Summarize and humanize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in EnglishShedeur Sanders, QB, ColoradoShedeur Sanders has been one of the most polarizing players in the country ever since he joined Colorado with his dad. His draft stock has been all over the place, but he seems to be falling further down boards as draft season rolls on. His physical profile doesn’t fit the mold we typically see from highly drafted quarterbacks, and his fall is the result of evaluators catching up to the fact that Sanders doesn’t have a high enough realistic ceiling to warrant going at the top of the draft. MeasurablesHeight: 6’1.5’’, Weight: 212, Arm Length: 31.5’’, Hands: 9.4”Scouting OverviewAny discussion around Shedeur Sanders’ as an NFL prospect has to start with the offensive environment he played in. Colorado’s offensive line was a disaster all year, and the scheme entirely ignored the concept of tight ends, making their life even harder. As a result, Sanders was constantly under pressure and often tried to play hero ball to make up for it. This at least partially explains some of the disastrous sacks and turnovers on Sanders’ film, but of course he is also to blame. Despite being heavily criticized for taking too many big sacks, Sanders actually has excellent pocket movement. He will step up or sidestep blitzers to stay in the middle of the pocket and deliver accurate throws downfield. He’s very comfortable playing from a muddy pocket, and is one of the toughest quarterbacks you’ll ever see. He stands in the face of pressure and makes throws when he knows he’ll take a massive hit. On the other side of the coin, Sanders did his offensive line no favors with some of his dropbacks. He often takes way too deep of drops, giving edge rushers a favorable angle. He also drops his eyes anticipating pressure before it’s there and misses open receivers because of it. He bails from clean pockets before the play finishes developing, and while he’s a skilled thrower from outside the pocket, his improvisational play style often writes checks his legs can’t cash. He has the functional athleticism to get out of the pocket when an opportunity is there, but he’s not going to outrun any NFL edge rushers. He’ll be much better off in the NFL if he leans into his ability as a quick distributor. Sanders is without a doubt a very accurate thrower of the football, and he can make NFL throws to all levels of the field. He might not have the arm to rip deep sideline throws into tight windows, but he has passable NFL arm strength. Having top tier arm strength can be vastly overrated anyway. What really matters is the amount of time from when the quarterback sees a throw to be made, to when the ball gets to the receiver. Sanders has the quick release and decision making to complete this process just as quickly as bigger armed quarterbacks. Sanders mostly makes good decisions, with the exception of a few specific situations. There are too many plays where he sees a defender playing off coverage pre-snap, so he throws a quick pass without confirming the throw is available post-snap. This leads to bad turnovers, and they often come in the worst moments. In general, Sanders needs to improve his reading of leverage when a defender is sitting on top of a route and has the angle to cut it off. This leads to turnover worthy throws, and causes receivers to take huge hits. He can also do a better job of placing the ball slightly behind his receivers to avoid leading them into defenders. It will take some time for Sanders to calibrate his playstyle to the NFL, and learn what he can and can’t get away with athletically. If he does that, he can be a competent starter in the NFL, but the path to being a high level starter is incredibly narrow. In order to be an elite quarterback with his tools, he would need to process the game at the level of players like CJ Stroud and Joe Burrow. Unfortunately there’s nothing about his college film to make that a realistic expectation. Sanders is at his best when he can operate the quick game on short dropbacks, and take calculated deep shots on slow developing routes like posts and deep crossing routes. He was never able to use heavy play-action fakes from under center at Colorado, but going to a team that features a heavy dose of those plays, such as the Browns, will be his best chance at success. Player ComparisonIf Shedeur Sanders succeeds as a starter in the NFL, his game might end up looking a lot like Brock Purdy. Purdy has below average arm strength for a starting quarterback but he makes up for it with his anticipating and quick release. However, a huge part of Purdy’s game is what he can do out of structure. Sanders has those same playmaking skills, but he might not have the same athletic ability. Final Grade: Early/Mid 2nd Round
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