Pat Shurmur: If you need a quarterback, draft Shedeur Sanders

While he's now the offensive coordinator at Colorado, Pat Shurmur has a long history of coaching in the NFL.

He’s had two stints as a head coach and four as an offensive coordinator.

The two teams he coached — the Browns and the Giants — are now ostensibly seeking quarterbacks at No. 2 and No. 3 overall, respectively. Plus there’s the Titans at No. 1 overall who also need a QB.

Shurmur may be biased because he coached the players, but he did have some advice for teams taking a look at quarterback Shedeur Sanders and 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter.

“Well I’ve talked to all 32 teams and some of them multiple times,” Shurmur said in his Tuesday press conference. “Some of the teams ought to get an AirBnB out here — they’ve been out here a bunch of times, doing the research on Shedeur for the right reasons. And I’ve told them all this — and I really believe it having worked with him at this level and knowing how he’s going to project to the next level: If you need a quarterback, draft Shedeur. If you don’t need a quarterback, take Travis.

“Really, I just — as my daughter would say, it’s not that deep.”

Some of the pre-draft criticism levied against Sanders has been about his confidence, which Shurmur takes issue with.

“Quarterbacks have to have confidence,” Shurmur said. “You're thrust onto a big stage and it’s third-and-6, and the wind is blowing, and you’ve got to have it — if you don’t have confidence, it ain’t happening. And you’ve been tagged a few times? Some of your guys maybe dropped a couple of balls? You’ve got to be able to stand in there and take it. So, confidence is a huge thing. Being natural at the position is a huge thing. And I just think he has some of the traits that will allow him to be very, very successful.

“So, I’m not into the comparison game. At this point, we’re not working together. We still talk frequently. He’ll call me at night after his visits and we’ll talk about how they went, whatever. But now I’m in the phase where I’m rooting for him and I think whatever team chooses to pick him is going to make a really good choice.”

Sanders completed 74.0 percent of his passes for 4,134 yards with 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2024, earning Big 12 offensive player of the year.