Deion Sanders says he will intervene ‘privately’ if the wrong NFL team drafts Shedeur Sanders

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Deion Sanders says he will intervene ‘privately’ if the wrong NFL team drafts Shedeur Sanders

Colorado coach Deion Sanders says he will do his part to steer his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders and Buffaloes’ receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter into better situations in next year’s NFL Draft.

During an appearance on Fox Sports 1’s “Speak,” Deion Sanders was asked by co-host Keyshawn Johnson if he would intervene during the draft process if the “wrong” team drafted Shedeur.

‘Yes, but I’m not going to do it publicly. I do it privately,” Sanders said. “I’ll be dad until the cows come home, and with Travis too.”

.@DeionSanders says he will intervene if the wrong team drafts Shedeur. 👀 pic.twitter.com/WK67vSyouY

— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) November 12, 2024

Shedeur Sanders and Hunter are both likely first-round candidates. The Athletics‘s Dane Brugler had Hunter ranked No. 1 on his latest list of the top 50 NFL Draft prospects. Sanders was No. 23, third among quarterbacks behind Miami’s Cam Ward and Alabama’s Jalen Milroe.

Sanders declined to identify teams he wants Shedeur to play for, instead pointing to traits he wanted in a team for Shedeur’s next stop.

“Someone who can handle the quarterback that he is and someone who can handle that, who understands what he’s capable of,” Deion Sanders said. “Someone who has had success dealing with quarterbacks in the past, or someone and an organization that understands what they’re doing. Don’t just throw it to the wolves if you don’t have the support and infrastructure of the team.

“Forget the (offensive) line. He’s played with lines that haven’t been great, but he’s been able to do his thing. But just the infrastructure of the team and the direction we’re going.”

Colorado is 7-2 and 17th in the rankings in this week’s College Football Playoffs. The Buffaloes host Utah on Saturday and are alone in second place in the Big 12, on pace to play for the league title and a spot in the Playoff.

Hunter tops The Athletic’s Heisman Straw Poll this week.

Sanders coached his son throughout his football career, from youth leagues to high school and at Jackson State before the duo came to Colorado together after the 2022 season. Sanders also reiterated that he was happy to be in Colorado when asked if he would be interested in coaching the Dallas Cowboys, where he played for five seasons.

“Shedeur has started every high school game, every college game but one, and that’s the way he is, man. He has a real gift. It comes from God and he loves football,” he said. “This boy loves this game and he has an insatiable hunger to win. And I want someone to be able to take him to the next level as well, and not just get drafted by a team because we don’t have that.

Eli Manning, who won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants, along with his father Archie Manning, famously declared that Eli would not play for the San Diego Chargers prior to the 2004 NFL Draft. The Chargers had the No. 1 pick, but the Mannings were against Eli starting his career there, in part because of the franchise’s handling of personal issues that arose during Ryan Leaf’s tenure there after he was selected No. 2 overall in 1998. The Chargers drafted Manning, but traded him to the New York Giants the same day.

This move mirrors one Sanders made during his own draft process in 1989. The Giants asked draft prospects to take a two-hour psychological assessment at the NFL Scouting Combine. When Sanders learned the Giants had the 18th pick in the draft, he declined to undergo the assessment.

‘I said, ‘I’ll be out early. I’ll see you all later. I don’t have time for this,” Sanders said in a 2017 interview.

The Atlanta Falcons drafted him fifth overall.