BOULDER — Why take a pay cut to turn pro? Shedeur Sanders is worth an estimated $4.6 million in name, image and likeness value this fall. The first quarterback taken in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, the Titans’ Will Levis, landed a signing bonus of $3.9 million.
“Aren’t we having a great time here?” CU Buffs football coach Deion Sanders asked Tuesday when I asked about his QB1’s NFL prospects. “When we appreciate and we love where we are, it’s hard to look at someone else.”
Painkillers ain’t cheap, Shedeur, but math is math. Caleb Williams and Drake Maye will be rich and miserable in the winter of ’25, leaving a hole at the top of the NFL Draft that only a man with a diamond watch flex can fill.
But hey, if you don’t want to listen to me, fair enough. Listen to the man with the gold jacket from Canton.
And I don’t mean your dad.
“Past players never had those NIL deals, or any of those options, so most guys couldn’t wait to get out of school,” Pro Football Hall of Fame QB Warren Moon told me by phone Tuesday night.
“Now, because of NIL, you can take your time. That’s one of the reasons Michael Penix Jr. came back to Washington. He was like, ‘Hey, why should I be a second-round draft pick (after ’22)?’ And now he’s one of the leading Heisman Trophy candidates.”
That’s you, dude. Next fall. I mean, Coach Prime’s got to land not just one, but probably two or three offensive line upgrades between now and July, granted. Otherwise, scouts are gonna have to scrape you off the turf at Folsom Field with a spatula.
“He needs to stay (at CU),” longtime former NFL scout Dan Shonka offered earlier this week. “He needs more games against big-time competition under his belt and to keep improving every week, like he’s been doing. Because he’s definitely an ascending player.”
Despite the younger Sanders running for his life these past nine weeks, NFLMockDraftDatabase.com, which factors in 226 online first-round NFL mock drafts and 103 team-based mock drafts, pegs him as the fourth-best QB prospect eligible next spring.
On the upside, that slots him behind only Williams, Maye and Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy. The downside? The site’s aggregated projection also has Shedeur, if he came out for the ’24 draft, landing in Levis territory — taken early in the second round, at pick No. 38 on average.
If that wasn’t good enough for Penix, why should it be good enough for the Son of Prime?
“We’re in the same boat — we’ve always won,” the elder Sanders said Tuesday in advance of the 4-5 Buffs’ home finale with resurgent Arizona (6-3) on Saturday.
“So this is tremendously tough, hitting this hurdle that we’ve hit. (But) I don’t see him flinch. I don’t see (any) quit in him. I don’t see (any) shutdown. … So I’m proud of the young fella. I really am.”
Given the perilous state of CU’s offensive line, staying in school has its financial risks, too — never mind the physical ones.
On3.com estimates Shedeur’s NIL value in the current market as second-highest nationally ($4.6 million) among all NCAA athletes, trailing only USC basketball’s Bronny James ($5.9 million), son of NBA icon LeBron James. In 2023 alone, he’s reportedly added deals with Beats By Dre, Urban Outfitters and Topps to a portfolio that already included Mercedes-Benz, Gatorade and Brady, Tom Brady’s clothing line.
The first quarterback taken after the first round, Levis, who went 33rd overall to the Titans, landed a four-year deal with an average value of $2.385 million — with an amortized signing bonus worth $984,939 this fall as a rookie.
Top of the first round, though? Different story. Bryce Young (No. 1 overall), C.J. Stroud (No. 2) and Anthony Richardson (No. 4) all nabbed four-year deals worth an average annual value of $9.01 million with an average amortized, first-year signing bonus of $5.78 million.
Advantage: Staying put.
One last ride for ’25.
“I really do like him,” Moon said of Shedeur. “I didn’t know what to expect (this fall) after I saw him (at Jackson State). … I really like how he makes quick decisions, gets the ball out of his hands. He has taken a beating along the way, and that’s another thing that’s really impressed me about him, is his courage out there and his toughness. He keeps getting up.
“He’s taken some hellacious hits. Some guys wouldn’t go back in the game. He doesn’t quit. He comes back, he plays with a lot of guts. He’s more mobile than I thought he was (at JSU). I think he’s going to be a good one. If he stays in school another year, it’s only going to help.”
It’s just not about dollars, kid. It’s about sense.
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