A father’s role with his children is to love, guide and chart a path to success, but not overstep once they are adults.
It’s a fine line.
It’s a line that Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders completely ignored while his quarterback son, Shedeur Sanders, was out there auditioning to be a top pick in the recent NFL Draft. Shedeur was rated as the second or third-best quarterback in the draft and a Top 10 talent for sure. Instead, he suffered the most precipitous drop in NFL history when he didn’t come off the board until the third day of the NFL Draft in the fifth round with the 144th pick.
Shedeur had been projected, at worst, to be a late first-round or perhaps early second-round selection in the lead-up to the draft.
So what happened? His father happened.
“It’s not who I would like for him to play for. It’s a couple of teams that I won’t allow him to play for,” Deion said during the Tamron Hall Show a few months ago. “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 behind the curtain.”
While it’s definitely admirable to say, that’s just not how the NFL works. You don’t tell these billionaire owners what teams you are not willing to be drafted by—at least so publicly.
Did the owners collude not to take Shedeur where he was projected to humble the kid and send a message to his father not to write checks his son will have to cash? Of course they did. It’s very reminiscent of how not one of the 32 teams had use for Super Bowl quarterback Colin Kaepernick after he refused to stand for the playing of the national anthem.
As wrong and pathetic as they are, these owners have been consistent about not being dictated to.
Deion’s words and bravado cost his son dearly. Instead of going as the No.2 pick in the draft, acquiring in the neighborhood of $40 million on his rookie contract, and most importantly, coming to a franchise where there is a clear plan and path for Shedeur to be the starter and franchise quarterback, he is in the position of proving himself.
Shedeur is simply now just trying to make the team.
The irony is that Shedeur landed with the team for which Deion presumably didn’t want him to join. The Cleveland Browns held the No.2 overall pick and seemed ready to use it to take Shedeur in the weeks leading up to the draft, but they ended up with him in the fifth round at a substantial discount and no real commitment. Shedeur, who will take a pay cut from the millions in NIL money he made at Colorado, will make about $36 million less in his rookie deal than he would have as an early first-round pick.
Deion has been relatively quiet since, only dropping cryptic messages on social media.
“Let it go! Let it go & then Let it go!” wrote Deion on April 29. “It doesn’t matter what they think, what they say, or what they feel. God has the final say. You stay prayed up, stay focused & keep your Peace & watch God do what he does. Open up Windows, Doors & Create Opportunity for!”
The problem is that it didn’t have to be this hard for Shedeur. The kid who had only been coached by his father had a chance to walk into a franchise where the job would be his.
Instead, he walks into a packed quarterback room with the Browns, where five quarterbacks are competing. Veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett are there, former Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is technically there (he will miss most, if not all, of the 2025 season due to injury), and the real tricky one for Shedeur is that the Browns also drafted former Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel ahead of him in the third round.
That made one of the most unexplainable decisions to select two quarterbacks in the same draft. The belief is that owner Jimmy Haslam made the call to take Shedeur. But it’s been left up to general manager Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski, who seemed less than thrilled after selecting Shedeur, to make it all work.
“You gotta come in, you gotta work hard, you gotta earn your job, earn your keep,” Berry said to Shedeur just prior to drafting him. “And it doesn’t matter where you’re taken, it matters what you do from this point forward, alright? You’re talented, we spent a lot of time with you. You’re a good kid. Let’s get ready to go to work and prove all of the people who passed on you wrong.”
All indications are that Shedeur, criticized anonymously by some NFL brass for not being prepared, interviewing poorly and coming across as entitled, is ready to make the most of this opportunity. In the days following the draft, he made an inspiring surprise appearance at John Marshall High School in Cleveland.
Shedeur seems ready to take his shot and embrace the Cleveland Browns. Let’s hope Deion follows suit.
