Todd McShay Reveals The One Issue He's Always Had With Mel Kiper | 'Don't @ Me'

NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper is all in on Shedeur Sanders, and Todd McShay finds that extremely frustrating — but not for the reasons you might think.

On Tuesday's episode of ESPN's First Take, Kiper explained why he's positive that Sanders will be a better NFL quarterback than Miami's Cam Ward.

"I’ve had him QB1 all along," Kiper said. "Love everything about the kid. He dealt with NFL conditions ... he survived hit after hit ... You can win big in the NFL going about your business like Shedeur Sanders does."

McShay and Kiper worked alongside each other at ESPN for more than a decade. And — aside from Kiper's now-infamous endorsements of Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen and Brady Quinn — the network's top NFL Draft analyst has always been hesitant to go all-in on a quarterback. That is, until now when McShay is no longer there to argue with him.

"Outside of the Notre Dame quarterbacks — which I still believe he had a tie with an agent and someone was in his pocket — outside of those guys, my biggest frustration with Mel was he never planted a flag with a quarterback," McShay told host Dan Dakich on OutKick's Don't @ Me on Wednesday.

"He always was like, you know, right down the middle of the fairway, 230 yards, nice and easy, hit the double, whatever you want to call it… He would never have a stance that kind of went against the grain a little bit."

Todd McShay Offers Thoughts On Shedeur Sanders

McShay, who is now doing his own thing as host of The McShay Show on The Ringer, doesn't share Kiper's opinion that Sanders is the top QB of the 2025 draft class. Instead, he believes the Tennessee Titans will take Ward with the first overall pick.

"I like Shedeur, but I don't know how, when you get done with your evaluation, you don't see the traits and more upside with Cam Ward," McShay told Dakich. "I think that's what Tennessee's kind of seeing right now. And I think a lot of people in the league are seeing. I think that's why he's the presumptive No. 1 pick."

McShay does think, though, that Shedeur could be a solid option for the Cleveland Browns at No. 2 or even for the New York Giants with the third pick.

"I think Shedeur has got a really good chance to be a top-three pick," McShay said. "I think if he winds up with [head coach] Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland, that's a good marriage. I think it would be a little different from [Giants head coach] Brian Daboll and what Daboll's used to, but I think Brian can develop quarterbacks well."

Despite their disagreement on this year's QB options, McShay still gives credit to his old co-worker Mel Kiper for finally taking a stand and "planting that flag."

For Shedeur Sanders' sake, let's just hope this one works out better than that whole Jimmy Clausen thing did.