Deion Sanders has made headlines all season for his success with the Colorado Buffaloes. In two seasons with the Buffaloes, he was able to take one of the worst programs in the nation and turn it into a team that nearly made the Big 12 Championship Game and consequently the College Football Playoff. However, now there are rumors that he could be on his way out of Colorado and headed to the NFL.
Matt Leinart Floats the Idea of Deion Sanders Joining the Las Vegas Raiders
The NFL regular season wrapped up in Week 18, and one of the first things that happened was the Las Vegas Raiders firing their head coach, Antonio Pierce, as a part of the Black Monday news storm. He was the head coach of the Raiders for only one year. In the aftermath, USC legend and NFL analyst Matt Leinart floated a possible idea for his replacement, Sanders.
There have been rumors for months that NFL teams would try to lure Sanders away from the Buffaloes. Sanders has stated several times that he is happy in Colorado and does not plan to leave, despite the fact that both of his sons, Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders, as well as Colorado star Travis Hunter are leaving the team for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Despite what Sanders has said, rumors have continued to swirl about his availability in the NFL. Matt Leinart went on X (formerly known as Twitter) to add fuel to the fire, writing:
Coach Prime to the Raiders…… who says no?
— Matt Leinart (@MattLeinartQB) January 7, 2025
“Coach Prime to the Raiders…… who says no?”
The idea of Sanders going to Las Vegas is interesting. The Raiders had a revolving door at the quarterback position this year and are a prime candidate to pick a young quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft.
According to PFN’s QB+ metric, Aidan O’Connell was the Raiders QB who performed the best in 2024, recording a grade of 74.2 (C), 20th in the NFL. Free agent acquisition Gardner Minshew II graded at 61.0 (D-, 35th) while Desmond Ridder did not log enough opportunities to qualify.
With the NFL regular season complete, we finally know the official NFL Draft order. The Las Vegas Raiders finished the season with a 4-13 record, which resulted in them drafting sixth overall. In that position, the Raiders will be in a difficult spot if they want to draft a quarterback.
This is considered a weak quarterback class by many, but Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward have separated themselves as the top two options. If the Raiders want to draft one of them, they would need to trade up because teams like the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, and New York Giants all might take quarterbacks.
If the Raiders were interested in hiring Prime Time as the head coach, it would help their case to draft his son. So, it is an interesting position that could result in a few big trades in the coming months.