Saints favorite to draft QB Shedeur Sanders; Is that the correct choice? 

One of the most exciting parts of the offseason for the NFL is now just a week away. The 2025 NFL Draft begins Thursday, Apr. 24 with the first round, before ending Saturday. A full year of scouting college players pays off as teams try to find their next franchise guy or fill depth spots in the later rounds. 

While it is fun to do a mock of the whole draft or debate who will be taken first overall, the focus here will be to figure out who the New Orleans Saints should draft. What holes are currently in the team that could be filled by the draft? What players might we expect the Saints to take? 

With the possible loss of Derek Carr for the entire season due to shoulder injury, many think the Saints should draft a quarterback. The Saints hold the ninth overall pick in the draft, a pick that has not been used on a QB this century. 

Yet, despite that, the player favorite to be drafted by the Saints is Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Sheuder Sanders, with FanDuel having the odds placed at +105. This reflects a recent inflation on the quarterback position, and also the falling draft stock of Sanders over the draft process. 

Sanders spent two seasons at Jacksonville State before transferring to Colorado when his father, NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, became the Buffaloes head coach. His two seasons in Boulder were fairly underwhelming for all the hype around it. He went 4–8 in 2023 and finished his senior year with a record of 9–4, including a blowout loss to BYU in the Valero Alamo Bowl. 

In his two seasons at Colorado he went 1–6 against ranked teams, with his only win coming against a bad TCU team who were only ranked because they had made the National Championship game the season prior. 

In his senior season he passed for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns, averaging 8.7 yards per attempt with a 74% completion rate. Additionally, he threw 10 interceptions and was sacked an astonishing 42 times in 13 games, down from the 52 sacks taken in 12 games in 2022. 

While this does reflect the truly awful offensive line that Colorado had, it also reflects one of Sanders’ biggest weaknesses. He holds onto the ball for far too long, something you can not do in the NFL, especially behind a bad offensive line. He also tends to fall back instead of climbing a pocket, like a 13-year-old playing Madden. 

He also has not shown the greatest leadership skills, continuously throwing his o-line under the bus in interviews. That, though, is not something I am too worried about as people can always mature. 

Sanders has positives as well, he would not be considered a first round pick if he did not. He is the most accurate quarterback in the draft by far, even if the zip is not necessarily there. His great td-int ratio over his career shows an ability to make good decisions with the ball, minimizing unnecessary turnovers. 

With all that said, the Saints should not take a quarterback in this draft; well, at least not an early one. This is, by all metrics, one of the weaker QB classes in weaker memory. For reference, most NFL scouts and GMs agree that Cam Ward, consensus first overall pick, would not have been a first round pick in the QB heavy 2024 draft. 

Instead of forcing a swing at a QB, the Saints should instead just let Spencer Rattler start. If things work out well, then the Saints have their new franchise quarterback. If they do not, then they will be in prime position for the 2026 draft. 

They could also just wait until the second or later rounds to draft a project quarterback, such as Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Syrucuse’s Kyle McCord or Louisville’s Tyler Shough. 

That does leave the question: Who should the Saints draft at nine? Well, there are a few positions the Saints are in need of as it stands. 

One of the biggest is a lack of a big body receiver, that could be just a big wide receiver or even a tight end. The Saints should have the chance to draft both. 

As it stands, the team is in prime position to draft Arizona Wildcats receiver Tetairoa McMillian, one of the top receivers in the draft. 

McMillian is an absolute freak show of a prospect, standing at 6’4” and weighing 219 lbs, yet he was able to run a 4.48 40- yard dash time. 

He burst onto the national scene as a sophomore in 2023, hauling in 90 receptions for 1402 yards and 10 touchdowns. 

His 2024 season saw slightly weaker stats, but that can be chopped up to bad QB play, with 84 catches, 1319 yards and eight touchdowns. 

He could be the missing piece to elevate the Saints young receiving corps of Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. 

The Saints are also in a good position to draft Penn State tight end Tyler Warren, the 2024 John Mackey Award winner for being the best tight end in college football. 

At 6’5” and 256 lbs, Warren is both a catching threat and can be used as a good extra blocker. 

He finished the 2024 season with an absolutely insane 104 receptions for 1233 yards and eight touchdowns. 

Either McMillan or Warren would be a great addition to the Saints receiving corps, and be perfect for Kellen Moore’s offensive system. Offense is not the only side of the ball, some young players could be used to supplement the aging defensive corps. There is a particular need in edge rusher, someone to match with Chase Young and take over for Cam Jordan for when he, eventually, retires. That replacement could be found in Tennessee Volunteer James Pearce Jr. 

Pearce is quick, startlingly quick. He can propel his 6’5”, 245 lbs body 40 yards in 4.47 seconds. Pearce combined for 17 sacks over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, and was a big contributor for the Volunteer’s elite defense the past two seasons. 

There are other positions that need to be filled with depth, such as in the secondary, the offensive line and additions to the running back room. It will be easy to fill running back, even in the later rounds, thanks to this particularly stacked draft class.