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Shedeur Sanders opened up about his father’s reaction as he fell from being a first-round projection in the NFL Draft to not being selected until the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns.
Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, who coached the quarterback at Jackson State and Colorado, was the biggest supporter of Shedeur throughout the entire process and was with his son on the roller coaster ride that was the draft.
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Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders, #2, and head coach Deion Sanders look on following a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter against the Colorado State Rams at Folsom Field in Boulder, Colorado, on Sept. 16, 2023. (Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports)
“He said, ‘God got us.’ So that’s what it is,” Shedeur said of his dad’s reaction. “I look at what went on and everything as a football game, you know, you may not come out early hot, you know, that may not happen. But you know, when it’s down to the final two minutes of the game, then you understand the level of seriousness raises the stakes.
“All the stakes raised and that’s why I thrive in those high-pressure moments. So I never felt any type of way, I never felt any type of way. I understood, ‘okay, this is the route’ and that’s it.”
Sanders made clear it is “never a burden” being the son of a legendary athlete like his father.
“I wouldn’t look at that as that. I feel like everybody, God makes everybody have their own routes, and this is just my route,” he said. “Like there’s nothing I would be able to go back and wish that wasn’t my dad because I’m truly thankful for him being there and the structure I have.
Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders, #2, throws a pass in the second quarter against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sept. 2, 2023. (Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports)
SHEDEUR SANDERS PRANK CALL CONTROVERSY YIELDS STUNNING DEVELOPMENT
“So it’s never really a burden. I just find it, you know, that other kids in similar situations, I want them to be proud of what their fathers and what they have accomplished. So then you could carry on a legacy, carry on the family name and not really be kind of ashamed about it. I don’t like when people make people feel ashamed about it.”
Sanders was the 144th pick of the draft despite the initially strong possibility the Browns could have taken him with the No. 2 pick and made him the future of the franchise.
He said the entire experience never changed his outlook on the league as a business.
“No, nothing really affected me the last couple of days. You know, to just really push having faith and understanding, you know, God really had me and I’m favored, I’m blessed,” he said.
“Besides that, it’s not really anything that changed, the love of the game, is still the love of the game. When you get on the field, there wasn’t too much negativity being said. I know I gotta clean up some things in my game for me to be at my best, but that’s what I take each offseason one at a time and fix it. So I think that was just outside of football getting in the way. But therefore, I have an opportunity now. We’re about to get on grass really soon.”
Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders during Pac-12 Media Day at Resorts World Las Vegas in Las Vegas on July 21, 2023. (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)
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Sanders will now have to work his way up the depth chart to be on the roster for the 2025 season. He has two Super Bowl champions and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel to compete against.
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