The quarterback and son of Colorado coach Deion Sanders, Shedeur Sanders, is the current betting favorite to be the first overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft. If the season were to end today, the Raiders would have the No. 2 pick. Deion thinks the Raiders are a good place for his son.
At an event in Las Vegas, Deion shared the stage with Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce, and when Sanders had the microphone, he praised Pierce and then said he would like to see both Shedeur and Colorado defenseman Shilo Sanders play for the Raiders.
‘You really are the best’ Deion told Pierce. “Now I just want you to do one thing: I want you to call out those Sanders guys.”
Shilo, who is two years older than Shedeur, is not considered an elite designer. But Deion would certainly like to see a team he favors draft Shedeur in the first round, and also draft Shilo in a later round.
Players have no control over who drafts them, but a player can strongly encourage or strongly discourage certain teams if he has strong opinions about where he should play. And a player with a father who is very well connected in NFL circles is better positioned to identify the players he may or may not want to play for. And a player with family wealth is better positioned to leverage the leverage by sitting out a full year and re-entering the draft the following year if he doesn’t like the team that drafts him.
All of this dynamic came into play when Eli Manning declined to go to the Chargers when they drafted him with the first overall pick in 2004, making a trade to the Giants. A similar dynamic could come into play if Deion and Shedeur don’t like the team selected first overall in 2025. The Raiders would apparently get the approval of the Sanders family.
