 record.
However, as Miller noted, he has some bad habits in his game that don’t make him as attractive as a draft prospect as he once was. In Colorado’s bowl game against BYU, Sanders struggled, throwing two interceptions and completing only 69.6% of his passes.
Additionally, there is concern among those around the league about the influence that Sanders’ dad Deion, who is a Pro Football Hall of Famer and head coach at Colorado, will have on his son’s playing career.
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The Giants cannot pass up on a talented quarterback in the draft
However, the Giants may need to take the risk and select Sanders at pick No. 3 overall if he is available, despite the fact that he ranks well outside the top 10 in Miller’s rankings. The Giants have done a lot of work on Sanders themselves, and they cannot afford to pass up on a quarterback once again. Despite the volatility, Sanders has shown to be a great pocket passer and has the potential to enhance New York’s passing offense tremendously.
There are recent examples of a team taking a quarterback fairly early in the draft despite not being projected to go as highly as they were taken. For example, there was a lot of uncertainty about how Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix would handle the NFL, but he shut down those concerns by leading the Broncos back to the playoffs for the first time in almost a decade this past season. Nix was also ranked much lower than where he was drafted.
There is no guarantee that Sanders can replicate Nix’s success, but the fact of the matter is that he would be an immediate upgrade over the options the Giants will have once free agency begins. Taking him third overall may be a risk they need to take.