Shedeur Sanders stepped into the spotlight at his Pro Day, and two of the sharpest minds in football had thoughts. Ross Tucker and Emory Hunt break down what they saw, what stood out and how Shedeur’s NFL stock is shaping up ahead of the draft on a recent episode of The Ross Tucker Football Podcast.
All eyes were on Sanders as he took center stage at Colorado’s Pro Day. One of the biggest criticisms of Sanders is his habit of patting the ball as he throws. Hunt playfully noted that he’s glad he’s matured and no longer responds to people on Twitter with strong opinions about Sanders’ ball-patting. He admitted he has nothing left to say to the “all-tape watchers” who heavily judge players based on what they did in the combine and Pro Day. He added that when it’s Week 6, Sanders is leading Rookie of the Year voting, and his team is 5-1, don’t get mad when he brings up the receipts. Hunt added that when people talk about how Sanders’ ball patting will incite defensive backs to intercept the ball, he challenges them to look at Sanders’ college interception stats. If ball-patting had truly been an issue, Sanders would have had double-digit picks in college, which wasn’t the case.
Tucker said that seven-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady used to pat the ball a lot. Tucker mentioned that patting the ball can go several different ways, such as changing your pat timing to manipulate the defense or patting the ball one way and going in a different direction from the ball. Further, Tucker explained that anything critics call a “tell” for a quarterback can go both ways.
“How many interceptions has he thrown in college? Because if that’s the case, then he should have at LEAST 25 picks.”@FBallGameplan shuts down all the talk about Shedeur Sanders patting the football: pic.twitter.com/p7cMhq3ADp
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) April 7, 2025
Many scouts have Miami’s Cam Ward ahead of Sanders, but Hunt has Sanders as his QB1. He shared with Tucker that it always came down to situational football. Whether it was red zone offense, backed-up offense, four-minute offense, end-of-game situations, or need-to-have situations, Sanders thrived from the beginning to the end of his college career. To Hunt’s point, how many times have we turned on Colorado games, and Sanders was backed up to his 1-yard line, needing to drive the length of the field to keep his team in the game? Ward has improved situationally with every stop of his college career, whereas Sanders has remained consistent. Moreover, Hunt emphasized that while many quarterback gurus focus on physical traits, for him, the most important trait for a quarterback is from the neck up and how you handle in-game situations.
Check out Ross’ full conversation with Hunt in the full video or podcast below. And make sure to tune into the Ross Tucker Podcast on DraftKings Network! See more about how to watch DraftKings Network here.
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