Deion Sanders says he will intervene if ‘wrong’ teams draft Colorado Buffaloes stars

Colorado coach Deion Sanders says he will do his part to direct his son, the quarterback Shedeur SandersAnd Buffaloes’ receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter to 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 or 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.”

Shedeur Sanders and Hunter are both likely first-round candidates. The Dane Brugler of athletics had Hunter ranked No. 1 on his latest list of the top 50 NFL Draft prospects. Sanders was No. 23, third among trailing quarterbacks 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 this week’s College Football Playoff rankings. Host of the Buffalos Utah on Saturday and sit alone in second place in the Big 12, on pace to play for the league title and a spot in the Playoff.

Hunter is at the top 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 who 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 opposed to Eli starting his career there, in part because of the way the franchise handled 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 undergo a two-hour psychological assessment at the N.F.L 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.

This article originally appeared in The Athletics.