Deion Sanders opened up on Monday about reports that his son and former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders went into pre-draft meetings unprepared and unprofessional.
The Colorado head coach and former NFL star who coached his son through college said he was “hurt” by the reports around Shedeur’s slide into the fifth round of the NFL Draft to the Cleveland Browns.
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Sanders made his comments in an interview on Asante Samuel’s “Say What Needs To Be Said” podcast.
“When you sit up there and say something like he went into a meeting unprepared, like, dude,” Deion said. “Shedeur Sanders? Who has had six different coordinators, who has still functioned and went up, leveled up every time we brought somebody new in, and you’re going to tell me he was unprepared?
“You’re going to tell me he had on headphones? Anybody who knows my son understands he’s a professional. He’s gonna go into a meeting with headphones on? Y’all, come on now.”
Why did Shedeur Sanders drop to 5th round?
At one point in the pre-draft process, Sanders was projected in media evaluations as a first-round prospect. Reports closer to the draft indicated that Sanders was actually not a first-round talent. Those evaluations bore truth when Sanders dropped into the fifth round.
Deion Sanders, right, is not buying rumors that his son, Shedeur Sanders, wore headphones during a pre-draft interview. (Julio Aguilar/Getty Images)
(Julio Aguilar via Getty Images)
Some of the reasons for Sanders’ then-projected slide were purely related to football. By many accounts, including from Yahoo Sports NFL Draft analyst Nate Tice, Sanders didn’t possess the elite arm talent, athleticism or size to have warranted a first-round selection. Other reports questioned Sanders’ character and professionalism.
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Deion addressed the latter on Monday, referring to the reports as “some foolish stuff” while citing former sixth-round pick and seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady as inspiration for Shedeur.
“It did hurt,” Deion Sanders said. “But the bible says God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. There was some foolish stuff that went on, but, you know what? That gave them something that they needed. …
“Like that edge that Tom had, it gave them the edge that you had, it gave them the edge that I have. Folks said we weren’t gonna be nothing. But we had to prove that. That gave them that edge that they needed. Both of them.”
Not all of the pre-draft reports on Shedeur Sanders were legitimate
Some of the reports critical of Sanders’ pre-draft preparedness came from legitimate reporting. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero cited an anonymous NFL assistant coach who called Sanders’ interview with his team “the worst formal interview I’ve ever been in in my life.”
Others — like the headphones rumor that Deion referenced — appear to have come out of thin air. And Deion appears right be perplexed by it.
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A “report” with no sourcing attached and no citation stated that Sanders “wore headphones around his neck with music playing throughout the entire interview.” The “report” claims to have quoted an NFL head coach and was shared ad nauseam on random social media accounts enough that it was given an air of legitimacy.
Deion chalked the rumors up to people taking “shots at his kids,” whom he argued were too savvy and prepared to make those kinds of mistakes.
“My kids are built for everything,” Deion said. … “We’ve always been in front of the camera, so they know how to navigate, they know how to handle themselves.
“You’re not gonna catch them in no foolery or no mess. You’re not gonna do that whatsoever.”
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