Colorado football coach Deion Sanders said his son, Buffaloes quarterback Shedeur Sanders, and cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter are prepared to pull an Eli Manning depending on the situation when they declare for the 2025 NFL Draft. Sanders says he knows where he wants them to play and “certain cities” are off the table.
Former NFL quarterback Robert Griffin III said Sanders’ remarks didn’t surprise him.
“The power shift is coming, so everyone needs to buckle up,” Griffin said recently on “Get Up” on ESPN before explaining how former USC quarterback Caleb Williams showed up to the 2024 NFL combine and didn’t participate. “… The players right now understand that they don’t have to do the status quo… because without the players, all of these sports leagues are nothing. This is the player empowerment age and you’re seeing it coming to the NFL.”
Does the NFL have any leverage? Or is change inevitable?
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It's their career not yours.
The notion that the draft will change so players will pick where they want to go is a fantasy.
The league will probably institute a lottery at some point. But players may end up with some say in where they go.
Be careful what you wish for.
The notion that the draft will change so players will pick where they want to go is a fantasy.
I want you to be right... RGIII seems to disagree.
It's their career not yours.
"not only can i get you drafted, i can get you drafted by the team you want."
The notion that the draft will change so players will pick where they want to go is a fantasy.
You let players to refuse to play for certain teams you'll
see fans stop paying for tickets and watching on TV
Old man yells at cloud...
+1.
I don’t see it changing too much.
I never got the top 10 pick buzz coming out of media. I know his line was not at Colorado but he seemed overmatched against PAC 12 teams.
If that is indeed Shedeur's reality, then I would think he would be less likely to refuse any opportunity that comes his way.
it does give the players more leverage because of the popularity of college football.
6 of the top 10 NIL deals are CFB players. #1 is Bronny James. #3 is Livvy Dunne, 2 WCBB players - the rest are CFB.
I would guess 50% of all NIL $$ go to CFB and at some point all the 1st round caliber players (maybe more) have NIL deals.
It's no different for any job, if you dont follow the rules you dont get the job.
The NFL will survive either way. No other league will be successful as it is. You cant let the players control where they go, it will ruin the game because right now there is parity. Without parity small market teams will dry up quick.
Also who cares what Deon is talking about. He should worry about doing a better job coaching.
It's no different for any job, if you dont follow the rules you dont get the job.
The NFL will survive either way. No other league will be successful as it is. You cant let the players control where they go, it will ruin the game because right now there is parity. Without parity small market teams will dry up quick.
Good post, Rudy. As I've stated, I want the Draft to remain as is.
Also who cares what Deon is talking about. He should worry about doing a better job coaching.
Because most 1st round baseball prospects and hockey prospects and even basketball prospects won't be rolling up to the draft as millionaires in the Lamborghini's.
well over 50% of NIL money goes to the CFB.
it is estimated $1.1B will be spent on NIL money in 2023-2024. $726.2M of that on CFB players. That is staggering to me.
When you lose the carrot you lose the stick.
Travis Hunter on the other hand, has an abundance of talent.
Seems like the pendulum swung too far and over-corrected.
To me it seemed fair to trade sports for an education, but then greed became prevalent (maybe it always was, who knows) and programs and coaches began raking in millions with bloated tv contracts and other sponsorships - mainly just in football, but basketball too, and then the student athletes wanted their "fair share" and the student part of this gets lost and it's all about the $$$ now for all parties.
many of these athletes will graduate college and (theoretically) never have to work. they will have been paid more during college NIL agreements than many people make in a lifetime. I don't think this is how it was ever supposed to be.
The answer would have been to go watch more college but the NIL and transfer portal has ruined that too.
The most a college player can do is stay in school for another year or two, but they don't have the kind of leverage to blow up the NFL draft.
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Doesn't every major sport have a draft? How is the nfl draft format on borrowed time, if the others aren't.
Also who cares what Deon is talking about. He should worry about doing a better job coaching.
Because most 1st round baseball prospects and hockey prospects and even basketball prospects won't be rolling up to the draft as millionaires in the Lamborghini's.
well over 50% of NIL money goes to the CFB.
it is estimated $1.1B will be spent on NIL money in 2023-2024. $726.2M of that on CFB players. That is staggering to me.
When you lose the carrot you lose the stick.
you can't make NIL money when you are out of college.
Just another old college athlete unless you play professionally.
Suck it up for a few years and decide where you go then, if teams want you.
A lot of time and money is spent by the NFL looking at college players that they don't draft, or who don't pan out when they are drafted.
If the NFL could make drafting players less expensive, they may very well agree to simplifying the system and agree to less control over what players a team gets. The draft is a crap-shoot anyway.
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train. I had round 3-4 projection on him after season
I never got the top 10 pick buzz coming out of media. I know his line was not at Colorado but he seemed overmatched against PAC 12 teams.
I read all of the talk how bad McCarthy had it at Michigan with their OL blocking. Well, he had the 2022 Eagles compared to the Colorado OL, which was one of the worst in all of major conference football.
I will challenge anyone to find a QB who took more of a beating than Sanders. Go watch the UCLA game. The Colorado OL should have been charged with manslaughter.
The last big named QB I saw take that type of beating in major college play was Jared Goff when he was at Cal. Sanders is more athletic and has more arm talent than Goff. And Goff turned out okay.
Something like that sounds good to me. Form an elite super league with perhaps only about 8 teams; NY, CHI, LA, TEX, FLA, Hawaii, and a couple of more.
Form it into somewhat of a co-op, where players are also partial owners (while active) and receive almost all of the revenue.
Like LIV golf, concentrate on signing the best of the best.
As for me, I'm tired of the crappy NFL product.
it does give the players more leverage because of the popularity of college football.
6 of the top 10 NIL deals are CFB players. #1 is Bronny James. #3 is Livvy Dunne, 2 WCBB players - the rest are CFB.
I would guess 50% of all NIL $$ go to CFB and at some point all the 1st round caliber players (maybe more) have NIL deals.
I’m not sure how NIL gives them more leverage. They only have 4 years at college, max. Then what? The NFL doesn’t care if Sanders or anyone else decides to bypass the draft to go back to school because of NIL. That well will run dry soon enough. In the meantime, there are hundreds of other players to draft. These players need the NFL much more than the NFL needs them. If Sanders never plays a down in the NFL, nobody will notice or care. The NFL will go on
We're not talking about a fringe player, we're talking about a red chip prospect.
If a college player can get somewhere in the 12-15M range over 5 years in college, I can see a world where some stay in school and also some call it day after school.
If you have earned a level of wealth that in the right plan will sustain you for life, putting your health and body through another four years is certainly a risk.
Someone who thinks he and his kids are above all others is not a good leader.
Example 1. Let’s say S. Sanders is the consensus #1 next year. Let’s say, cold weather Cleveland drafts him, just for the sake of this example. Deion says “He’s not playing there”.
Well, if he’s a potential #1 pick, he will have an agent. That means he can’t go back to college.
Now he either signs with CLE, waits another year and re-enters the draft or they force a trade. Which is probably likely since CLE would want something for their 2025 1st round draft choice.
I think these kids are going to play chicken with billionaires and lose. Unionize? In college? No fucking way.
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In comment 16445761 Sy'56 said:
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train. I had round 3-4 projection on him after season
I never got the top 10 pick buzz coming out of media. I know his line was not at Colorado but he seemed overmatched against PAC 12 teams.
I read all of the talk how bad McCarthy had it at Michigan with their OL blocking. Well, he had the 2022 Eagles compared to the Colorado OL, which was one of the worst in all of major conference football.
I will challenge anyone to find a QB who took more of a beating than Sanders. Go watch the UCLA game. The Colorado OL should have been charged with manslaughter.
The last big named QB I saw take that type of beating in major college play was Jared Goff when he was at Cal. Sanders is more athletic and has more arm talent than Goff. And Goff turned out okay.
Sanders is not a better prospect than Goff at the same stage of their career. Goff last season at Cal he threw 43 TDs and 4700 yards. Sanders won’t touch anywhere near those numbers.
Top rated player? Likely to go first? Yea, you can try and you might even be able to pull it off but it won't be easy and that's if you're an absolute slam dunk prospect with contacts and agents that know how to navigate things.
Rg3 is a fucking clown.
Sanders is not a better prospect than Goff at the same stage of their career. Goff last season at Cal he threw 43 TDs and 4700 yards. Sanders won’t touch anywhere near those numbers.
Behind the worst OL I have seen in a long time at the major conference level (Sanders got sacked 52X in 12 games), he completed almost 70% of his passes, 27TDs/3INTs, and 7.5+ YPA.
That's pretty good production under that time of duress. And with Travis Hunter out for most of the year.
If Deion brings in enough competent players to fix the OL, I could very easily see Sanders's production exploding.
The National Football League Players Association, or NFLPA, is the labor organization representing the professional American football players in the NFL. The purpose of the creations of the NFLPA in 1956 was to provide players with formal representation to negotiate compensation and the terms of a CBA. Because the NFLPA is a union, they are exempt from U.S. antitrust laws. Abusive business practices that would normally be antitrust violations suddenly become legal if they are performed as part of a collective bargaining agreement with a union.
it does give the players more leverage because of the popularity of college football.
6 of the top 10 NIL deals are CFB players. #1 is Bronny James. #3 is Livvy Dunne, 2 WCBB players - the rest are CFB.
I would guess 50% of all NIL $$ go to CFB and at some point all the 1st round caliber players (maybe more) have NIL deals.
NIL hurts because these kids jump for money each year and their development is going to suffer. IMO the year over year jumpers won’t be playing pro ball. Talent isn’t enough. And of people don’t think many players of these kids who know are doing great financially will bust their asses the NFL don’t know or remember what it was to be young. Don’t begrudge any of these kids the cash. But there’s going to be a lot of out of work ex NIL studs the next 2-5 years. The college cosh seats desperate. The NFL is always going to have contracts. Weather there’s draft or not. You play like shit you will be gone for the league in a blink.
Sanders and his kid a say what they want now. But his kid isn’t a great prospect