Shedeur Sanders to Skip Combine Workouts, Focus on Pro Day

We’re in the full swing of the NFL offseason with the upcoming 2025 draft process on the horizon.

Soon you will be inundated by mock drafts, rumors, free agent speculation, and all sorts of fun stuff for the next eight months. The current news cycle broke some interesting news on QB Shedeur Sanders.

As reported by various outlets, the former Colorado Buffaloes star signal-caller will not work out at the scouting combine in Indianapolis in front of teams. It’s also uncertain if he’ll make his medical records available to teams interested in his services. What we do know is that Sanders will throw at the Pro Day workout in Boulder. These workouts are usually catered to showcase the strengths of the athletes in question. He will also personally meet with teams in Indianapolis.

This isn’t a decision all that surprising. Last year’s crop of elite signal-callers (Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye) all made the same decision to not work out in front of NFL personnel. In these settings, those players pegged to go early in the draft will often forgo any chance for teams to ridicule or find some sort of nitpick issue that could cause them to drop (aka lose money).

Many feel as if a player’s tape is the more authentic form of grading an athlete. It’s one thing to throw a football and run in a straight line in shorts and a t-shirt. It’s another to do so in hostile conditions with beefy monsters wanting to rip your head off.

Sanders is a player who likely wouldn’t test ‘off the charts’ in this setting. He’s not a plus-athlete, and he very well could measure shorter than his listed height. Superficial metrics such as height, cone times, and 40-yard dash times can be falsely inflated to gauge a player’s value.

While not Lamar Jackson with the football in his hands, Sanders more than makes up for it with toughness, football I.Q., pedigree, experience, and accuracy under pressure.

Sanders led the nation in 2024 by completing 74 percent of his pass attempts. He also led the Big 12 in TDs, passing attempts, passing yards per contest, completions, and passing yards. With Colorado having a woefully inconsistent offensive line, Sanders had to run for his life far more than his father would’ve liked. In the process, it taught the younger Sanders to stand in the pocket and deliver the ball accurately downfield with an oncoming rush.

Thought not totally a statue, he also showcased the ability to evade said rush and scramble for positive yardage upfield.

As the draft order has shaken out, there’s real reason to believe Sanders could be a top-five pick. One could assert that Tennessee (1), Cleveland (2), New York (3), and Las Vegas (6) all could use a franchise quarterback.