Early ESPN 2025 NFL Mock Draft has a team moving up for Shedeur Sanders way too soon

It would be so exceptionally Raiders if they moved up from No. 8 to No. 2 to reach on Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 NFL Draft. That is exactly what ESPN's Matt Miller has them doing in his latest way-too-early NFL mock draft. Miller has the Las Vegas Raiders trading up from No. 8 in a deal with the Carolina Panthers to make Sanders their pick. Unbelievable...

Right now, I have Sanders as QB3 on my big board. Miller also has five quarterbacks going in the first round. I agree on four of them, including Sanders. While I can get behind the idea of Texas starter Quinn Ewers being more banged up than Sam Bradford entering the NFL Draft, it is just way too early for my taste to think about trading up for Sanders. Then again, this is the Raiders we are talking about.

I need to see Colorado go something like 8-4 and be ultra-competitive in the expanded Big 12 for me to have Sanders in discussion for being the No. 2 pick. At this time, Georgia's Carson Beck feels like something close to a lock to going No. 1, which is who Miller had the New York Giants trading up for in a deal with the New England Patriots. I can get behind that move up a bit more than the Raiders' deal.

Then again, the Panthers are also involving and we know they are a hopeless dysfunctional mess, too.

NFL Mock Draft has Las Vegas Raiders moving up for Shedeur Sanders

To be frank, if the Raiders just stayed at No. 8 in this exercise and took Sanders, I would have much less of a problem with it. I have him coming off the board in that No. 8 to No. 12 range as my clear QB3 behind Beck and Ewers. The Raiders would still be able to get their new face of the franchise after pivoting off Gardner Minshew II and Aidan O'Connell after this season, without giving up real assets.

Although the Silver and Black are not one of the teams Coach Prime had listed as places where his sons and Travis Hunter can play at, I think the rebel and cool factor associated with the Raiders could be appealing to the father of Shedeur and the head coach at Colorado. Attaching the Sanders brand to the Raiders could add an AFC component to the empire that includes Atlanta, Dallas and Colorado.

As far as what Carolina does in this trade back with the Raiders, I kind of love it. They get the best wide receiver in the draft in Luther Burden III out of Missouri, a guy who goes one pick ahead of Hunter in this mock draft. Miller has Sanders' other "son" going to the Arizona Cardinals at No. 9. Although not a Sanders-approved team, Arizona is a franchise trending up and worthy of investment.

Sanders to the Raiders makes sense, but not at No. 2, and definitely as a player you must trade up for.