Colorado coach Deion Sanders opens up about pre-draft criticism of sons Shedeur, Shilo: 'It did hurt'

Deion Sanders watched firsthand as his son and former Colorado quarterback, Shedeur, plummeted in the 2025 NFL Draft. Sanders' other son Shilo, who started at safety for the Buffaloes, wasn't drafted at all.

Precipitating Shedeur's fall were a litany of reports that questioned Shedeur's demeanor and performance in the pre-draft process. During a recent appearance on Asante Samuel's "Say What Needs To Be Said" podcast, Deion addressed the criticism levied against his sons leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft.

"It did hurt," Sanders said. "The Bible says God uses the foolish things to confound the wise. So it was some foolish stuff that went on but you know what, that gave them something that they needed. That gave them something that they said -- like that edge that Tom (Brady) had. It gave them that edge that you (Samuel) had. It gave them the edge that I have. You know folks said we wasn't going to be nothing so we had to prove that. It gave them the edge that they needed. Both of them."

Shedeur, who was a projected borderline first-round pick, slipped all the way to the fifth round before the Cleveland Browns drafted him at No. 144 overall. The elder Sanders specifically refuted the notion that Shedeur was "unprepared" for pre-draft interviews, and that he wore headphones during one meeting with a team.

"When you sit up there and say something like, 'He went in a meeting unprepared.' Like, dude, Shedeur Sanders, who has had six different coordinators, who has still functioned and went up -- leveled up -- every time we brought somebody new in and you're going to tell me he had on headphones," Sanders said. "Anybody who knows my son understands he's a professional. Like, he's going to go into a meeting with head phones on? Come on, man."

Shilo, who initially signed with South Carolina in 2019 before transferring to play for Deion at Jackson State 2021 and then at Colorado in 2023, joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent.

Shedeur joined Deion at Jackson State in 2021, where he won the Jerry Rice Award as the top freshman at the FCS level, and transferred to Colorado in 2023. He was the 2024 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year after throwing for 4,134 yards and 37 touchdowns while guiding the Buffaloes to their first 9-win season since 2016.