Deion Sanders, Shedeur Sanders Made Big Miscalculation on Agent Decision

Shedeur Sanders entered the 2026 NFL Draft confident he would be one of the first quarterbacks taken.

The Tennessee Titans took Cam Ward out of Miami with the first pick, but Sanders had to wait until Day 3 on Saturday before the Cleveland Browns took him with the No. 144 pick in the fifth round.

Sanders made a key decision not to hire an agent before the draft.

During an appearance on “Barbershop” with Garrett Bush on Thursday, Deion Sanders, Shedeur’s father and head coach of Colorado, revealed why his son chose not to have a representative last spring. They thought it was a foregone conclusion Shedeur would go in the first or second round, and thought paying an agent would be a waste of money.

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"That was the first time in my life that I couldn't fix it," Deion said, via Pro Football Talk. "I've always been able to fix it, with all my kids. But as that bulljunk was going on and everything was - I couldn't fix it. And he wanted me to fix it. And I didn't have the power to fix it. And that hurt, because I felt like I wasn't there for my son. Why we didn't have an agent?

“Well, you're projected to go what, first or second, right? … I've been through this. So why do you need that? You know, it don't make sense to give somebody four or five percent - three percent, whatever they get now - and you know where you're slotted."

After falling to the fifth round, Shedeur signed a four-year rookie deal worth $4.6 million. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who the Browns took with the No. 94 pick in the third round, signed a four-year deal worth $6.22 million. Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Josh Simmons was the No. 32 pick last year. He signed a four-year deal worth $14,675,353.

There’s no way to know for sure if an agent could have prevented Shedeur from falling to the fifth round. But agents are paid that 3% to 5% to help their clients. An agent could have helped settle teams down when attacks came on his character.

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This story was originally published May 16, 2026 at 3:49 PM.