{"id":56701,"date":"2025-05-17T06:12:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T06:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/56701\/"},"modified":"2025-05-17T06:12:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T06:12:17","slug":"deion-sanders-jumps-into-mel-kiper-mario-cristobal-feud-after-shedeur-draft-fallout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/56701\/","title":{"rendered":"Deion Sanders jumps into Mel Kiper-Mario Cristobal feud after Shedeur draft fallout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deion Sanders has entered the chat.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Buffaloes coach showed love for ESPN star and vocal Shedeur Sanders proponent Mel Kiper Jr. on Thursday after the draft analyst\u2019s war of words <\/a>with Miami football coach Mario Cristobal boiled over this week.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut I Love u my man! You stood on the desk with great balance 10 toes down and said what u doggone said & didn\u2019t flinch. You knew what time it was my man & we\u2019re blessed to be right where God wanted us to be. \u2018With OPPORTUNITY\u2019 they forgot I was in the tv\/entertainment business for 20 years before coaching,\u201d Sanders posted on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Deion<\/p>\n

Deion Sanders, the father of new Browns QB Shedeur Sanders, posted a supportive message on X to ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper. AP<\/p>\n

\"Mel<\/p>\n

Mel Kiper Jr., a vocal proponent of Shedeur Sanders, focused much of his draft commentary on the former Buffaloes QB. ESPN\/X<\/p>\n

The 57-year-old Sanders was responding to a fiery message written Wednesday by Kiper<\/a>, who hit back at Cristobal for comments made about the 2025 NFL Draft process, in which the coach said he spoke with an estimated \u201cmillion people\u201d about former Miami quarterback Cam Ward \u2014 the No. 1 overall selection by the Titans \u2014 but the ESPN personality was not one of them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMario Cristobal claims he spoke to a million people about Cam Ward, yet the one he didn\u2019t speak to, being me, had Ward ranked higher (6th on my Big Board) than any of the other draft experts. Interesting isn\u2019t it. And oh by the way, I didn\u2019t speak to Deion about Shedeur either. I need another Orange Crush after this nonsense,\u201d Kiper wrote.<\/p>\n

\"Miami<\/p>\n

Miami football coach Mario Cristobal said he didn\u2019t converse with Mel Kiper Jr. about Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con<\/p>\n

\"Ward<\/p>\n

Ward is now under center with the Titans. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Kiper\u2019s passion for the 23-year-old Shedeur<\/a> was on full display during last month\u2019s NFL draft, when the polarizing prospect stunningly slid to the fifth round<\/a> and was selected No. 144 overall by the Browns.<\/p>\n

Although Ward landing with the Titans had long been a lock, much of Kiper\u2019s draft commentary was centered on Shedeur, even after the Giants \u2014 who had done the most homework on Sanders\u2019 son \u2014 traded back into the first round to select Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart at No. 25 overall.<\/p>\n

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\u201cSurprised he went ahead of Shedeur, not shocked, because [coach Brian] Daboll wants mobility,\u201d Kiper said at the time.<\/p>\n

\"Shedeur<\/p>\n

Shedeur Sanders was drafted in the fifth round by the Browns in April 2025. AP<\/p>\n

In the days following the draft, Kiper said he wasn\u2019t privy to the online chatter centered on his Shedeur-heavy commentary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even know about it,\u201d\u00a0Kiper said<\/a>\u00a0on \u201cThe Adam Schefter Podcast\u201d in late April. \u201cI was told, [ESPN vice president and executive producer] Seth Markman comes in and says, \u2018Mel, you\u2019re trending on Twitter.\u2019 I don\u2019t know what they said, I kind of believe it wasn\u2019t nice, but I didn\u2019t read one of them, but I was told I was trending over Shedeur Sanders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"He<\/p>\n

He joins a crowded QB room that includes fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel. Getty Images<\/p>\n

With the late-round addition of Shedeur, the Browns entered spring practices with five quarterbacks \u2014 four if you omit ailing starter Deshaun Watson, who is recovering from an Achilles injury, putting his 2025 availability into question.<\/p>\n

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He\u2019ll compete for the starting job alongside Joe Flacco, now on his second stint in Cleveland, former Steelers first-round pick Kenny Pickett and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel, taken No. 94 overall by the Browns in the third round.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like the Browns fans they just want something to hope for and they\u2019ve been wanting it so long and long,\u201d\u00a0Shedeur recently said.<\/a>\u00a0\u201cAnd finally, I\u2019m here to change that, I\u2019m here to actually get what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shedeur will likely see some preseason action this summer before the Browns\u2019 opener on Sept. 7, when Cleveland hosts AFC North rival Cincinnati.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Deion Sanders has entered the chat. The Colorado Buffaloes coach showed love for ESPN star and vocal Shedeur…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[127,227,85,11,563,1033,12,7,13,562,570,8170,14,6,15,139,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-56701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-cam-ward","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cleveland","11":"tag-deion-sanders","12":"tag-deshaun-watson","13":"tag-dillon-gabriel","14":"tag-espn","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-jaxson-dart","17":"tag-joe-flacco","18":"tag-kenny-pickett","19":"tag-mario-cristobal","20":"tag-mel-kiper","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-nfl-draft","23":"tag-shedeur","24":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114521699121147287","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}