The Colorado Buffaloes have a pair of players who are currently projected to hear their names called very early in the 2025 NFL Draft. Starting quarterback Shedeur Sanders could have gone awfully high this year if he did not decide to return to Boulder, while wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter might be the most talented player in college football.
We still have to get through the 2024 NFL Draft and the upcoming college football season before we start worrying about where Sanders and Hunter will go, but unsurprisingly, their current head coach has thought ahead about this one. During an appearance on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, Deion Sanders expressed his belief that both players will go awfully high next spring, and then dropped a bombshell: He’s not opposed to either player pulling an Eli Manning if they go to a situation he dislikes.
“Top-4,” Sanders said when asked where he thinks the two players are going to go next spring at the 59:06 mark of this video. “Anywhere from 1-4, one of them is gonna be 1. One of them is gonna be 1, and the latter one would not go behind 4. Now, all this is subjective because I know where I want, kind of want them to go — and let’s not forget Shilo (Sanders). But I know where I want them to go. So, there’s certain cities where it ain’t gonna happen. It’s gonna be an Eli.”
Back in 2004, Manning and his father, Archie, made clear that the Ole Miss star refused to play for the team that had the No. 1 overall pick, the San Diego Chargers. As a result, after the Chargers used the pick on him, the team turned around and sent him to the New York Giants for a package headlined by the No. 4 pick that year, which was used on Philip Rivers.
Sanders did not specify which teams he’d prefer the two players avoid, nor did he explain his rationale for wanting this. However, while we have quite a way to go until next spring, this will almost certainly be something to monitor once we get through the upcoming college football season.