Deion Sanders is putting the NFL on notice. He has an idea of where he wants Travis Hunter and son Shedeur Sanders to be drafted in 2025, and if the wrong teams take them, “it’s going to be an Eli,” he said.
Sanders was a guest on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast when he predicted Sanders and Hunter would both be top-four overall draft picks, with one going No. 1. But he cautioned about the possibility of that changing based on the teams picking. He has destinations in mind for them and his other son, Shiloh.
“I know where I want them to go. So, it’s certain cities that it ain’t going to happen,” Sanders said before referencing Eli Manning, who famously requested a trade from the San Diego Chargers to the New York Giants after being drafted first overall in 2004.
Wow…. Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter will pick which NFL team gets to draft them, according to Deion Sanders.
“There’s certain cities that ain’t gonna happen… It’s gonna be an Eli.”
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) March 24, 2024
On first listen, Sanders’ comment reeks of an entitlement those players haven’t earned yet. They were certainly standouts at Colorado last season, but better players have come and gone without being able to leverage their way to an ideal draft destination.
However, just because players haven’t been able to leverage where they go as much in the past doesn’t mean it shouldn’t and won’t happen more in the future. We’ve been conditioned to accept the draft as a legitimate process to determine where people get to work, but the more power college players gain through NIL and brand deals, the more we could see the tide shift. There isn’t a more ideal situation to help push that change than having one of the NFL’s greatest players with a star quarterback as a son and a two-way defensive back as his star pupil.
Manning knows all about that and appeared to approve the message, with a tweet saying “I love me some Deion.”
I love me some Deion. https://t.co/S3CSrw38ve
— Eli Manning (@EliManning) March 25, 2024
All of this falls apart if Shedeur and Hunter don’t put up good enough film in 2024. But if they do their part, this will be something to monitor going into next year.
