The Media Craze Around Shedeur Sanders Echoes Deion's Iconic Attention

The celebrity of Sanders is nothing new, and it resembles some of the attention that has followed his father, Colorado coach Deion Sanders, for quite some time. During his career as a player, "Prime Time" was often criticized as being too arrogant or cocky. He eventually won two Super Bowls and was the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year in 1994.

During his career as the coach of the Buffaloes, Deion Sanders has brought a wave of attention and economic growth to the city of Boulder. Now, Shedeur Sanders has been a constant topic of conversation in Cleveland as the Browns start the season 2-5.

Shedeur Dominating Conversation in Cleveland?

"Once again, the media’s obsession with Shedeur Sanders getting playing time is interesting because, has anybody asked the question to the Tennessee Titans about their backup quarterback getting any reps? Because your rookie quarterback, No. 1 pick, hasn’t been playing very well. I think it’s Brandon Allen, might be the backup quarterback. Has anybody asked that? Is anybody asking if the backup to Jaxson Dart is getting any reps with the first team?" said Patrick.

"I hope Shedeur gets an opportunity, but I hope it's not one of those, 'Let's do him a solid and have him play.' Dillon Gabriel is a better quarterback, right now, than Shedeur Sanders. . . . Not this many fifth-round draft picks get this kind of attention, and granted it has to do with Deion," Patrick continued on his show.

At the NFL's Fall League Meeting, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam spoke about the quarterback situation with NFL insiders Ian Rapoport and Mike Garofolo.

"Dillon has played three games, and that's not a great sample (size). And one of them was in a monsoon. You could say he played two games. Shedeur's making progress in practice, so we're going continue to work with both of those guys," Haslam said.

The Browns have had a rather unique offseason regarding the quarterback room, one that included drafting two rookie quarterbacks, Dillon Gabriel and Sanders. Cleveland also traded away quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett after acquiring both in the offseason.

Colorado Legacy Criticized

However, the attention, fandom, and criticism most likely would have followed Sanders anywhere. When Colorado announced that the football program would be retiring the No. 2 and No. 12, the jersey numbers of Sanders and Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, before the 2025 season, the decision was met with scrutiny.

Fans and media alike criticized the timing of the move, but Deion Sanders defended the move.

"We're talking about Shedeur. We ain't talking about nobody else," said 'Coach Prime.' "If his last name wasn't Sanders, we wouldn't have this discussion."

During his time at Colorado, Shedeur Sanders set multiple program records including the best single-season marks for passing yards (4,134), touchdowns (37), completion percentage (74 percent) in 2024. Those numbers also led the Big 12 in Sanders' final season of college football.

Sanders completed 71.8 percent of his passes in his career with the Buffaloes, which is the highest completion rate of any quarterback in college football history.