With the Jets currently scheduled to pick 7th overall in the 2024 draft, let’s take a look at one prospect who may be a target: Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders.
By The Numbers
– Height: 6-foot-1½
– Weight: 212 pounds
– 40-Yard Dash: DNP (opted not to work out at the scouting combine and his pro day)
– Vertical: DNP
– Bench: DNP
– Broad Jump: DNP
– 2024 Stats (13 games started): 74.0 completion percentage, 4,134 passing yards, 100 rushing yards, 41 total touchdowns (four rushing), 10 interceptions.
Prospect Overview
NFL.com: Sanders possesses a baseline of poise, savvy and accuracy, traits that are integral in becoming an NFL starter. He’s slow-twitch with standard arm talent and a longer release, but he worked around those limitations with anticipation and accuracy. The tape says he has the necessary qualities to become a solid game manager if he can operate with better discipline and play to his strengths.
Bleacher Report: Sanders’ natural and pure passing abilities are the strength of his game. He is capable of winning from clean pockets and out of structure. Sanders will pick defenses apart with his quick release and accuracy. He is a high-floor prospect with a good enough ceiling to buy into. With his experience and the challenges he has faced, he is worth betting on.
Why Sanders makes sense for the Jets
Although the Jets signed Justin Fields in free agency, this in no way prevents them from considering using their first pick on a quarterback if a player they feel is equipped to potentially be their quarterback of the future falls far enough.
Sanders has received a lot of attention during the pre-draft process, much of that related to the fact that his father is the outspoken Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. There hasn’t been a lot of people linking Sanders to the Jets, though – in part because he has been widely expected to be selected by the time the Jets make their first pick. Should he fall, though, would New York be interested?
The Jets themselves are keeping their intentions to themselves and didn’t send a delegation to Sanders’ pro day, which might indicate that they’re not considering him closely at this stage. However, it could just mean that they’d prefer to work him out privately and they may even want to create a smokescreen so nobody is inclined to trade ahead of them to select him.
Although his father was one of the most exciting athletes in NFL history, Sanders is less flashy than you might expect and isn’t much of a dual threat. However, scouts rave about his arm talent and his confident demeanor could make him well-suited to the additional challenge of playing for a team in a major market like New York.
The Jets are determined not to make the same mistake they’ve made with other quarterbacks they’ve drafted in recent years, so would probably prefer to leave Sanders on the bench for a year or two to learn the ropes if they draft him. That, along with Tyrod Taylor being available as a backup, fits in with Fields being brought in to start and means that Sanders wouldn’t need to be thrown into the fire before he’s ready which would risk seeing his confidence shaken as players like Zach Wilson and Sam Darnold have with the Jets recently.
If Sanders is a prospect the Jets believe in, and he isn’t off the board in the first six picks, he’s bound to get some strong consideration. What drafting him won’t do, though, is bring them the much-needed injection of talent and year one production that other options could bring. Some fans might not like it, but that could prove to be the obvious pick for the Jets to make for their long-term future.
NFL Comparison
Bleacher Report: “Shades of Geno Smith with less arm talent”
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