BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Shedeur Sanders asked his father, Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, not to come to his first training camp with the Cleveland Browns last year.
With his son vying for the Browns’ starting quarterback job this season, the welcome mat was out for Coach Prime.
Deion Sanders watched Thursday from the top row of the bleachers as the Browns conducted their second practice.
The elder Sanders met with coach Todd Monken and general
manager Andrew Berry between the morning walkthrough and the afternoon practice.
“That was Deion Sanders, are you kidding me? Forget that it is Shedeur’s (Sanders) dad,” Monken said. “First of all, he did an unbelievable job with Shedeur — great kid, obviously an elite football player, hell, baseball player. And then as a coach, I mean, wow, everything he’s achieved, that was awesome.”
Monken said most of the conversation with Hall of Famer focused on his coaching experiences at Jackson State and Colorado and the challenges around Name, Image and Likeness in college. He also told Deion how Shedeur almost got selected by the Baltimore Ravens.
“It was part coach, part father, which is what it should be,” Monken said.
Deion Sanders visited Shilo Sanders at Tampa Bay’s training camp before his release. Last year during camp, Shedeur said he asked his father to stay away because of the lack of snaps and the attention it would bring.
Shedeur Sanders referred to it at the time as “a gift and a curse at the same time.”
Deion picked a good day to come to practice since Shedeur was taking snaps with the first team on Thursday. Sanders and Deshaun Watson are alternating snaps with the first team as they compete to be the starter for the Sept. 13 opener at Jacksonville.
“You have to make a decision when you two spot — someone’s got to go with the twos, however you do it, to get the same amount of reps. So, we basically divide up the groups,” Monken said. “The reason we also like, if we’re going to rotate the quarterbacks and rotate the left tackle, it makes sense to me with the receivers to stay, so every other day they get work with the other quarterback. If we moved them together, in my mind, that doesn’t give us the ability to really see what we want to see in terms of development.”
Deion and Shedeur talked while walking around the field after practice. Most of the exchange was filmed by Deion Sanders Jr.
Deion Sanders is going into his fourth season at Colorado. The Buffaloes, who are looking to bounce back after a 3-9 campaign, open fall camp on Sunday before their season opener at Georgia Tech on Sept. 3.
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