Deion Sanders Rips NFL Teams For Draft - Except Patriots: 'Ashamed'
Prime Time is taking aim at a prime suspect, and it's every team in the NFL ... except for the New England Patriots.
Pro Football Hall of Famer and outspoken Colorado University head coach Deion Sanders is criticizing the league for all but bypassing players from Historically Black Colleges and University in the NFL Draft. The only HBCU player selected in the 259-player process was Jackson State cornerback Isaiah Bolden, taken in the the seventh round (245th overall) by the Patriots.
Bolden played for Sanders last season. Said the coach in a message congratulating him on Twitter:
I'm ashamed of the 31 other NFL teams that couldn't find draft value in ALL of the talented HBCU players & we had 3 more draft worthy players at JSU.
Bolden re-tweeted Sanders' message with a response: "Love you coach I know what to do."
Bolden, 6-2 and 205 pounds, caught the Patriots' eye in 2022 when he produced a gaudy and college football-best 37-yard average on kickoff returns. He then blazed to a 4.33 40-yard dash at Jackson State's pre-draft Pro Day. He will have a shot to earn a roster spot in Foxboro as a cornerback, but also a kick-returner.
Rookie Marcus Jones led the Pats in kickoff returns last season with an average of 23.9. He also scored their only kick-return touchdown of the season - an 84-yard game-winning punt runback against the Jets.
Former HBCU NFL stars include Walter Payton (Jackson State), Jerry Rice (Mississippi Valley State), Steve McNair (Alcorn State), Shannon Sharpe (Savannah State) and Michael Strahan (Texas Southern).
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