A former Jets scout says Quinn Ewers is better than Shedeur Sanders, sparking heated fan reactions just before the 2025 NFL Draft.
Controversial Former NFL Scout’s Take Reignites Quinn Ewers vs. Shedeur Sanders Debate
While Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders endures the draft process, it is normal to be met with criticism. Dissection of your game goes without saying. However, the analysis veers sideways when someone riles up the hot take machine. In this case, Daniel Kelly, a former New York Jets scout, decided to lead with this tweet.
Quinn Ewers is better than Shedeur Sanders.
Pass it on.
— FIRST ROUND MOCK (@firstroundmock) April 22, 2025
In essence, this feels more like pushing a narrative than objective analysis. If you look deeper, you see a torrent of criticism emanating from one direction aimed at Sanders.
The assertion that former Texas quarterback Ewers is better feels like a reach that makes Inspector Gadget jealous.
Make no mistake, Ewers is a very good prospect. He shows an innate ability to find the target from various arm slots and shift in and around the pocket. Imagine a pitcher who can fire from various angles with accuracy. The only major issues are a lack of velocity on deep passes, as they tend to sail or veer.
On the other hand, Sanders not only possesses decent zip but also throws more accurately.
More importantly, the passes allow the receiver to turn upfield. The above critiques are rooted in film, nothing outside of the game or personality perception. Unfortunately for Sanders, he doesn’t escape a narrative that gains clicks and attention, not rooted in any fact.
Making Critiques Personal
If you peruse Kelly’s X account, you see a targeted campaign that buries Sanders. For example, seven of the tweets feature comments about Sanders. Now, if the analysis centered on Sanders’ on-field skills. Yet, they don’t.
Kelly fixates on what he perceives as a red flag from a personality standpoint. Look at the pinned post: Kelly retweets Mel Kiper dissecting a tweet.
A little further down, Kelly assigns him an undraftable grade. Indeed, a quarterback that 99.99999% of the draft analysts think will be drafted somehow finds himself, according to one, waiting until after the draft to find a team.
The notion that Sanders’ draft hype is the product of his surname is rather laughable. That last name didn’t complete 74 percent of passes in a Power Four conference. Similarly, paternal connection did not throw an average of 8.1 yards per attempt and 37 touchdowns in the Big 12.
Tweeting out perceptions and analyses of a player’s behavior under film is definitely an interesting take. From the outside, the criticism seems rooted in the ability to garner clicks instead of valid analysis. Hot takes enrich those unleashing them to the detriment of those who actually seek draft information. Fans took issue and responded in kind.
Bad Take History
While the draft and discussion surrounding it is not an exact science, outlandish opinion serves the purpose of attention and not information. For instance, Kelly compared Ashton Jeanty to Walter Payton.
Now, Jeanty could enjoy a long, successful career, but drawing the parallel to a legend veers far beyond hyperbole. Last year, he awarded Jayden Daniels a third-round grade, stating:
“A better athlete than a QB. A fast runner with a strong running instinct. Tough as nails. Inconsistent on the finer points of the position. Doesn’t respond well to pressure in his face. NFL defensive coordinators need to blitz hard to win. Great college QB who has the skill set of an ideal NFL backup.”
In 2024, Daniels completed 69% of his passes for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns. In comparison, Tim Tebow, who Kelly thought of as a future Hall of Famer, completed 47.9% of his passes for 2422 yards in 35 games. Most importantly, Tebow won a single playoff game while Daniels led his squad to two playoff wins and a 12-5 record. They are not the same.
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In 2022, Kelly slotted former Liberty quarterback Malik Willis with his second overall pick while Mississippi’s Matt Corral occupied the third slot.
Willis is a backup quarterback in Green Bay, while Corral hasn’t thrown a single NFL pass to this point. In the same draft, he equated former Arkansas wide receiver Treylon Burks to Randy Moss. In 27 games, Burks can claim just one receiving touchdown.
Granted, draft season brings a myriad of opinions regarding players. It remains the nature of the metaphorical beast. At the same time, players like Sanders, due to what people perceive and do not truly know, shine a negative light that veers far outside the scope of football.
Ewers possesses all of the tools to become a good NFL quarterback. Likewise, based on what the film shows, Shedeur Sanders could ultimately become the same. Remember, the draft is an exact science, and definitive statements rarely pan out.
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