Shedeur Sanders Headlines Top QBs Taking Different Paths to NFL Draft

INDIANAPOLIS — Top quarterback prospects Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward won’t throw at the NFL Scouting Combine on Saturday, but they did make their case for the individual professional potential as they met with the media Friday morning.

For Sanders, he knows he won’t be able to—and he’s not trying to—escape the spotlight that his father, Deion Sanders, brings. “There’s a lot of exterior things that people don’t like about me,” he said. “I’m realistic about my family and everything that people say it comes with.”

The Titans hold the No. 1 pick, and need a quarterback, but this year’s class of signal-callers isn’t rated as highly as previous ones. Sanders said his draft position won’t matter to him, citing Raiders minority owner Tom Brady (selected with pick No. 199 in the sixth round of the 2000 draft), who he has developed a close relationship with in recent years. 

“He was just telling me knowledge, and I filmed everything,” Sanders said of the time he spent with Brady. “I recorded everything. So, now even, sometimes I go back and just listen to the things that he said.” Las Vegas currently holds the No. 6 pick—and also needs a quarterback.

Similarly, Ward isn’t stressing about his draft position, either. “The only difference between the first-round and a seventh-round pick is the signing bonus,” he said.

Draft Day Decision

Sanders won’t attend the NFL Draft in Green Bay, so that he can spend the evening with loved ones—and save some cash. 

“It makes more sense for us to be at home, be with my family, be with everybody that supported me,” he said. “Cost-wise, it’s not going to make sense to fly everybody there—it’s going to be too much of a hassle.”

Ewers Content With Turning Down NIL

Quinn Ewers skipped his senior year of high school to capitalize on the beginning of the NIL (name, image, and likeness) era in college sports. But after four years in school, with one year of eligibility remaining to keep cashing in, he opted for an uncertain pro journey instead of one more payday.

“It was never a thought for me,” Ewers said when asked about transferring from Texas instead of entering the draft. Texas is moving forward with Arch Manning as its starting quarterback and reports linked Ewers to a potential $6 million NIL offer at another school. His draft stock fell during this past season. If he goes outside of the top 100 picks (roughly the first three rounds), his four-year rookie deal will be less than what he potentially could have made by transferring.

Turning down more guaranteed money is a different approach than Ewers took four years ago, when he decided to leave high school early to go to Ohio State in 2021, which was the year NIL was legalized.

“It was a weird dynamic, for sure,” he said. “The Texas legislature wasn’t going to allow high school football players to be paid, but I had a big opportunity in front of me to go make a good chunk of money. And I went about it like, ‘I don’t know what’s certain in the future, but I know what’s certain right now.’”