When Colorado upset 17th-ranked TCU on Saturday, the following eruption was predictable. Head coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes took a lot of criticism on the chin this off-season after Sanders left Jackson State for the despondent CU program. After a woeful 1-11 season, Deion flipped the program upside down. A massive transfer departure led to a revamped roster. So when the Buffs won, you had to expect that Prime would be loud.
Sanders came alive with a particular rant towards a reporter in the press conference following the game. Days later, we now know the reporter’s identity that Deion targeted. As it turns out, it wasn’t just any ordinary reporter. It was Ed Werder.
The longtime ESPN reporter, who may have once crossed paths with Deion when he reported on the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s, responded to the rant. Werder expressed befuddlement over it on The Dan Patrick Show, as he doesn’t actually cover college football, nor is he a writer.
“What happened? They didn’t have enough reporters to go see Deion’s debut, and you got to go?” Patrick asked Werder. Werder said that “budgets being what they are these days” and what Werder’s range was why he was at the game, plus his vicinity.
.@WerderEdESPN says he doesn't know what @DeionSanders was referencing when he singled him out at the postgame press conference Saturday, being that he hasn't been a writer in 30 years, and doesn't typically cover college football.
Full interview: https://t.co/oWt790hBbn pic.twitter.com/zWV2lELPSe
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) September 5, 2023
“Well, first of all, you know, in the moment, it just did not seem journalistically appropriate in that situation for me to meet his demand and tell him that I believed him whether I do or I don’t,” Werder said.
“And interacting with him, as I mentioned, you know, over the years. He played for the Cowboys; he played for a long time in the NFL as a Hall of Fame player. And interacting as often as we have, I can’t imagine that he really expected that I was going to commit to either position in that circumstance because it was unprofessional to do so.”
Werder was puzzled as to why it even mattered at that moment. Colorado just pulled off their first road win against an AP Top 25 team in decades. It was a monumental moment for the program. The reporter was also puzzled for a good reason: He isn’t a writer.
“I really don’t know. I haven’t been a writer in 30 years, I don’t cover college football. This was an exception. I asked him, as you heard multiple times, what did I write? He couldn’t ever provide an example and the reason is no such example even exists. I’ve been doing television for the last 30 years. I’m also exclusively a TV reporter as you know.”
Werder said that he is active on social media though, and people referred to a tweet that might have flagged this.
Colorado’s celebrity football coach has made @CUBuffsFootball the most interesting program in the country. It’s No. 2 in merchandise sales, Folsom Field suites are sold out and season-ticket renewal rate stands at 97%. @DeionSanders has created attention before his first win. https://t.co/XUNepTSKDs
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) March 23, 2023
Werder’s reference to Deion as a “celebrity football coach” might be what Sanders has gotten ticked off at. Though at one point in the interview, Werder suggested Prime would be mad at you if you didn’t refer to him as a celebrity. Sanders’ status and standing in the football world no doubt helped boost his cause. If Deion wasn’t the interesting, charismatic, fiery, and arrogant character that he is, then he wouldn’t be Prime. So you get what you pay for there, on either end.
But Patrick hypothesized that Sanders was performing and that Werder wasn’t the specific target, but rather ESPN and college football media at large. And that might be more of an accurate read. But even still, Werder isn’t incorrect that he never wrote anything.
So he just wound up at the wrong place at the wrong time.
