How Shedeur Sanders leads college football in passing yards — and sacks taken
-
Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Late in the third quarter last Saturday, Colorado trailed Arizona State 17-14 with the offense near midfield facing second-and-3.
The previous Buffaloes possession had ended like so many others this season, with quarterback Shedeur Sanders getting sacked behind a patchwork offensive line. Three Sun Devils defenders converged on Sanders for the sack and he walked off the field with one of his shoulder pads exposed.
The next drive would be different, though, as Sanders sensed the rush and scrambled upfield for a first down. He ended the run by lowering his shoulder into ASU defensive back Jordan Clark. The message Sanders sent was twofold — both to his teammates and his opponent.
“That was really a scare tactic,” he said. “They know I’m going to lower my shoulder, so they’re not going to think anything sweet with me.”
Colorado went on to win 27-24, improving to 4-2 thanks in large part to its quarterback. But the question moving forward becomes: How long can he endure the pummeling he takes in the pocket?
“If Colorado didn’t have Shedeur, they wouldn’t win a game, point blank, it’s that simple,” a Power 5 coach told ESPN. “He’s getting killed, though. I feel bad. He’s such a tough kid.”
Sanders, the youngest son of Colorado coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, leads college football in passing yards (2,020). He set Colorado’s single-game team passing record (510 yards) in his Buffaloes debut at TCU. He has helped Colorado overcome slow starts, particularly during an overtime win against Colorado State, and last week at Arizona State. He rallied his team from a 34-7 deficit to within a single score against USC.
Sanders also enters Friday night’s home game against Stanford (10 p.m. ET, ESPN) leading the nation in getting sacked — 30 times in six games, four more than second place. He has four games of 348 passing yards or more and three with four touchdown passes, but has been sacked at least three times in every contest — eight in a win over Nebraska and seven in a loss to Oregon.
One of the nation’s most valuable quarterbacks is also among the most at-risk.
“It’s hard to be a successful quarterback when you have people hitting you,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning told ESPN. “He’s done a phenomenal job of still having success, still playing really well, in spite of being hit.”
The hits and sack numbers for Sanders are staggering. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Sanders is the first player in the past 20 seasons to lead the FBS in passing yards and sacks taken through six games (West Virginia’s Will Grier was third in both categories in 2018). He’s the first player to be sacked 30 times in the first six games since Idaho’s Matt Linehan in 2014, and has absorbed the most hits (93) of any FBS quarterback through six games in the past five seasons.
Sanders is on pace to tie the FBS single-season record for being sacked at 60 — currently owned by Pitt’s Tino Sunseri in 2011 (the NCAA began to recognize sacks as an official statistic in 2000).
“The hardest thing to do in sports is quarterback when you’re not protected always,” Stanford coach Troy Taylor, a quarterback at Cal and in the NFL, told ESPN. “He’s protected sometimes, just not always. To be able to go back with the intention to get good protection every time, and continue to compete and keep your eyes downfield, what he’s done is incredible. He’s taken a number of hits and he just keeps playing.”
The mounting hits, while confirming Sanders’ mettle, are also a source of concern. Arizona State sacked Sanders five times, including twice on the opening possession. Deion Sanders opened his news conference by saying he’s “sick of this,” adding, “How do you start out a game like that, with a quarterback like this?”
Asked about Shedeur sitting alone on the bench at one point during the game, Deion said, “He’s upset with the way it’s going, he’s upset with hit after hit after hit. You think he’s happy being the most-sacked guy … in college football, and he’s still doing what he’s capable of doing? He’s sick of it.”
Shedeur downplayed frustration in those moments, saying he was focused on not holding the ball too long, and ultimately switching into “legendary mode” to lead a scoring push. He hasn’t blamed Colorado’s offensive line or anyone for the sacks and hits. The junior has acknowledged being sore, but always with a smile.
After the USC game, he said his ankle “hurts a little bit, I ain’t gonna lie,” before pivoting to how his shins are often swollen because he was “a clumsy kid” who banged them on desks in school. Days later, he admitted taking an ice bath for nearly an hour following the USC loss.
“Shedeur don’t complain,” Deion Sanders said this week. “It’s easy for him to sit up here and say, ‘I’m getting hit left, right, in between.’ I know he’s sore, because he’s in a hot tub and he’s doing things to make sure his body is straight. But he does not complain. He’s not gonna throw his linemen under the bus. He’s not gonna do any of that, that’s just who he is.”
Deion Sanders raised his sons to approach the game that way — to not blame their struggles on others. Shedeur always played quarterback and Deion, one of the best ever to defend QBs, would whiteboard defenses for him at their home. The details of the game mattered, and so did the pressures it presented.
“He’s a darn Sanders,” Deion said of Shedeur. “That was understood around the crib that you’re gonna be mentally and physically tough.”
Darrell Colbert Jr. teamed with Shedeur’s brother, Deion Sanders Jr., at SMU in 2014 and 2015 and remembered Shedeur, then in middle school, coming by to throw passes. Colbert began training quarterbacks in Houston after he finished playing, and started working with Shedeur in 2019.
Colbert is shocked by the number of hits Sanders has taken this season — “They said he had been hit 55 times in [the first] three games, which is literally crazy,” he said — but not by Sanders getting up each time.
“I’ve seen him take some hits over the years and bounce right back up,” said Colbert, who has attended every Colorado game. “I knew taking a few sacks each game, getting tackled, none of that was going to stop him from performing. That’s just the type of guy he is, a tough guy.”
One of the reasons Sanders has endured so many sacks is the offseason roster flip at Colorado. Deion Sanders upgraded several positions, namely quarterback, but left Colorado’s offensive line dangerously thin entering the season. Veterans such as Jake Wiley (UCLA), Casey Roddick (Florida State) and Austin Johnson (Purdue) transferred, and Colorado’s incoming transfers, while solid players, weren’t overly decorated.
Colorado has had three linemen start every game, including tackles Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan and Savion Washington, and two others are set to start their fifth game tonight. Coordinator Sean Lewis’ scheme features quick passes, but also a lot of them. Sanders leads the FBS in dropbacks per game at 51.5, five more than the next-highest QB (Hawai’i’s Brayden Schager). Colorado ranks fourth nationally in passing attempts, but its pressure rate — the percentage of dropbacks where the quarterback is sacked, under duress or hit — is only 23rd highest at 38.1%.
Stanford enters tonight’s game with just eight sacks, tied for 104th nationally, but sophomore outside linebacker David Bailey has four.
“Pass rush is going to be a huge factor,” Taylor said, “and then being able to keep him in the pocket and stand back there.”
Like any quarterback, Sanders is responsible for some of the sacks and pressures. He spoke before the ASU game about needing to “quicken up” and gain greater comfort in the offense. Although Sanders has mobility and has gained 221 yards with three rushing touchdowns, his preference is to operate from the pocket.
“The last thing he wants to do is take off running,” Colbert said. “A lot of times, people see [a defender] coming free, so you take off and run … but what he does is stay in the pocket, takes the heat if he has to, or tries to make people miss in the pocket and keeps his eyes down the field to find an open guy. We talk about it, but that’s just who he is.”
But how long can Sanders maintain the combination of production and pain? He’s sturdy at 6-foot-2 and 215 pounds, but every hit increases the risk for injury. Sanders understands the need to be both smart and tough.
He texts regularly with Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback, and also has talked with Colorado analyst Pat Shurmur, the former New York Giants and Cleveland Browns coach, about preserving himself despite the punishment.
“He’s had a lot of quarterbacks in the [NFL], and was like, ‘The best quarterbacks can stay healthy,'” Sanders said of Shurmur. “That’s the main thing, just investing your time in things that matter, which is your health, and doing the daily things to make sure you’re proactive and not reactive.”
Deion Sanders made it clear after the ASU win that Colorado’s habits, namely starting slowly and not protecting Shedeur, will need to change down the stretch. The Buffaloes are “waiting on him to put on his cape and do what he does,” which has equated to a solid start, but might not be a sustainable formula for the second half of the season. The last quarterback to finish in the top three in both passing and being sacked, New Mexico State’s Chase Holbrook in 2006, was part of a team that went 4-8.
Colorado could look to become more balanced on offense. Running back Alton McCaskill, a first-team All-AAC selection at Houston who missed all of last season with an ACL injury, is set to take on a bigger role alongside Dylan Edwards and Anthony Hankerson.
But when games are on the line, Sanders wants the ball in his hands, in the pocket, looking to make a play and deal with whatever comes his way.
“It’s just something that kicks in,” Sanders said. “Losing’s just not in me.”
NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers owe $1.051 billion in deferred pay to eight players from 2028 to ’46 following Tanner Scott‘s $72 million, four-year contract and Teoscar Hernandez‘s $66 million, three-year deal.
Los Angeles’ high payment point is $100.95 million in both 2038 and ’39, according to details obtained by The Associated Press.
Major League Baseball proposed during collective bargaining on June 21, 2021, to put an end to the practice, but the players’ association rejected the change.
“The Dodgers have gone out and done everything possible, always within the rules that currently exist, to put the best possible team on the field and that’s a great thing for the game. That type of competitive spirit is what people want to see,” commissioner Rob Manfred said last week.
“By the same token,” he added, “it’s clear that we have fans in some markets that are concerned about the ability of the team in their market to compete with the financial resources of the Dodgers. And I think if we’ve been consistent on one point it is we try to listen to our fans on topics like this and I have heard people on this, believe me, I get a lot of emails about it.”
Scott’s contract includes $21 million in deferred money and Hernández’s $23.5 million.
Hernández is owed a total of $32 million in deferred pay from the team. He already was due $8.5 million as part of his $23.5 million, one-year deal for 2024, to be paid in 10 equal installments each July 1 from 2030 to ’39.
Los Angeles also owes deferred payments to two-way star Shohei Ohtani ($680 million from 2034 to ’43), outfielder/infielder Mookie Betts ($115 million in salaries from 2033 to ’44 and the final $5 million of his signing bonus payable from 2033 to ’35), left-hander Blake Snell ($66 million from 2035 to ’46), first baseman Freddie Freeman ($57 million from 2028 to ’40), catcher Will Smith ($50 million from 2034 to ’43) and utilityman Tommy Edman ($25 million from 2037 to ’44).
“It’s just how you account for it,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said when Snell was introduced. “We’re not going to wake up in 2035 and [say]: ‘Oh my god, that’s right. We have this money due.’ We’ll plan for it along the way.”
The Dodgers’ deferred obligations total $4 million each in 2028 and ’29, $7.2 million annually from 2030 to ’32, $17.2 million in 2033, $90.2 million in 2034, $98.95 million a year from 2035 to ’37, $100.95 million in 2038 and ’39, $98.75 million in 2040, $93.75 million annually from 2041 to ’43, $20.75 million in 2044 and $7.25 million a year in 2045 and ’46.
Los Angeles must fund the deferred money in an amount equal to its present-day value by the second July 1 following the season in which it is earned, according to MLB’s CBA.
Hernández received a $23 million signing bonus payable Feb. 1 as part of the deal announced by the World Series champions on Jan. 3.
His agreement includes salaries of $10 million this year, $12 million in 2026 and $14.5 million in 2027. The Dodgers will defer $7.5 million from this year and $8 million in each in 2026 and ’27, and that $23.5 million will be paid in 10 equal installments each Dec. 1 from 2030 to ’39.
Scott’s deferred money is due in a dozen $1.75 million payments each Dec. 1 from 2035 to ’46.
-
Buster Olney
The Toronto Blue Jays‘ handling of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. might best be summarized by Roman philosopher Cicero’s mantra: More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Step by step, the Jays have put themselves in a terrible position, with the player holding all of the leverage.
But Guerrero still wears their uniform with a season left until he reaches free agency, giving the Jays one last chance to build a beachhead into a future that is otherwise shrouded in murk. The team should meet with him, apologize for wasting his time and wave the white flag in the negotiations.
Last week, the deadline Guerrero set for a contract extension came and went without a deal in place. Assuming Guerrero isn’t asking the Blue Jays to match Juan Soto‘s $765 million contract, they should just say yes to whatever they said no to a week ago.
Allowing Guerrero to reach free agency makes no sense given the Jays’ handling of his career and his contract situation. Time after time, Toronto leadership put off a hard decision on Guerrero, and now the team has to pay the price. The only question is whether the cost comes in Guerrero’s departure, or in his retention.
The Blue Jays’ path to this point reminds me of another team who let indecision cloud the impending free agency of a star player: the Los Angeles Angels and Shohei Ohtani.
The Angels went 73-89 the season before the final year of Ohtani’s contract but still elected to hold on to Ohtani and try to make a run. The Jays went 74-88 in 2024, and their hope is to contend for a playoff spot this year with Guerrero. That’s hardly out of the question. With Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios, they could have a good rotation. If Daulton Varsho suitably recovers from rotator cuff surgery, and if Bo Bichette bounces back, and if Andres Gimenez continues to play elite defense, they could be strong up the middle. If whatever was in Jeff Hoffman‘s physical exam that prompted the Atlanta Braves and Baltimore Orioles to blow up agreements with him doesn’t slow him, he could be a solid closer.
Unfortunately for the Jays, part of what should be a hypercompetitive American League East this year, good and solid might not cut it. The New York Yankees are the defending AL champions; the Boston Red Sox are dramatically improved with the additions of Garrett Crochet, Walker Buehler and Alex Bregman; the Orioles have their great young core of talent; and the Tampa Bay Rays are always better than expected. Toronto could also finish fifth again.
This 2025 Hail Mary attempt to contend instead of entering a rebuild defers, once again, Guerrero’s status. If the Jays are struggling in July, they could trade him. But with his impending free agency, they might get back only half of what his value might’ve been last summer. If they hold onto him throughout the season and he walks away to another team, they would receive only minimal draft pick compensation for a homegrown star.
How different this all could have been. Some players don’t want to play in Canada for one reason or another. Guerrero was born in Canada — the son of Hall of Fame outfielder Vladimir Guerrero Sr., who starred in Montreal — and signed with the Jays in 2015 for $3.9 million. The Jays’ front office delayed his promotion to the big leagues in 2019, costing him a full year of service time, but Guerrero demonstrated what everyone was so excited about, hitting 15 homers and showing great bat-to-ball skills. In his second full season, he clubbed 48 homers and finished second in the AL MVP race.
His production waned, however, in 2022 and 2023, and along the way there was concern about his conditioning. The Jays could’ve worked out a long-term deal with him years before he hit free agency, as the Kansas City Royals did with Bobby Witt Jr. and as the Cleveland Guardians did with Jose Ramirez. But the Jays waited, which is not surprising: A hallmark of the Jays’ front office in recent years is that it doesn’t often re-sign its own players. As research by Paul Hembekides shows, since 2019 the Jays re-signed Jose Berrios to a seven-year, $131 million deal and Randal Grichuk to a five-year, $52 million contract. Nobody else got more than three years.
After starting slowly last season, Guerrero rebounded — in a big way. From May 27 to July 30, he batted .321, with as many extra-base hits (32) as strikeouts (32). This was the Vladdy Jr. everyone in the industry seemed to be waiting for, and it provided another inflection point for the Jays. In July 2024, Toronto was in the same spot the Los Angeles Angels were with Shohei Ohtani in summer 2022, when the Angels could’ve traded Ohtani with another 15 months of team control and gotten a major haul in return.
And there was another factor for the Jays in July: Soto was headed into free agency and would inevitably raise the ceiling for sluggers. That left Toronto with a choice, in the middle of a lost season — either push to sign Guerrero to a long-term deal before the market was impacted by Soto, or trade him at his maximum value.
The Jays did what the Angels did with Ohtani. They waited.
Guerrero was even better in the last two months of the season, finishing the year with a .323 average and a .940 OPS, winning a Silver Slugger, and finishing sixth in the MVP race. With the Jays out of the playoffs, they had all of October and early November to pick a path. They could’ve pushed for a long-term deal, before Soto started meeting with teams, and if they determined that they couldn’t or didn’t want to sign him, they could’ve put him on the trade market. The feedback rival executives continued to get was: Vladdy wasn’t available.
But the Jays’ front office waited. Again.
And it began a dalliance with Soto, picking a fight against the most valuable franchise in the majors, the Yankees, and the richest owner, the New York Mets‘ Steve Cohen. Edward Rogers, the owner of the Jays, was among those to meet with Soto and his agent Scott Boras.
The Jays’ participation was probably doomed from the start — only Soto knows for sure — but in theory, this could’ve worked for them in this way: As bidders, the Jays had firsthand and early knowledge of how Soto’s contract might affect the market for other players — such as Guerrero. The bidding for Soto went through multiple rounds, over a few weeks, and it was as if the Jays were benefiting from insider trading, all aboveboard.
Once the numbers for Soto went over $600 million and zoomed toward infinity and beyond, the Jays had to know Guerrero’s ask would be enormous. The Jays had knowledge other teams did not, and once more, they had the option of pushing the talks to a resolution — deal or no deal — and if not, then trade him.
Instead, the Jays waited. Again.
Their doubts have been rational, given what the best first basemen have been paid in recent years. It has been more than a decade since any first baseman got $200 million, let alone $350 million or $450 million or $500 million.
But given the Jays’ participation in the Soto sweepstakes, the concern over Guerrero’s defensive position shouldn’t be a factor. Toronto was apparently willing to pay Soto something close to the monster deal he got with the Mets, and it’s not as if Soto is a good defender; there will probably be a time midway through his 15-year contract that he will shift into a designated hitter role. If the Jays had signed him, he would’ve been a DH at some point, and the Jays were OK with that.
“If you’re going to pay Soto or Vladdy, you’re paying for the bat,” one rival executive said. “You’re paying for the power and the contact with damage, for a player at a young age.”
Soto became a free agent at age 26. Guerrero turns 26 next month and will be a free agent in the fall. He might not be the hitter Soto is, but he is one of the game’s best hitters, and for now, he is a Blue Jay. Right now, it’s a one-bidder negotiation.
When the Jays pursued Ohtani, meeting with him in Florida, they were going against the Los Angeles Dodgers and other teams. When they talked to Soto a few months ago, they had to vie with the Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers and other teams for his attention.
In the Ohtani negotiations, the Jays never had a take-down price, a number at which they were assured they would sign him. They bid into a negotiation silo, not knowing for sure what other teams had offered, and Ohtani picked the Dodgers. With Soto, the Jays kept upping their ante, not knowing where the numbers would end, never sure whether Soto would actually seriously consider their offer or whether there even was a number that would get them the slugger.
With Guerrero, there is no question whether he would sign to play in Toronto, as there was with Ohtani and Soto; Guerrero has played with the Jays his entire career, and he says he wants to continue playing in Toronto. In Guerrero’s case, there is a take-down number. As he said last week after the negotiations stalled, “I have my number.” The Jays know that number, in a way they didn’t know it with Ohtani and Soto and many other stars who’ve refused to take their money in recent winters.
For the Jays, desperately in need of a franchise face, knowledge of the take-down number is worth everything.
And they should say yes to it. Today.
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports11 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports3 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business2 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway