Deion Sanders Says He Will Get Involved With Which Team Drafts Shedeur Sanders

On Tuesday evening, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders confirmed what most of us suspected. He’s going to control where his son, Shedeur Sanders, and Travis Hunter get selected in the 2025 NFL Draft.

This isn’t exactly unprecedented, as Eli Manning pulled a similar stunt in the 2004 NFL Draft to avoid ending up with the San Diego Chargers, forcing his way to the New York Giants.

Coach Prime has coached his son since their days together at Jackson State and now Colorado. But he’s a dad first.

“I’m gonna be dad. I’m gonna be dad until the cows come home,” Prime said on FS1. “And with Travis as well.” 

At 23 years old by the time April’s NFL Draft rolls around, Sanders is widely expected to be one of the top two quarterbacks selected. His Colorado teammate, Hunter, is likely to be a top-five draft selection as well.

Coach Prime’s influence on the 2025 NFL Draft will shake up how the entire first round unfolds, as there’s likely to be several quarterback-needy teams with the top five selections. 

While he wouldn’t reveal the list of preferred landing spots, Sanders disclosed that the culture and environment will be important for a team interested in drafting Shedeur. The franchise needs to have a track record of success with a quarterback of similar playing style or have coaches in the building that can work with that skillset. That's a pretty vague description of which teams could be in the running.

Sanders elaborates that these conversations will be done privately, not publicly. However, in the way that modern NFL reporting works, you could assume that a preferred list of teams will be released. Or maybe even a list of teams that must stay away from Shedeur and Hunter.

Currently, behind Trevor Lawrence’s Jacksonville Jaguars, the New York Giants have the No. 2 overall selection and will need a QB. Their failed Daniel Jones experiment is likely to be up. The Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and Las Vegas Raiders all fall behind and will all likely be eyeing quarterbacks. 

Could the Giants replace Brian Daboll with someone qualified to coach Sanders? Will the Titans and Browns be told to stay away because of their recent ineptitude with handling quarterbacks? 

These are questions that currently do not have answers. The only thing that’s certain is that Coach Prime will be involved, and unstable organizations that are eyeing Shedeur better have a backup plan.