From a father-son perspective, of course Deion Sanders was going to feel some type of way hearing all the negative pre-draft reports about Shedeur Sanders that came out of the woodwork surrounding the 2025 NFL draft.
Deion addressed those reports for the first time on Asante Samuel’s Say What Needs To Be Said podcast last week and didn't mince words about his honest feelings. Hearing what was said about Shedeur "hurt" the Colorado Buffaloes coach a great deal.
"It hurt," Deion said. "But the Bible says God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. There was some foolish stuff that went on, but that gave them something that they needed... That edge that Tom [Brady] had, it gave [Shedeur and Shilo] 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. It gave them the edge that they needed. Both of them."
Among the slew of reports, one common theme appeared to arise: Shedeur wasn't prepared for his pre-draft meetings and interviews. Raiders insider Vic Tafur hinted at that during Shedeur's shocking draft day slide, and SI's Albert Breer later shared two stories that revealed Shedeur's overly confident mindset going into team meetings.
Nearly everyone in NFL media seemed to agree that Shedeur treated the pre-draft process as if he were being recruited, with the 23-year-old quarterback even going so far as to reportedly tank interviews with NFL teams that he didn't like.
But, Deion stood up for Shedeur and delivered a blunt response to all the pre-draft reports.
"When you sit up there and say something like he went into a meeting unprepared, like, dude," continued Deion. "Shedeur Sanders? Who has had six different [offensive] coordinators, who has still functioned and leveled up every time we brought somebody new in, and you're gonna tell me he was unprepared? You're gonna tell me he had on headphones? Anybody who knows my son understands he's a professional.
“You got to understand my kids are built for everything... We've always been in front of the camera, so they know how to navigate, they know how to handle themselves. You're not going to catch them in no foolery or no mess. You're not going to do that whatsoever."
Plenty of NFL sources and reporters would disagree with Deion, but that's arguably all water under the bridge now. With his draft day drama behind him, Shedeur will focus on getting his NFL career off to a good start with the Cleveland Browns, where he's already seemed to impress during the team's first practices of the new league year.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Deion Sanders Bluntly Addressed Pre-Draft Reports Attacking Shedeur Sanders.
