'It's About Him!' Cowboys Icon Deion Ripped By Coach As Shedeur Preps for Browns Camp
FRISCO - From a Dallas Cowboys perspective? Deion Sanders, even after all these years - and even after his rightful ascent into the Hall of Fame - remains a polarizing figure.
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And in our 30-plus seasons of covering him? We've always thought "Prime Time'' turned "Coach Prime'' rather liked it that way.
Now that the dust has settled on the NFL Draft, and his QB son Shedeur Sanders is very much in the NFL spotlight, the Cleveland Browns are focused on dealing with a next-gen version of Sanders polarization.
And one expert thinks it all goes back to Deion.
Many have criticized Shedeur's Hall of Fame father, Deion, and his involvement in the pre-draft process with regard to Shedeur.
Now, Deshaun Watson's personal quarterback coach Quincy Avery is getting in on the opinion game as he appeared on the Maggie and Perloff show recently to put Deion on blast.
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'The reason I have such a difficult time with Deion is because so many of the things he does, it's about him rather than other people,' Avery said, referring to Sanders' work as the coach at Colorado. 'I think that a lot of people miss that. So we get to see who he is as a person when he has to take on this team without his sons involved.'
Avery obviously thinks Deion's work at CU is about self-promotion and the "Sanders brand.''
'My forecast is that at some point this year, it's going to get really, really difficult and Deion Sanders is going to have to make a real decision,' Avery said. 'Was he doing this the whole time to prop his son up and help him become this top-tier quarterback — which he did help him do? Or does he want to do this because he really cares about the kids?'
Avery is a widely-touted personal QB coach notable here because he's sort of "stepping out of line'' in criticizing Deion. So ... it's one thing for, say, FS1's Colin Cowherd to take his shots, as he recently did in likening Deion to a "Pageant Mom."
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'Spend too much time in the sun and get burned,' Cowherd said. 'Deion was in the sun. Deion spent too much time on television, talking. ... But I have said this over and over, and I will repeat it. Dads, stop talking. Nobody cares. Quarterback Dad has become Pageant Mom.
"Your heart is in the right place, you have good intent; you are hurting your sons."
Shedeur, of course, fell to Round 5 in the recent NFL Draft despite his dad and others touting him as a first-round prospect. Now he's in Cleveland - a teammate of Avery's star pupil Watson ... and buried on the depth chart.
Maybe the polarizing Shedeur will emerge. But for sure, the polarizing Deion is not going away.
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Related: Deion Sanders' Kickstand' vs. Michael Irvin's 'Prayer'
Related: Browns Slammed for Baker Mayfield Situation
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 6, 2025, where it first appeared.
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