Deion Sanders “Prayed” Shedeur Would Go to Giants in Draft

The Giants, as it was later revealed, had other plans.

Dec 28, 2024; San Antonio, TX, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders and quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) talk with the media after the game against the Brigham Young Cougars at Alamodome. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Most of the former Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders’s football career was strategically guided by his father, Hall of Fame defensive back Deion Sanders, who would eventually become his son’s head coach at Jackson State and later Colorado.

But when it came to the NFL draft, Sanders reportedly relied on a higher authority to help get his son to the next level, which he viewed as being the ideal fit: the New York Giants.

So claims a new report by John Breech of CBS Sports, who dug up a pre-draft interview in which “Coach Prime,” during a conference held on March 19 for ProMat 2025, at which he was a keynote speaker, was asked about where he wanted to see Shedeur, who at the time was being touted as a potential first/early second-round prospect, land in the NFL.

Deion Sander on where he wanted Shedeur Sanders to be drafted:

“Cleveland?”

“What did you say?”

“Cleveland?”

“😂😂😂😂… We are praying for the Giants right now, yes we are.” https://t.co/YJIGlBZ5vp pic.twitter.com/CbEqhyJn4w

— Marshall Green (@MarshallGreen_) April 29, 2025

“If I say that, it’s going to go viral,” Sanders responded.

The interviewer followed up, asking Sanders, “Cleveland?” Sanders chuckled before responding, “We are praying for the Giants right now. Yes, we are.”

Unfortunately for Sanders, he didn’t get his wish. Not only did Shedeur not go to the Giants, who traded back into the bottom of the first round to pluck Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart as their potential quarterback of the future, but Shedeur fell to the fifth round, where he was finally selected by the Cleveland Browns, a team that two rounds earlier had picked Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

There were further reports, first by former ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay and then expanded on by SI.com’s Albert Breer, that Sanders rubbed the Giants the wrong way during a private meeting with head coach Brian Daboll.

Breer reported that Sanders not only came to unprepared, but also took exception to being called out by Daboll for not being prepared during a session involving an install.

In response to a question received after the draft, Daboll declined to give any details about the accuracy of the report of friction with Sanders, only saying that all the meetings he had with the quarterback prospects were productive.

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