To listen, click on the right pointing triangle or check out YouTube or Spotify. The text version is below.
Colorado QB Shadeur Sanders was once a top prospect in the 2025 NFL draft. However, the son of sports legend Deion Sanders has dropped in mock drafts over the past month.
The NFL has downgraded their projections on Sanders. It could be his average arm, or maybe his tendency to hold the football too long and take sacks.
However, there is another reason Sanders might not excel in the NFL, and it will seem strange to you: Sanders only played football in high school.
Contrast his high school background with two of the greatest to ever play QB.
- Tom Brady was the last draft pick ever made by the Montreal Expos organization as an excellent high school baseball player. He also played football and basketball before going to Michigan.
- Patrick Mahomes played basketball and baseball in addition to football in high school. More on the impact this had on his football game later.
The utility of playing multiple sports extends beyond American football. A recent meta-analysis of research papers showed a profound difference between elite and non-elite performers over many sports.
The study found that adult world class athletes had more childhood multi-sport practice. They played more sports as a kid and started their primary sport later. This was different for the high performing youth athletes, who started earlier and had less practice in other sports.
This is the take home lesson from studying over six thousand athletes: specialize early if you want to be a star high school athlete. However, if you want to excel in college and the NFL, play a lot of different sports as a kid.
The paper offered many reasons for this result, but one makes the most sense to me. Playing multiple sports creates a learning environment that later helps the athlete achieve more in their primary sport.
Let’s look at Patrick Mahomes for evidence. He played short stop in baseball, and this gave him practice in throwing from various arm angles. Mahomes also said that basketball helped him learn how to manipulate defenders with his eyes and feet. We clearly see evidence of both of these factors in his game.
Shadeur Sanders played four basketball games for his varsity team as a freshman in high school. However, he decided to focus on football after starting to receive the scholarship offers.
Let’s compare this with two other top QB prospects in the 2025:
- Cam Ward ended up as the all-time leading scorer in basketball at Columbia High School in Texas. He was also a two time all district MVP in basketball.
- Jaxson Dart played basketball and baseball in high school. He twice earned all state honors in baseball in Utah.
I do not know if playing multiple sports in high school is predictive of NFL success. However, in the highly unpredictable world of American football prospects, it seems reasonable to latch onto any factor that might help.
Smarter sports betting in less than 5 minutes
This newsletter was sent to The Power Rank’s email newsletter. This is a free service that strives to be:
- Valuable
- Concise
- Entertaining
Looking for sports betting action on any given weekend? 5-Nugget Saturday is your curated list of tips and analytics.
To get this free service delivered straight into your inbox, enter your best email address and click on “Sign up now!”
Leave a Reply