Deion Sanders claps back at critics with unique NFL Draft stat amid Xavier Smith-Shedeur Sanders controversy
Colorado Buffaloes' Deion Sanders seems to be worried about the future of the current crop of rookie NFL players and the development of the league. Coach Prime seems to be advocating for the heavier use of the rookie players, as he went onto his X account to cite an interesting statistic:
"0.41% of College Football Players made @nfl opening week rosters in 2022! Wow. 2,016 players on @nfl rosters and the average career is only 3.3 years. Wow. #CoachPrime"
It's true that as the league becomes ever more competitive, and the top players' careers longer, there's less of an incentive to use rookies. This consequently leads to shorter careers overall, as players with almost no playing time get booted out of the league.
The comment also seems to be in connection to those who criticized him for coming to the defense of Shedeur Sanders after Shedeur's jibe at Xavier Smith's statement on Deion Sanders' treatment of players.
Deion Sanders' son, Shedeur, swipes at Xavier Smith after recent claims
Former Colorado safety Xavier Smith spoke with the Athletic recently, explaining how the process to get him out of the Buffs roster went. He told Max Olson, in an article published on April 29th, the following:
“[Sanders] said he felt like I should hit the [transfer] portal. He didn’t want me to waste a year thinking I could earn a spot, I was actually getting mad, like tears coming to my eyes. Because, bro, you never even tried to get to know me.”
He further expanded on how Sanders made players feel:
"He was destroying guys' confidence and belief in themselves, the way he did it, it could've been done with a little more compassion."
The controversy sparked when Deion Sanders' son, and the Buffs' starting quarterback, Shedeur Sanders wrote the following reply in the comments section of the publication of the Athletic on X:
“Bro had to be very mid at best.”
This understandably got the fans riled up against the Colorado quarterback. Not satisfied with his son getting involved in a public incident such as this, Deion Sanders decided to go after the fans criticizing his son. He replied to one of them:
“He will be a top 5 pick, where yo son going? Lololol I got time today.”
The reply got a lot of flak from the public in general, with some feeling it vindicated Xavier Smith's comments. It also raises the question of whether Deion Sanders' comments regarding NFL players' lack of development are truthful, showing concerning disregard for the young student-athletes under his guidance.