After a hot start to his Colorado Buffaloes coaching tenure in 2023 that ultimately fizzled and ended with a 4-8 record, Deion Sanders and the Buffs have maintained their success in 2024. They are 7-2, ranked No. 17 in the College Football Playoff Rankings, and control their own destiny to ultimately end up in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.
A big part of that success has been the coach’s son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, so much so that the younger Sanders is expected to be an early first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
However, while many coaches would be ecstatic to see one of their players become a first-round NFL Draft pick, Deion Sanders is a father before a head coach. Thus, he wants his son to be in the optimal situation, much like Archie Manning wanted Eli Manning to be in 20 years ago when he entered the draft. Deion was asked if he would possibly do something similar to what the Mannings did in 2004 to make sure that Shedeur ends up with the team that the Sanders family wants him to end up with.
Like Shedeur, Buffs’ two-way star Hunter is also expected to be an early first-rounder, with his ability to be both a game-breaking wide receiver and a shutdown cornerback. Shedeur and Hunter are two of the biggest stars in college football, as well as two of the biggest favorites to win the sport’s most prestigious honor. Hunter is currently the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, while Shedeur is tied for the eighth-biggest favorite for the award.
It was 20 years ago at the 2004 NFL Draft that the San Diego Chargers held the No. 1 overall pick, and their intent was to draft the top prospect in Eli Manning. However, both Eli and his father, Archie, told the Chargers that the youngest Manning would not play for them and would sit out if they drafted him.
That was due to the Chargers’ historically mismanaging previous highly-drafted players, such as Ryan Leaf, who was drafted No. 2 overall in 1998 by San Diego, right after big brother Peyton Manning went No. 1, as well as Archie’s familiarity with going to a struggling organization when he spent 12 years with a downtrodden New Orleans Saints franchise.
While the Chargers drafted Eli anyway, they then traded him just minutes later to the New York Giants, which was the Mannings preferred destination all along.
It appears that Deion and Shedeur would do something similar if they don’t see the organization that would presumably draft Shedeur as being the one that would maximize his abilities.
The same goes for Hunter, who many have jokingly referred to as “another son” of Deion due to their tight relationship. Like Shedeur, Hunter transferred from Jackson State before last season to Colorado in an effort to continue playing under Deion after the Hall of Famer took the Buffs job.
During the interview on Speak, Deion went into further detail about what type of organization he is looking for in regards to his son.
“Somebody that can handle the quarterback that he is,” Deion said. “Somebody that can handle understanding what he’s capable of. Someone that has had success in the past handling quarterbacks or someone in an organization understands what they’re doing, not just throwing you out there amongst the wolves if you don’t have the support and the 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, the direction of where we’re going. He can deal with anything.”
How much power Deion yields as related to NFL franchises and their draft decisions remains to be seen, but the Manning situation at least provides a precedent. It certainly worked out for Eli and the Giants as he won two Super Bowls with the team and is a first-year nominee for the 2025 Pro Football Hall of Fame.
You could say it also worked out for the Chargers, who got a bounty of draft picks in return for trading Eli Manning to New York. Those draft picks ended up making a combined 13 Pro Bowls—all with the Chargers—and was highlighted by quarterback Philip Rivers and linebacker Shawne Merriman.
