Shedeur Sanders could entice some 2025 NFL Draft moves

Which NFL teams are lining up for draft prospect Shedeur Sanders?

What a great time to be Colorado’s (and Deion’s) Shedeur Sanders. Even if he’s not on the same level as Andrew Luck as a prospect, the hype and the pageantry that’s about to surround the 2025 draft and what team Sanders goes to could be on a level we haven’t seen since that 2012 draft.

A quarterback has been the number one pick in 20 of the last 27 drafts and in three of those seven classes when the pick wasn’t a QB, there wasn’t a QB picked close to number one. So if there’s a quarterback even close to worthy of being a top-5 pick, you can all but guarantee that he will go number one overall and for most analysts that player will either be Sanders or Miami’s Cam Ward.

Usually, the “QB of the Week” series highlights the NFL quarterback having the best week. However, with eight NFL teams sitting at 3-8 or worse and QB problems usually at the center of their issues, Sanders is having a better week and season than half of the NFL’s starters without even needing to be in the NFL yet.

Where will Deion Sanders allow Shedeur Sanders to go next?

Where will Shedeur Sanders go and which team is in the best position to draft him, either by losing out or trading up? Deion Sanders has said he wouldn’t let Shedeur go to the wrong NFL team, so who is the right NFL team?

The 2025 NFL Draft order is far from set

It’s important to highlight the “top 11” in the 2025 NFL Draft order because the Cowboys are at 11 and Dallas could lose the rest of their games now that Dak Prescott is on IR. The Cowboys are only two games worse than the Jaguars, Giants, and Raiders in the top three, and they have a strength of schedule advantage over all of those teams except for Jacksonville.

It’s highly unlikely that the Cowboys could catch the Jaguars in the draft order with six games to go, but Dallas could get close enough to trade up.

The 2025 NFL Draft QB class increases the pressure on teams to trade up

They’ll be one of at least least a half-dozen teams willing to trade up for Sanders or Ward. The consensus has been that the QB class, while not as bad as 2022’s historically awful class (Kenny Pickett, 22nd overall, was the only QB picked in the first two rounds), is perhaps just a two-horse race.

With only two quarterbacks worth looking at in the first round, it’s going to make it very easy for the Jaguars to trade the number one pick if they land it.

Usual suspects in position to draft Sanders and Ward

Of the teams set to pick in the top 11, the only two that seem impossible for Sanders or Ward are the Patriots and the Bengals. The Jaguars would be surprising, but ownership could do something dramatic if Jacksonville gets the number one pick, while the Panthers and Titans are trending towards keeping their current young starters for now.

That leaves six other teams in the top 11 of the draft order who could be willing to tank or trade for a quarterback prospect like Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward.

New York Giants

This Thursday’s game between the Giants and Cowboys will go a long way towards determining which NFC East team gets a step closer to Sanders and which team could fall completely out of the race. The Giants have released Daniel Jones and they’ve also opted for Tommy DeVito over Drew Lock, a sign that New York has no interest in winning another game. NFL.com has projected that the Giants will land the number one pick.

If that happens, then the only “lock” left in New York will be that the team ranked 32nd in scoring is going to draft a quarterback with its first pick.

The New York Giants are reportedly in love with Sanders, and have seen him play multiple games in 2024.

Las Vegas Raiders

The Raiders have been seeking out a franchise quarterback since moving to Las Vegas and Primetime’s son would be a perfect fit for the brightest city in the world. It would probably be the best news that Raiders fans have received since the team landed Tom Brady as a partial owner and executive salesman to all prospective draft prospects and free agents.

Who else would Deion Sanders want guiding his son in the NFL other than a 7-time Super Bowl winner?

The biggest game left on the Raiders schedule is a Week 16 matchup against the Jaguars. The winner of that game will be the loser of that game.

New York Jets

Aaron Rodgers doesn’t know his future what his future holds, but whether he wants to stay with the Jets or the Jets want him to stay, that won’t stop the Jets from drafting a quarterback if they can. It’s actually Rodgers’ present that could prevent that: As long as Rodgers is playing, the Jets have a better chance to win a few more games than the teams with DeVito, Desmond Ridder, Jameis Winston, and Cooper Rush/Trey Lance.

The Jets play the Jaguars in Week 15, yet another opportunity for Jacksonville to lose to their competition to guarantee themselves the number one pick.

Cleveland Browns

Cleveland plays on the road in four of the last six games and they’ll be huge underdogs in most of those games, so 3-14 isn’t out of the question. What could be out of the question is Shedeur playing for the NFL’s most hapless franchise.

If Deion Sanders is going to “Eli Manning” his son’s draft process, is there really any chance that Shedeur is going to play for the Jets or the Browns? These are franchises that have had every opportunity to prove that they won’t ruin a high draft pick’s future and they’ve failed over and over again.

New Orleans Saints

The Saints have games left against the Rams, Giants, Raiders, and Bucs, so finishing the season worse than 6-11 would be a surprise. They aren’t picking early enough to draft a quarterback unless they trade up and New Orleans has a lot of cap work left to do because of overpaying Derek Carr.

Dallas Cowboys

The Cowboys could be Sanders’ dream team, but beating the Commanders last week puts a serious dent in Jerry’s ability to make it happen. Dallas is 4-7 but they’re also not THAT bad. They’re not nearly as bad as the Jaguars, Raiders, and Giants. They scored 34 points against Washington and the Raiders or Giants might not score 34 points for the entire rest of the season.

If the Cowboys end up around six or seven wins, it’s going to take an unprecedented haul to move up from pick 14ish to pick 1. When the Rams did it in 2016 for Jared Goff, they gave up picks 15, 43, 45, and 76, as well as a 2017 first and third.

Well, the Cowboys don’t have any extra draft ammunition in 2025, so the cost would probably be at least three first round picks, if not offering up a player like Micah Parsons in lieu of two first round picks. That would be Parsons and a first-round pick for a quarterback who hasn’t played a single down in the NFL.

Not to mention, Dak Prescott signed a massive contract extension just a couple months ago. If they trade Prescott before June, his dead cap hit would be $104 million, $15 million higher than if he’s actually on the team.

But the Cowboys hiring Deion Sanders as head coach and drafting his son to be the quarterback is legitimately so crazy that it can’t be ruled out of Jerry’s World.

Is Shedeur Sanders that good of a quarterback prospect? Given the current state of the league, he doesn’t need to be.