Deion Sanders says he’ll step in to stop the wrong NFL team drafting Shedeur Sanders

Deion is ready to pull an Eli Manning to make sure Shedeur lands in the right spot.

History has a funny way of repeating itself, and that could come back to bite one NFL team in dire need of a quarterback. This week Deion Sanders appeared on the FS1 show Speak and said that he will step in to stop his son Shedeur being drafted by the wrong team.

Keyshawn Johnson: Will you step in Eli Manning-like, Deion Sanders-like to the point where you said ‘man, I ain’t taking that psyche test with the Giants’ — I followed you after that, I said I wasn’t taking it either. Will you do some of that if it’s the wrong organization and say ‘He ain’t going there’?

Deion Sanders: Yeah, yeah … but I’m not gonna do it publicly. I’ll do it privately. I’m gonna be dad. I’m gonna be dad until the cows come home.

The should raise some serious alarm bells for a few teams set to be drafting inside the top 10, but particularly the New York Giants who are currently slated to have the No. 2 overall pick in April’s draft behind the Jacksonville Jaguars, who won’t be taking a QB because of Trevor Lawrence.

Our own JP Acosta had the Giants taking Sanders in his latest 2025 NFL mock draft, and it could result in a stunning piece of inverse history for the organization. In 2004 it was the Giants who benefitted from Archie Manning telling the San Diego Chargers that his son Eli wouldn’t play for them, which resulted in the Chargers and Giants completing a draft-night trade that resulted in Philip Rivers being dealt to the Chargers.

While you might not like this hands-on approach, you also really can’t blame Deion here. Young quarterbacks are getting eaten up and spit out by organizations with terrible structure around them. Caleb Williams is lagging behind the rest of his draft class due to a terrible Bears offensive line and horrific play calling. Bryce Young’s future in Carolina hangs in the balance after being benched during his sophomore season. Meanwhile in Indianapolis there’s an on-again, off-again relationship with Anthony Richardson that was brought about by the Colts starting him too early in his career.

It only makes sense that Deion would want to protect Shedeur and ensure he lands in a spot where he can succeed. It’s essentially what any father would want for their child, except Deion has the pull within NFL circles to actually make it happen.

Keep watching this situation as we approach draft season, because it’s likely to be a major story.