University of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders is an opinionated man and when he has something he wants to say, he’s not one to shy away from speaking his mind.
So when Sanders was asked during a recent appearance on SiriusXM’s “Mad Dog Radio” his thoughts about the likely outcome of USC QB Caleb Williams playing for the Chicago Bears, he made it known that he was worried Williams – who has spent the last two years playing in California – won’t have the same level of success in the NFL playing in a cold-weather city like Chicago.
He also made it known that he doesn’t want his son Shedeur, a top QB prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft, playing in a city where the temperatures drop close to freezing.
“I don’t want my kid [Shedeur] going nowhere cold next year,” Sanders said, via Pro Football Talk. “He grew up in Texas. He played in Jackson, played in Colorado. Season’s over before it gets cold in Colorado. I’m just thinking way ahead. I don’t want that for him.”
While NFL teams typically don’t pay much attention to demands of top prospects, one as high-profile as Sanders may change things. A similar situation happened in 2004 when Archie Manning didn’t want his son Eli playing for the then small-market San Diego Chargers.
Manning still went No. 1 overall but was later traded to the New York Giants – a team with one of the largest media markets in the country — for quarterback Philip Rivers and draft picks.
While the 2025 draft order is impossible to predict until closer to the end of next season, as many as nine teams could be in the market for a new quarterback. Of those teams, more than half play in cold-weather environments.
