Weighing if Shedeur Sanders’ tweet will affect Colorado QB’s NFL Draft stock

There’s been a lot of conversation about Shedeur Sanders’ NFL Draft prospects in 2025 due to his tweet earlier this week.

He was criticized due to his negative comments about former Colorado teammate Xavier Smith, who transferred out of the program prior to the start of last season. However On3’s Andy Staples doesn’t think it’ll move the needle either way.

Sanders’ odds to be the top selection in 2025 were affected, but he’s still the favorite at this point.

“You don’t have to say this. You chose to say this,” Staples said on his show Thursday. Is it going to hurt him for awards? No, I don’t think so. If Shedeur Sanders has a great season, he’s going to win awards. Is it going to hurt him in the draft? Probably not. Look, they’ll tell you any reason. You can find some unnamed scout that’s gonna rip somebody … But I don’t think it’ll hurt him.”

Staples then compared it to Spencer Rattler falling in this year’s draft. The South Carolina quarterback reportedly hurt his stock due to his portrayal on the Netflix docuseries “QB1: Beyond the Lights” when he was in high school.

“Like I noticed this week, everybody’s complaining because some NFL folks said that the Spencer Rattler performance QB1 when he was in high school, that that hurt his draft,” Staples said. “No, Spencer Rattler’s college performance hurt Spencer Rattler’s draft stock. If they thought Spencer Rattler was great, they would have drafted him in the first round. Trust me, they were drafting QBs in the first round. Michael Penix, Jr. went the top 10, Bo Nix went number 12.”

Sanders, based on his play, looks like a first round pick at this time.

“Those are guys that you would not expect to get drafted in the first round. So if they thought Spencer Rattler was that great, they would have picked him in the first round. I don’t think his performance on the show changed that. And that was a long time ago. And I guarantee you there were plenty of people in South Carolina, who said hey, you get to know this guy. He’s not that guy. I don’t think that’s what affected it.”

Sanders lit it up last year, when he was protected at least. Last season, Sanders put up big numbers in 11 games despite being battered and sacked over 50 times in the fall. He had 3,230 yards, 27 touchdowns, three interceptions and a 69.3% completion percentage.

“How Shedeur Sanders plays on the field will affect Shedeur Sanders’ draft stock,” Staples said. “The question is, is he going to play as well as he can? Is he going to be upright? Shedeur Sanders got sacked a ton last year. They’re now moving to an offense that’s going to require the office to give him even more time. I just don’t know if that’s going to happen.”