I don’t care who the pick is or how certain scouts are on their evaluations — there is no such thing as a can’t-miss NFL prospect. Players can fail for any number of reasons, and not all of those are linked exclusively to their play. Especially for quarterbacks, intangible traits like leadership, confidence and poise can make or break their ability to succeed at the hardest position in all of sports.
All that said, Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders is certainly not lacking confidence.
“Why should an NFL team take a chance on me?” Sanders said during his National Football Scouting Inc. (NFS) interview at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine via ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler.” Because I know I’m the most guaranteed risk you can take.”
There were reports out of the Combine that some teams found Sanders’ personality off-putting or arrogant during their interviews. The above quote is perhaps an example of that.
If you have spent any length of time talking to prospects or at least listening to interviews with them, there is a certain tone that most of them use. The whole process is essentially one big job interview for them, and so many prospects put their best foot forward. Their agents put them through media training and many of them end up saying the same phrases that NFL teams want to hear.
Shedeur Sanders is a different kind of prospect than maybe anyone else in the history of the draft. The expectations have been sky-high for him since he was born and that was only elevated as his family starred on documentary-style shows like Coach Prime. You can’t expect somebody like that to act exactly like other prospects and say the same regurgitated phrases that are uttered thousands of times in Indianapolis during the Combine.
“The reason why people give him so much grief, it’s just, when you talk to him, he’s just different,” said one NFL executive who has met with Shedeur via Kahler. “He’s very much a thoughtful person. Sometimes that comes off a little bit combative because he’s going to ask questions, and he really wants to think through what you’re saying. He’s not really a yes-man person. He’s going to really have his own thoughts.”
His supreme confidence and different style of communication may be off-putting, but they aren’t necessarily bad traits. If he was a cornerback, people would be praising that demeanor.
Because of his confidence, the media attention he’s received, and—most notably—who his father is, many assumptions have been made about Sanders both as a person and as a potential leader of a football team. Anyone who actually knows him seems willing to go to bat for him to prove the opposite is true.
Former NFL head coach and Colorado OC Pat Shurmur had some interesting thoughts on Shedeur Sanders.
“He’s a wonderfully unique human being,” Shurmur said via Kahler. “He’s got a big heart. I think of him actually, in our conversations, as being somewhat shy. But I don’t think that’s a negative. Having been close to all that and really being raised in a household where your father is a star, you’re not going to be surprised by what comes your way as a pro.”
It is hardly surprising that Mike Tomlin reportedly “really likes” Sanders after their five-hour pre-draft visit last week. Tomlin often talks about the value of NFL bloodlines and growing up around the sport. Very few, if any, have lived that experience like Sanders.
If anything, there seems to be two different versions of Sanders. One when the cameras are rolling and one when they’re off.
“When [Deion and Shedeur] are alone, they are totally different people,” former Colorado coach Garry Harrell told Kahler. “But when the cameras come on, the lights come on, sometimes they go into character, and it’s just who they are. It’s not a bad thing. It’s like, ‘OK, now it’s time to perform.'”
People who assume Sanders is a certain way or that he will bring a circus to whatever team drafts him are missing the mark. Should he make it to the Steelers at No. 21 and the Steelers make him their pick, I can almost guarantee you Tomlin will talk about his personality and demeanor as one of the reasons why they fell in love with him as a prospect.
Kahler’s article has several quotes from Sanders and dozens more about him from various former coaches. I highly recommend checking out her piece. It does a great job summarizing the unique challenges that Shedeur Sanders has had to navigate as the son of one of the best players in NFL history.
