Last season, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders took the college football world by storm thanks to his son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way star Travis Hunter.
The storm ended after three weeks. Colorado started the season 3-0 and everyone had Sanders and Hunter among their Heisman favorites and projected high picks in the 2024 NFL draft. The Buffaloes then went 1-8, Hunter was hurt and Sanders struggled.
Sanders could have declared for the 2024 NFL draft but chose to return to college. When the elder Sanders was on something called the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, he made it clear that his son and Hunter would only play for certain teams and he would “pull an Eli” if they got drafted by the wrong teams.
What he is referring to is Eli Manning, who said he refused to play for the San Diego Chargers after they chose him No. 1 overall in the 2004 NFL, The Chargers then traded him to the New York Giants for Philip Rivers who the Giants selected Philip Rivers. This allowed the Chargers to trade Manning for Rivers also with several San Diego draft picks including a first-round pick the following year.
My feelings on this are quite simple. If I’m an NFL GM, I don’t draft any player who doesn’t want to play for my team, especially not a high pick. No matter how talented they are, they will be a bust if they are set on not playing. And teams invest too much in top picks to have petulant children on the roster with huge salaries.
