Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes have taken college football by storm in 2023, however, the NFL legend is reportedly developing serious buzz among league executives as a major head coaching candidate in the near future.
Deion Sanders has always been just as good at self-promotion as he was at snatching up interceptions on the football field. However, unlike many huge personalities before him, he has been able to consistently deliver on his grand boasts as a player and now as a head coach.
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Despite no previous experience leading a team of football players, he surprised many by racking up a 27-7 record during his three-year stint with Jackson State. The program performing far better than anyone expected led the Colorado Buffaloes to ask “Prime Time” to also turn around their program starting this season. However many college football experts expected a serious learning curve for Sanders at a much larger program and against better competition.
Well, after two weeks the Buffaloes are 2-0, own a shocking win over TCU, and are now 16 in our latest college football rankings. It has created one of the most fascinating storylines in college athletics and Sanders, unsurprisingly, has turned himself into one of the faces of NCAA football in 2023.
Yet, success at the college level always leads to speculation of an eventual jump to the NFL and the rumblings about “Coach Prime” leading an NFL team are growing rapidly.
Deion Sanders viewed as a head coach who could lure top players in NFL free agency
On Monday, The Athletic’s Mike Sando spoke to several NFL executives about Deion Sanders’ prospects as a head coach at the highest level, and the early opinions were very positive about the former Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons superstar.
“He obviously knows ball, and the difference is, while it is usually hard for great players to teach people to be great, Deion is getting these guys to play at a level above where they are at. That is what is so unique about him,” one executive said.
While his ability to coach up players has been impressive so far, some around the league also see parallels to Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay with Sanders’ ability to put together strong staffs and his general understanding of the various facets of the game.
“McVay and Deion are the same,” another executive said. “They are super smart, they came through a completely different path and point of view. McVay was around it his whole life with his grandfather being a 49ers executive, so he is just smarter and understands the game better.”
However, one of the best compliments by an anonymous league executive was the belief that Sanders could be a huge plus when it comes to luring star players on the NFL free-agent market.
“Just think how good he would be in free agency. It would be unbelievable. ‘Hey, this is what we are going to do, this is how you are going to be used,’ and the dude is so smart, you believe him more than you believe the coordinators,” the executive said.
It will be interesting to see how long it is before Deion Sanders starts taking head coaching interviews for NFL jobs based on these positive reviews.