Deion Sanders Accused of ‘Playing the Victim’ After Defending Shedeur Sanders originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
In a video titled “Deion Sanders Is Just Another Entitled Helicopter Parent,” Fox Sports host Doug Gottlieb took Sanders to task for the latest media narrative to swirl around this football family.
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Sanders has drawn criticism for keeping himself in the headlines surrounding his son, Shedeur Sanders, as the rookie signal-caller has been practicing with the Cleveland Browns.
“Deion’s sitting there going, ‘I know my son. He’s been through six (coordinators).’ No one’s disputing he’s been through six coordinators. If he’s been through six different coordinators, then he should have an unbelievable array of verbiage and knowledge and different ways of seeing the game,” said Gottleib.
On Monday, Sanders was on the “Say What Needs To Be Said” podcast with Asante Samuel and berated critics who were critical of his son’s alleged lack of professionalism ahead of the draft.
Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders with son and quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2).Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
“He should walk in (to draft meetings) and blow them away with this professionalism. But he did not. Deion blaming the coaches in the system or the GMs or the scouts or whatever is no different than you as a parent, or me as a parent, blaming the other kids, the teacher, the TA, the vice principal, the principal, somebody else on campus that works for the school. That’s all it is. And that’s what we do nowadays with kids: you call home, or a kid gets in trouble, and suddenly it becomes, ‘Well, the teacher didn’t do X Y and Z,’ and not about the kid.
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“Deion’s trying to play the victim? I don’t buy it. … Deion’s not showing any accountability of himself. Don’t go all God and Bible on us. It just sounds so phony.”
Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion SandersIsaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
In a similar vein but with a less critical tone, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer suggested Deion should remove himself from the conversation, as Archie Manning did when his son Eli Manning was receiving a lot of negative attention for bypassing the San Diego Chargers in the 2004 NFL Draft.
This, Breer suggests, would allow the 22-year-old quarterback to build his name after taking a big fall into the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
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This latest scrap between Gottlieb and Sanders is far from the first. In April, Gottlieb compared Donald Trump. In November, Gottlieb used a Jerry Jones quote to make the point that Sanders should only coach in college and not move to the NFL.
To Shedeur’s credit, he has performed well in the low-stakes environment of the Browns’ OTAs. The rookie quarterback is competing for a starting job with fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel and veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett.
Related: Deion Sanders Urged To Learn From Archie Manning After Shedeur Sanders’ Move to Browns
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 6, 2025, where it first appeared.