Louis Riddick has clear message for NFL teams as Shedeur Sanders' draft stock continues to plummet

Colorado's Shedeur Sanders is widely regarded as the second-best quarterback in the 2025 NFL draft. The only issue with his stock is whether or not teams near the top of the order are willing to invest that sort of pick into him. He's been tabbed for destinations such as Cleveland and the New York Giants, but nobody can say where he'll wind up.

Former NFL scout Louis Riddick joined Rich Eisen's radio show on Friday to give his thoughts on Sanders.

"How do people view Shedeur Sanders?" Riddick said. "I view him as a franchise player. I view him as a franchise quarterback. It would be great again to follow the blueprint of drafting him, have the quarterback room set up to where he can kind of get his bearings, get settled in Year 1, and then take off Year 2. ...

"He has the mental horsepower. He has plenty of arm strength. He has plenty of mobility. He has toughness galore."

Sanders was criticized after his comments at the NFL Scouting Combine last month, coming off too brash, according to an anonymous quarterbacks coach. There are other detractors, too.

"Listen, there are people now who throw out those arguments of, 'Well, you know what, look at what his record was at Colorado,'" Riddick added. "'He wasn't able to, like, put that entire team on his back. He wasn't able to lift them to the kind of heights that maybe his bravado says that he did.'

"The kid had no offensive line his first year. ... He's uniquely equipped to be able to deal with all of the other responsibilities that a franchise quarterback is going to have to deal with. That's a given."

Where will Shedeur Sanders end up?

Louis Riddick acknowledged that he doesn't know where Shedeur Sanders could go if he falls past the Las Vegas Raiders and the New York Jets, who respectively draft No. 6 and No. 7. Cleveland picks second in the order, but has considered other options already.

"At one point in time, you would've thought that Cleveland was going to go ahead and draft a quarterback, regardless of all the other things that they were rumored to be maybe thinking in the free agency market," Riddick said. "But, now, with the trading for Kenny Pickett, Russ going in there for a free agent visit, does that cool them off as far as the quarterback situation is concerned?

"And does someone wanna move into that spot to draft a quarterback No. 2 or get someone else at No. 2?"

Viewers will tune into the event and keep a close eye on where Shedeur Sanders ends up.