If there was a lasting image from the 2025 NFL Draft, it was that of a clearly dejected Deion Sanders watching his son, Shedeur Sanders, slide from his projected slot in the first roun all the way until the Cleveland Browns selected him in the fifth round with the No. 144 overall pick.
Now we know there was more to the story.
While the Hall of Fame cornerback was undoubtedly disappointed by his son’s free fall in the draft, a much heavier subject was also weighing on his mind. At a press conference on Monday, Sanders revealed that he has spent the past offseason battling bladder cancer, which he successfully had removed via surgery.
The Colorado University head coach also shared that he was aware of the cancer diagnosis and impending surgery during the draft. He had, however, yet to inform his children of the situation, opting instead to keep the focus on them.
“There was some scenes that you saw — all the bull junk that transpired on draft day,” Sanders said. “It wasn’t just [Shedeur’s slide]. It was just I knew as well I had a surgery coming up. My sons, to this day, don’t know what transpired. I just told them it was something with my foot again, because I wanted them to focus on making the team and not focus on dad. So they don’t really know. My daughters do.”
While there was no shortage of reaction to Shedeur’s draft day slide and speculation regarding the role that Deion may have played in it, the reality is nobody but a select few knew what the 57-year-old head coach was actually going through at the time. And it certainly casts the image of Deion’s real-time reaction in a different light knowing that he wasn’t just dealing with his son being picked four rounds later than expected, but also a legitimate life or death situation.
The good news is that Deion Sanders and his medical team caught the tumor in time and were able to successfully remove it before the matter got worse. And that’s left Coach Prime as a new advocate for men’s (and women’s) health, as he spent a significant portion of Monday’s press conference touting the potentially life-saving difference that such screenings can make.
“Please get yourself checked out,” he said. “… because it could have been a whole other gathering if I hadn’t.”
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.