"It’s ridiculous": NFL insider sounds off after Shedeur Sanders' draft stock rumors

Albert Breer is not a fan of the rumors that Shedeur Sanders is falling in the NFL draft. In his latest mailbag, the Sports Illustrated NFL insider tackled the rumor.

His distaste for the concept of falling on draft boards is not specific to Sanders. Breer is not a fan of the concept of risers and fallers on draft boards in general. He called it "ridiculous."

"It’s ridiculous," Breer said. "Things aren’t that volatile, and the reason why, in the months leading up to the draft, you see guys “rise” or “fall” is because the media, and I’ll include myself in this, get caught up on where teams have been since the end of the football season. There are exceptions, of course, but not a ton of them."

However, Breer did address how Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward, the two highest-rated quarterbacks in this year’s draft class, compared to last year’s class. It was not favorable.

“I never heard anyone from a team say that either Ward or Sanders was in the class of the first three quarterbacks (Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye) selected last year," Breer added. "And I might go so far as to say the next three from 2024 (Michael Penix Jr., J.J. McCarthy, Bo Nix) were better prospects, too."

Because of how they compare to last year’s quarterback prospects, Breer thinks there is an opportunity for both Sanders and Ward to impress in the draft evaluation process.

The pre-draft process officially kicks off for all top prospects in two weeks at the NFL scout combine in Indianapolis. Shedeur Sanders has expressed that he is unsure if he intends to throw at the combine, but he has already met with several NFL teams and is expected to continue the meetings there.

New England Patriots need Shedeur Sanders or Cam Ward to get drafted in the top 3.

In another mailbag question, a fan asked what the New England Patriots should do at No. 4. Breer thinks for their sake, either Ward or Sanders needs to go in the top 3.

“It’s a weird spot to be in, and it’s why the Patriots need to hope that at least one of Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders get hot and go in the top 3, or someone really wants whichever one of them falls to No. 4,” Breer said.

Breer has Penn State’s Abdul Carter and Colorado’s Travis Hunter as this draft’s true blue-chip prospects.