Steelers Now
From Steelers Now:
To say the least, former Steelers running back Merril Hoge is not a fan of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders. Hoge, who correctly predicted that Johnny Manziel was going to be a bust, thinks Sanders is going to be an epic failure in the NFL.
“He can’t handle the expectations that are coming his way. He’s gonna be an epic failure and he’s gonna get set your organization back another two or three years,” Hoge said on 102.5 WDVE’s Morning Show with Randy Baumann.
Sanders did not have an elite offensive line at Colorado, but he still had the most quarterback-faulted pressures and sacks in 2024, according to Pro Football Focus. Pocket awareness is something that many talent evaluators are concerned about with him.
“The best way to sum it up is his a really good college quarterback,” Hoge said. “His accuracy is good. His processing is good. And when I say good, I use a scale of 1 to 10. So good is around five. So if you’re a five in college, okay? Those are the two most important aspects of transitioning to the National Football League and then you build from there. Anticipation, pocket awareness and then we start building. But those two things, if you’re a five, you’re not a first rounder. You’re not a franchise guy.”
Hoge is not the only one that thinks Sanders will be a bust. NFL insider Albert Breer examined this year’s quarterback class with the help of nine QB-adjacent offensive coaches from nine different NFL teams, and the overall consensus on Sanders was pretty negative.
“This guy—if his last name was Breer,” the NFC quarterbacks coach joked with Breer, “and he was coming out of Minnesota, he’d be a sixth-round pick. He doesn’t play with good feet, he’s late on stuff, he has an average arm. His accuracy is O.K., but he has no timing, no anticipation. He flashes some throws, but he’s an average player, not a great athlete. Even if you watch his pro day, there’s no timing or rhythm. He takes extra hitches.”
One NFC quarterbacks coach absolutely ripped Sanders.
“This guy—if his last name was Breer,” the NFC quarterbacks coach joked with Breer, “and he was coming out of Minnesota, he’d be a sixth-round pick. He doesn’t play with good feet, he’s late on stuff, he has an average arm. His accuracy is O.K., but he has no timing, no anticipation. He flashes some throws, but he’s an average player, not a great athlete. Even if you watch his pro day, there’s no timing or rhythm. He takes extra hitches.”
An unnamed AFC coordinator wasn’t as harsh, but he noted that there’s some big question marks with the highly-touted Colorado quarterback.
“The physical tools, when you see it in rhythm, it looks good,” the AFC coordinator said. “The stuff you ding him on, holding the ball, dropping too deep, waiting for things to happen instead of anticipating, that’s the Jekyll and Hyde. … The things...
