Deion Sanders

NFL Coaching Rumors: Bears, Shanahan, Sanders

December 8th, 2024 at 8:15pm CST by Ely Allen

As we continue to inch closer to the end of the season, head coaching jobs are becoming open, and more and more speculations are connecting candidates to new locations. According to Diana Russini of The Athletic, there are quite a few mixed opinions on whether or not Chicago is a premier destination for a new head coach.

There are certainly factors that make the Bears an attractive team to coach. Rookie No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams has shown promise throughout his first season on the team. There are a few other young, talented players ready to be developed, and even with some veteran contributors likely to be on their way out soon, Chicago should be in a pretty good position salary cap-wise over the next few years.

The issue comes from the organization’s management. For years and years now, horror stories have come out of Halas Hall concerning the uncertain hierarchy in the building. Candidates and their agents are doing research on team president Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles in order to determine who will have the ability and intent to potentially overrule the head coach. How stable or risky the situation is will likely contribute to the quality of candidates that interview for the job.

Here are a few other rumors about coaching situations across the NFL:

We touched recently on some of the “comical” rumors that 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan was approaching a hot seat. General manager John Lynch shut down those rumors, but Shanahan felt the need to speak on a similar rumor after today’s win, per Adam Schefter of ESPN. When asked about speculation that another team should trade for him this offseason, Shanahan told the media, “I don’t want to be any place in the world more than here.”
In what has been viewed as a relatively weak candidate pool for head coaching candidates this year, some college coaching names are popping up in conversations. One name that many have been looking for is fast-rising Colorado head coach and NFL Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders. Sanders began his head coaching career at Jackson State, finding immediate success that led to his hiring at Colorado. After a rough first year under Sanders, the Buffaloes turned it around with a 9-3 season behind two separate Heisman candidates this season. With his obvious connections to certain NFL franchises, it makes sense that this would be the next step for Sanders, but according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, his name has not been making the rounds in coaching circles yet. The two teams that he has been linked to as a good fit, the Cowboys and Raiders, don’t have open coaching jobs, and he is currently not viewed as a natural fit for Chicago, New Orleans, or New York.

Deion Sanders Not Talking NFL Future; Latest On Shedeur Sanders

November 14th, 2024 at 9:19pm CST by Ben Levine

With Colorado sitting 18th in the AP Top 25 and the Buffaloes appearing to have taken a clear step forward, coach Deion Sanders has already drawn some speculation about a pivot to professional football. While that could ultimately be Sanders’ ultimate plan, Bleacher Report’s Jordan Schultz says the coach hasn’t had any “official conversations with anyone” about heading to the NFL.

However, Schultz does seem to be keep the door open regarding a future move to the NFL, as the reporter notes that Sanders’ current focus is on winning at Colorado this season. Sanders’ NFL opportunities would be reliant on an organization’s willingness to take a chance on the divisive coach, and it’s worth noting that he still has three years remaining on his Colorado contract after this season.

Even if we assume Sanders doesn’t get an NFL job this offseason, he’ll still surely be in the news as his son, Shedeur Sanders, pushes to be an early selection in the draft. As Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports writes, the elder Sanders is ready to “step in” if he decides that the “wrong” organization is targeting his son. In fact, Deion’s considerable influence over Shedeur has already led to “significant apprehension” from NFL squads as they weigh the pros and cons of selecting the Colorado QB. While some executives are generally low on the prospect’s NFL future (one described Shedeur as “Tyrod Taylor 2.0″), there was also a sentiment that the player just wasn’t “worth all the extra stuff.”

Still, there will be surely be one team that takes a chance on the player’s upside, even if it means Shedeur ends up sliding down draft boards. Vincent Bonsignore of the Las Vegas Review-Journal recently noted the connections between the Sanders family and the Raiders. Deion has generally been a fan of the organization, including head coach Antonio Pierce and team president Sandra Douglass Morgan. Shedeur has also been mentored by now part-Raiders owner Tom Brady, and the prospect has been spotted visiting Las Vegas multiple times this year.

While it’s uncertain if they’d fit Deion’s lofty standards, the Giants have also been mentioned as a potential suitor for the QB prospect. Members of the organization visited the University of Colorado last month to get a first-hand look at Sanders (per CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones), with assistant general manager Brandon Brown even speaking to the Colorado squad after practice.

The Sanders duo will continue to steal headlines over the next few weeks, especially if Colorado makes a push for the playoffs. For better or for worse, that won’t be the last that we hear from Deion and Shedeur, as the tandem will continue to be central characters during the NFL’s offseason.

QB Rumors: Dak, Cowboys, Dolphins, Tua, Titans, Rudolph, Willis, Sanders

August 14th, 2024 at 7:10pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Cowboys continue to drag out their complex contract situation, one headlined by Dak Prescott‘s contract-year status and enormous leverage. One of the issues believed to be factoring into the quarterback’s negotiations: when the contract’s escape hatch emerges, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio. This would pertain to when guarantees vest. Considering Prescott’s built-in advantages stemming from no-trade and no-tag clauses, along with his lofty 2024 cap number and a $40.1MM void years-driven penalty that would go on Dallas’ cap if he reaches free agency, the ninth-year QB is undoubtedly pushing for most of this contract to be guaranteed. Rolling guarantees, which feature money locking in a year early, are also likely coming up during these talks. The Cowboys prefer five- or six-year deals, though they are not in good position to dictate term length or guarantee structure to their longtime passer.

As could be expected, a host of execs are critical of Jerry Jones for slow-playing this. Some are puzzled (via the Washington Post’s Jason La Canfora) the Cowboys owner has lost this much leverage with Dak. The Cowboys are believed to be closer on terms with CeeDee Lamb, but one GM told La Canfora that Jones “totally screwed this up” re: Prescott. A $60MM-per-year contract, or something close to it with a player-friendly guarantee structure, will almost definitely be necessary for the Cowboys to keep Dak away from free agency come March.

Here is the latest QB news from around the league:

Tua Tagovailoa‘s Dolphins deal features a rolling guarantee structure. The Miami QB’s $54MM 2026 base salary will shift from guaranteed for injury to fully guaranteed in 2025, Florio notes. Of Tua’s 2027 base salary ($31MM), $20MM is guaranteed for injury; $3MM of that total shifts to a full guarantee by 2026 before the remainder vests in 2027. A $5MM roster bonus is also due in 2027. Tagovailoa’s 2028 base ($41.4MM) is nonguaranteed. Miami has set up a potential 2027 escape hatch, though the southpaw starter would still collect more than $150MM from 2024-26 in the event the team moved on three years down the road. Two void years are included to spread out cap hits, the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin tweets.
Mason Rudolph has displayed accuracy at Titans camp, to the point Titans.com’s Jim Wyatt notes Malik Willis has been unable to gain ground — even though he has looked more comfortable in Year 3 — in the battle for the QB2 job. In the team’s preseason opener, Rudolph came in first and went 10-for-17 for 126 yards. Willis entered midway through the third quarter, going 5-for-7 for 38 yards (but rushing for 42). The Titans gave Rudolph a one-year, $2.8MM deal with $2.7MM guaranteed. A 2022 third-rounder, Willis is tied to a $985K base salary. Cutting the erratic third-year QB would cost the Titans only $466K, and it is certainly worth noting neither this coaching staff nor GM Ran Carthon was in Nashville when Willis was drafted. The Titans are open to carrying three QBs, but will this staff continue to develop an inherited arm given Carthon’s Will Levis investment?
NFL evaluators are split on Shedeur Sanders‘ stock for the 2025 draft. While ESPN.com’s Jordan Reid slots him as his No. 2 quarterback (behind Georgia’s Carson Beck) for the ’25 class — though, as a late-Round 1/early-Round 2 prospect — one NFL exec tabbed the Colorado QB as a Day 2 pick. Another evaluator labeled the returning Buffaloes passer as a first-rounder based largely on what is viewed as a weaker quarterback crop. Deion Sanders‘ influence on his son’s career is certainly not lost on execs, Reid adds, as the NFL legend/Colorado HC has already said he does see a cold-weather team as a fit (despite the duo’s current Boulder, Colo., location). Sanders’ impact on his son’s value has come up in NFL circles already and will likely remain a talking point moving forward.

Deion Sanders Has No Desire To Coach In NFL

June 20th, 2023 at 9:25pm CST by Ben Levine

Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has seen success on the sidelines in recent years, transforming Jackson State into a Division I Football Championship Subdivision powerhouse. Sanders parlayed that success into a Division I FBS job at Colorado, leading some pundits to wonder about his coaching ceiling. However, Prime Time is making it clear that he has no interest into ascending into the NFL coaching ranks.

In a conversation with Bri Amaranthus of SI.com, Sanders admitted that he doesn’t have “any desire or ambition to coach in the NFL.” Sanders specifically points to Dallas, where he won a championship and earned three All-Pro nods during a five-year stint. While he acknowledged that he loves Jerry Jones and “that whole family,” he also believes he’s “cut a little different” when it comes to dealing with today’s players.

“I have a problem with men getting their checks and not doing their jobs,” Sanders said. “I would be too tough as a coach in the NFL because I still have those old-school attributes.”

While it isn’t unheard of for a college coach to take the leap directly to an NFL head coaching job, there have only been 12 such hirings since 2000, and many of those coaches had some NFL assistant coaching experience before earning college HC gigs. The most recent hiring — Urban Meyer is Jacksonville — ended in disaster, and we’ve seen Matt Rhule and Kliff Kingsbury also lose their jobs over the past year. Jim Harbaugh is one of the lone successes in that 12-man grouping (other than Harbaugh, Bill O’Brien and Chip Kelly are the only other two coaches with positive records), so it’ll probably be a bit before we see a similar hiring.

As a result, even if Sanders was interested in an NFL gig, he’d likely have to take the assistant-coaching route. However, that kind of gig doesn’t interest the 55-year-old.

“I’m not an assistant coach. That is not me,” said Sanders. “I am a head coach … I don’t settle for mediocrity whatsoever. You are going to do it this way, we are going to work our butts off, we are going to be a team. The only thing that is individual about you is the way you play.”

Sanders started his coaching career about a decade ago at Prime Prep Academy, a school that he co-founded. He later coached his sons at Trinity Christian High School before taking the Jackson State job in 2020. After going 4-3 during the shortened 2020 campaign, Sanders helped guide the school to a 23-3 record across the 2021 and 2022 campaigns. Sanders also made headlines when he recruited defensive back Travis Hunter, making the player the first five-star recruit to join an FCS program.

College Notes: Sanders, Onwuzurike, Mayfield

September 19th, 2020 at 10:10am CST by Ben Levine

Deion Sanders has received his wish. After pushing for a head coaching job earlier this year, the Hall of Famer has been hired by Jackson State. Rashad Milligan of the Mississippi Clarion Ledger reports (via Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com) that Sanders will be the next head coach of the Tigers.

Prime Time won a pair of Super Bowls, earned eight Pro Bowl appearances, and garnered six first-team All-Pro nods during his illustrious NFL career. However, as Florio notes, the 53-year-old hasn’t even served as an assistant coach (much less head coach) at the college or professional level. Sanders is currently coaching his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, at Trinity Christian in Cedar Hill, Texas.

Jackson State fired John Hendrick back in August, with T.C. Taylor and Otis Riddley taking over interim head coaching duties. The school is sitting out the fall 2020 season, but they’re expected to participate in a spring league that begins in February.

More notes out of the college ranks:

Washington defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike has opted out of the 2020 season and will declare for the 2021 NFL Draft. The 6-foot-3, 288-pound lineman earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors last season, and he’ll finish his Huskies career having compiled 95 tackles and seven sacks. Onwuzurike will likely be a top-five defensive tackle in the 2021 draft, and he’s currently projected to be a second-day selection.
Last month, it sounded like Michigan offensive lineman Jalen Mayfield was going to sit out the 2020 season and prepare for the draft. However, Angelique S. Chengelis of The Detroit News reports that Mayfield will actually return to the Wolverines this season. Mayfield was projected to be a first-round pick in next year’s draft.
MSU has confirmed that defensive end Jacub Panasiuk has reversed course and will play this season (via Matt Charboneau of The Detroit News on Twitter). The six-foot-three, 245-pound lineman initially opted out of the season last month. In 38 games at MSU, Panasiuk has compiled 80 tackles and eight sacks. Thanks to the decision, Panasiuk could improve his current third-day draft stock.