During the spring months, NFL teams have their advance scouts visiting colleges for junior days and looking at the tape of the last season to put together a watch list for the next NFL Draft. The preseason watch lists are shared with the teams that are part of National Football Scouting or the Blesto scouting service. Looking at one of the preseason watch lists for NFL teams, Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders is the highest-graded quarterback prospect entering the 2024 college football season.
While playing for his Hall of Fame father Deion Sanders, Shedeur Sanders dominated at Jackson State in the first two years of his collegiate career. As a junior in 2023, Sanders followed his father to Colorado, playing well in his Power Five college football debut. Sanders completed 69 percent of his passes for 3,230 yards with 27 touchdown passes, three interceptions, and four rushing touchdowns. Sanders could have entered the 2023 NFL Draft but decided to return to Colorado for another season.
Interestingly, Sanders is listed at 6 feet 2 inches and 215 pounds, but the watchlist spreadsheet has him measuring 6 feet 1 inch and 198 pounds. That is on the undersized portion of the spectrum for quarterbacks but not too small. Sanders is bigger than Bryce Young and similar to Baker Mayfield, both No. 1 overall picks in their draft classes. Check out my latest 2025 NFL Mock Draft to see a quote from an NFC area scout who did a report on Sanders in case he entered the draft. That scout does a good job of summarizing Sanders’s skill set and what makes him special.
The preseason grades are not set in stone, and scouts will forget them soon. In the 2018 preseason, Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray and Alabama defensive tackle Quinnen Williams were not on the preseason watch list. Yet Murray became the No. 1 overall pick, and Williams went third a few months later. There have been other late-round projections, such as Joe Burrow, who ended up skyrocketing during the season. Other players had high preseason projections but were mid- or late-round picks months later. Thus, the value is more of a watch list over grades of players’ abilities. But entering the 2024 season, Sanders is the highest-graded quarterback prospect.
