Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders caused quite a stir before the Alamo Bowl in late December when he showcased a pair of New York Giants-inspired cleats.
At the time, the Giants held the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, which appeared to be Sanders’ likely destination. But the story quickly took on a life of its own with many falsely claiming he wore them during the game itself.
Shedeur Sanders literally wore custom New York Giants-themed cleats in his bowl game last night, anticipating he'd be the #1 pick and go to NYG
Now with the Giants winning today… pic.twitter.com/RZwCoimP04
— Neil Horowitz (@njh287) December 29, 2024
That was not true.
Although the cleats, which were created by shoe designer “Nomad Customs,” appeared at the base of Sanders’ locker, he never actually put them on. He wore Christmas-themed cleats to warm up and then his standard black cleats during the game.
The Giants went on to upset the Indianapolis Colts that week, losing the No. 1 overall pick in the process. Just like that, all the hype faded and stories about Sanders’ cleats vanished. Until recently.
During Friday’s episode of the Tamron Hall Show, Deion Sanders, the head coach at Colorado and Shedeur’s father, was finally asked about those Giants-inspired cleats.
As it turns out, it was nearly as noteworthy as some people had made it out to be.
“He has some Tennessee cleats, too. And some Raiders cleats,” Deion said. “He got every color cleats.”
Shedeur has cleats for most NFL teams but not all, says Deion. There are still some teams and situations he would prefer his son to avoid, but the Giants do not appear to be one of them.
“It’s not like who I would like for him to play for. It’s a couple teams that I won’t allow him to play for,” Deion said. “But this is my profession. I know what’s behind the curtain. We ain’t got to get back there for me to understand what’s behind the curtain and what’s not prominent for my son. I’m not doing it.”
The quarterback-hungry Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns are slated to pick ahead of the Giants, so they may not even get a shot at him without trading up. Unless, of course, the Browns are one of Deion’s blacklisted teams.
