College Football

Caleb Williams or Shedeur Sanders? Skip Bayless makes his pick

Updated Sep. 25, 2023 8:31 p.m. ET

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USC quarterback Caleb Williams seemed like a lock to be taken first overall in the 2024 NFL Draft even before he walked across the stage in New York to accept the 2022 Heisman Trophy in December.

But his status as the top pick next spring is slowly seeing a challenge rise from another Pac-12 quarterback — Shedeur Sanders.

While Williams has been at least as good as he was during his Heisman-winning campaign last year, Sanders has been absolutely electrifying over his first three games with Colorado. 

Sanders, who followed his father Deion Sanders when he left Jackson State to take the job at Colorado, has already passed for 1,251 yards and 10 touchdowns while throwing just one interception. Williams, meanwhile, has thrown 12 touchdown passes and no interceptions but has compiled only 878 yards through the air.

The younger Sanders has been so dynamic, in fact, that Skip Bayless says he would lean toward taking the younger him first overall in the draft over Williams if it were held today. He explained why — and outlined the caveats to his take — on Thursday's episode of the "Skip Bayless Show."

"I need to see a little bit more of Shedeur at Oregon [on Saturday] and versus Caleb [on Sept. 30]," Bayless said. "But I am leaning he should go her over Caleb as we speak. Shedeur is the reason I give Colorado a real good shot at Oregon."

The No. 19 Buffaloes play the No. 10 Ducks in Eugene on Saturday to open both teams' final Pac-12 season before they depart next year for the Big 12 and Big Ten, respectively. Colorado then hosts Williams and No. 5 USC in Boulder on FOX the following weekend.

Bayless said that the big differentiator for Sanders is not only that is he more of a traditional, pro-style, accurate pocket passer akin to Tom Brady, but he is also famously being mentored by Brady himself.

Why Skip Bayless would choose Shedeur Sanders No. 1 in the 2024 draft

"Shedeur is a little bit more of a pure passer than Caleb is," Bayless said. "He's taller than Caleb is. I think he's a little more accurate than Caleb is. He doesn't have quite the canon that Caleb has, but it's enough of an arm because it's a Brady-esque arm, and Brady had plenty of velocity. 

"What I love the most about Shedeur is, he doesn't have his father's wheels … but he moves very well to throw because his eyes stay locked downfield on his targets."

But Bayless still holds Williams in high regard.

"Caleb's the ultimate backyard quarterback," Bayless said. "He is an escape artist of the highest order. He does get beat up and knocked around because of it, because he's going to hold the ball too long, and he's going to take shots. He's going to shrug [defenders] off almost like Ben Roethlisberger used to. He's going to tear away from those pass rushers, and he's going to make a play. He's going to make a throw that'll take your breath away because he's got a Howitzer rocket launcher of an arm."

But Sanders, Bayless said, showed more of an ability to be clutch in the biggest moments, such as his game-tying, 98-yard drive against Colorado State on Saturday that eventually set up a 43-35 Colorado win in double overtime.

"I'm just not sure Caleb would have been quite as capable of that 98-yard drive, albeit against Colorado State," Bayless said. "You just can't make one mistake, not one, or you're done. Shedeur has a little better poise, a little better command, a little better feel for the position — and, as he's demonstrated several times already this young season, Brady's clutch gene."

It's worth noting that there are questions about whether either quarterback will even declare for the 2024 NFL Draft despite both being projected top picks. 

Is Colorado's Shedeur Sanders already a top-5 pick?

Williams' father, Carl, hinted last month that his son may return for his senior year at USC if he doesn't see a "good situation" in the NFL. Deion Sanders told Shedeur and his brother Shilo, a Colorado safety, in a lighthearted back-and-forth last weekend that "y'all ain't going nowhere," and expanded on those comments in a recent interview with Bleacher Report.

"It's not about what I'm seeing from them," Deion said. "It's about a whole lot of other things — teams, position, round, projection — all of that plays a role. Because now with NIL and who they are, shoot, you can make just as much money here as you can there unless you're one of the first five picks.

"But Shedeur don't want to be [No.] 2 to nobody. He don't get down like that. So, people projecting him behind Caleb Williams — and Caleb Williams is phenomenal — but Shedeur ain't no backseat driver. He drives his Maybach. He don't have a driver in it."

Williams and Shedeur Sanders will get a chance to settle this on the field when USC takes on Colorado on Sept. 30 at noon ET/9 a.m. PT on FOX.

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Caleb Williams

USC Trojans

College Football

National Football League

Shedeur Sanders

Colorado Buffaloes

CFB - USC Trojans vs. Colorado Buffaloes - 09/30/2023

Skip Bayless

The Skip Bayless Show