{"id":146468,"date":"2025-06-21T02:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T02:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/146468\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T02:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T02:59:10","slug":"fox-analyst-makes-bold-kaidon-salter-call-as-shedeur-sanders-colorado-struggles-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/146468\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox Analyst Makes Bold Kaidon Salter Call as Shedeur Sanders’ Colorado Struggles Explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Shedeur Sanders gone from the quarterback room to the pro league, the expectations are sky-high for Colorado\u2019s next QB. Last year, he\u00a0lit up with a 74% completion rate and a 9-4 record. But those 10 interceptions and 42 sacks hampered his success. While his arm talent was top-tier, his run game faltered. Now, with Sanders in the NFL, it\u2019s Kaidon Salter\u2018s moment to grab the center stage. With a strong start in both running and passing, Salter can spark a much-needed shift. The spotlight\u2019s hot, and analysts are already calling dibs on him. And, if he performs well, he might just completely transform Colorado\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n

CU Buffs head coach Deion Sanders\u2018 quest for his offensive leader continues, but the spring game was a significant step. Kaidon Salter completed 11 of 19 passes for 79 yards, but threw an interception, while his QB1 spot competitor, Julian Lewis, was slightly more effective, completing 10 of 18 passes for 63 yards and a touchdown. Still, Kaidon\u2019s impressive past season\u20141,886 passing yards, 15 touchdowns, and only 6 interceptions\u2014speaks for itself. No wonder Coach Prime\u2019s putting his chips on Salter to steer the ship this fall. \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt in my mind that Kaidon can do it. There\u2019s just a different level of precision from JuJu when it comes to that stuff,\u201d\u00a0Sanders said.<\/p>\n

But he isn\u2019t the only one trusting Kaidon Salter\u2019s ability to thrive this season. That\u2019s why Fox Sports analyst RJ Young has him in his top 5 list of players rushing for more than 1000 yards. \u201cHonestly, it\u2019s Kaidon Salter at Colorado. I think we\u2019re going to find out quite a bit about just how mobile he needs to be behind this offensive line early.\u201d Young said on his Adapt and Respond podcast<\/a>. If Young\u2019s prediction is right, it will show up against Colorado\u2019s season opener against Georgia Tech. \u201cGeorgia Tech\u2019s going to be good, right? They\u2019re not a bad football team. They felt so good about their seven-win season last year they made rings to commemorate it. Now they\u2019re going into this thing with another guy that can run, like a Haynes King,\u201d\u00a0he added.<\/p>\n

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Last season, Kaidon Salter rushed for 587 yards with 7 TDs, and going just double of it might not be a problem for him. But Colorado simply couldn\u2019t get anything going on the ground the past two seasons. So, it\u2019s time for Salter to step up. \u201cI think because we have seen an utter lack of running back talent and offensive line push from Colorado since Prime arrived, you want Kaidon Salter to take as much of that off your plate as you can. Shedeur just didn\u2019t have that in the bag. That\u2019s not what he\u2019s going to do. He\u2019s going to run around and throw. It\u2019s why he took so many sacks. You don\u2019t want to take any more sacks. You want to keep the ball moving forward,\u201d\u00a0Young pointed out.<\/p>\n

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He\u2019s spot on. In 2023, Colorado\u2019s rushing attack averaged a paltry 2.3 yards per carry. The following year saw a slight improvement to 2.5, but they still managed only 65.2 rushing yards per game. That\u2019s not moving the chains; that\u2019s spinning their wheels. However, with running backs like Simeon Price (3.1 yards per carry) and FCS transfer DeKalon Taylor, the Buffs are counting on Salter to shoulder the load and keep defenses guessing.<\/p>\n

And on top of that, their running back coach, Marshall Faulk, brings valuable NFL experience that could help turn the team\u2019s ground game around. \u201cWe\u2019ll see what Marshall Faulk can add to that running back room because while Marshall Faulk is a Pro Football and College Football Hall of Famer, he\u2019s taken over as running back coach for the worst rushing team in FBS last year.\u201d\u00a0But let\u2019s not forget he is one of the only three NFL players to reach at least 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving, along with Marcus Allen and Tiki Barber. So, that\u2019s an impressive addition.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s just hope Kaidon Salter doesn\u2019t mess up like Shedeur Sanders did last year.<\/p>\n

Shedeur Sanders\u2019 whopping concern<\/p>\n

Deion Sanders\u2019 impact on Colorado is undeniable; he transformed the program\u2019s record from 4-8 to 9-4 in a single season, largely due to Shedeur Sanders\u2019 stellar performance: 4,134 passing yards, 37 touchdowns, and a 74% completion rate. But let\u2019s not forget the inconsistencies he faced.<\/p>\n

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Budd Elliot and Adam Munsterteiger of Buff Stampede discussed future challenges on a recent Cover 3 Podcast episode. He didn\u2019t sugarcoat the situation. \u201cI think it\u2019s got to look a lot different than the 10 personnel looks with Shedeur Sanders having that accuracy and arm talent,\u201d Munsterteiger said. \u201cHe\u2019s got the quarterback talent that\u2019s much better than a fifth-round pick. So you\u2019re having to replace that, and so it\u2019s got to be a more balanced attack.\u201d The Buffs\u2019 weak rushing attack is a serious problem they can no longer ignore.<\/p>\n

Munsterteiger intensified concerns about the running game. \u201cYou can\u2019t compete for championships if you have no running game, and that really was the case for Colorado the last two years. Dead last in the FBS ranks in rushing offense the last two seasons.\u201d Their rushing attack ranked 110th in EPA last season, and they sacked Shedeur Sanders at an alarming 8% rate. He evaded defensive linemen more often than he followed his reads. That\u2019s something Kaidon Salter can\u2019t repeat.<\/p>\n

Colorado is trying to revamp its offense in 2025<\/a>. Pat Shurmur, the offensive coordinator, used to design plays around Shedeur\u2019s passing ability, but that\u2019s changed now that he\u2019s left. The team also lost their key players, LaJohntay Wester, Will Sheppard, and Isaiah Augustave, to the portal. The Buffs balanced their roster by adding tight end Zach Atkins and dual-threat quarterback Kaidon Salter from Liberty. \u201cYou bring in Kaidon Salter, a quarterback transfer from Liberty, that is a true dual threat, and I think that could just balance out your offense pretty quickly right there,\u201d said Munsterteiger.<\/p>\n

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Now, with a new offensive line and a new QB, let\u2019s see how their game turns out this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With Shedeur Sanders gone from the quarterback room to the pro league, the expectations are sky-high for Colorado\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[323,11977,204,3068,1317,3057,7,18329,33833,18328,10217,49,48,1973,4018,11343,3078,4016,33834,140,1984,18330,4017,6345,3052],"class_list":{"0":"post-146468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-323","9":"tag-12er","10":"tag-204","11":"tag-am","12":"tag-an","13":"tag-der","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-hypothek","16":"tag-juan","17":"tag-langlaufen","18":"tag-medien","19":"tag-ncaa","20":"tag-ncaa-football","21":"tag-npstrans","22":"tag-nur","23":"tag-quarternback","24":"tag-quer","25":"tag-redaktionelle","26":"tag-reden","27":"tag-sanders","28":"tag-toppic","29":"tag-unigelande","30":"tag-verwendung","31":"tag-wahrend","32":"tag-x0x"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114719123777188891","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}