Conversations about whether Shedeur Sanders is being helped or hindered by his legendary father, Deion Sanders, are circulating throughout the sports world.
Jason Whitlock argues that Deion is an obstacle for his son. The main reason why is that Shedeur “didn’t get pushed out of the cocoon” and likely never will
“There is a process of maturation; there’s a process of development where a boy becomes a man and he gets pushed out of the cocoon,” says Jason.
For most boys, they get pushed out of the cocoon after high school graduation. They go off to college or to the military, and a few years later they “come back as a man.” But that wasn’t the case for Shedeur.
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“Deion, out of his own desires, never gets his son out of the cocoon. He actually uses his son … to get a job at Jackson State University and then uses his son and Travis Hunter to get a job at Colorado,” says Jason, adding that Shedeur has suffered the consequences of his father’s actions.
Now that he’s headed into the NFL, people are asking: “How’s he going to handle not having his dad around?”
Given that Shedeur has “never been coached by anybody but his father” and is already “worth millions of dollars,” it’s looking like trouble is brewing.
“His dad’s personality is the personality of a defensive back or a wide receiver, not the personality of a quarterback, and his dad, being one of the greatest players and now being a somewhat successful college coach, will have real strong opinions, credible opinions, on how we’re developing and using his son,” says Jason.
He knows that Deion won’t hesitate to “inject [himself]” into matters involving Shedeur. As he’s “one of ten greatest football players of all time” and “someone with access to a platform to go at you or expose you,” this creates a “nightmare scenario.”
Any team Shedeur plays for will be subjected to Deion’s opinions and power.
If that wasn’t a big enough headache, any team Shedeur plays for will also have to contend with the lack of humility and deep-rooted insecurities he’s inherited from Deion.
“Deion calls himself Coach Prime, and he pretends to be this hyperconfident person, but he’s not, and he’s given his son the same radical materialism, the same insecurity,” says Jason.
