Can forget about Primetime on the NFL sideline.
There’s been a lot of speculation that Colorado football coach Deion Sanders could make the jump to the NFL at some point in his coaching career, but Coach Prime is shutting that down…and he’s got a personal reason for staying out of the league.
Deion is, of course, the father of Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who played for his father at Colorado before being drafted by the Browns in the 5th round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
I’m sure you remember the controversy surrounding his selection: Sanders was considered one of the top quarterbacks in a relatively weak class, and some projections had him going in the first round as high as a top 5 pick. But the Shedeur seemed to see his draft stock drop after the NFL Combine, when Sanders declined to throw and there were rumors that coaches saw him as “arrogant” and unprofessional during his interviews with teams.
One anonymous assistant coach even reportedly said that his interview with the team was the worst he’s ever seen:
“He’s so entitled. He takes unnecessary sacks. He never plays on time. He has horrible body language. He blames teammates. … But the biggest thing is, he’s not that good.”
So it wasn’t a total surprise when he dropped out of the first round. But when he went undrafted in rounds 2 and 3, it became the biggest story of the draft as all eyes turned to Sanders to see when – or if – a team would be willing to draft him.
In fact, Sanders had to wait until the final day of the draft to learn his landing spot, when he was eventually taken by the Cleveland Browns with a 5th round pick and #144 overall. It was an unprecedented slide for someone who was once projected to be a top 5 pick, and thought to be a second round pick at worst heading into draft day. And Shedeur made it clear that he took it personally and was eager to prove the critics wrong.
It seems, though, that the NFL QB wasn’t the only one who took it personally.
Deion Sanders was asked today during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take whether he would consider taking a job in the NFL, after his name being thrown around this past offseason for open jobs with the Dallas Cowboys and the Atlanta Falcons. But Deion quickly shut down the possibility of going to the NFL, and blamed it on the league’s treatment of his son during the draft:
“Not whatsoever. What transpired with my son last year? Ain’t no way in the world.”
I guess that settles that.
Of course some also placed some of the blame on Deion for his son’s historic draft slide: The father was accused of hurting his son’s prospects with comments ahead of the draft about “not allowing” Shedeur to play for certain teams.
“There are a couple teams that I won’t allow him to play for. This is my profession, I know what’s behind the curtain. We ain’t got to get back there for me to understand what’s not prominent for my son. I’m not doing it, ain’t no way in the world.”
Who knows whether the Browns were on Deion’s approved list, but either way that’s where Shedeur ended up, and as fate would have it, he ended the season as the starter after beginning his NFL career as the third QB on the roster. (Classic Browns).
Thanks to some questionable roster moves (like trading Joe Flacco to their rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals) and an injury to Shedeur’s fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, Sanders ended up as the Browns starter for their final seven games of the season.
The Browns went 3-4 in those games with Sanders as the starter, and he ended the season with more interceptions than touchdowns, but there were still flashes that gave Browns fans hope that he may be able to grow into becoming a solid NFL quarterback.
If he does, it doesn’t sound like there’s any chance of his father ever coaching him again though.
