The speculation quickly went from “Will the Cowboys hire Deion?” to “How will they also land Shedeur?”
DALLAS — Aside from the sheer extravagance of the Dallas Cowboys hiring Deion Sanders as their next head coach, there are a few logistical hurdles to that becoming reality.
For one, Deion is still happily employed at the University of Colorado, where he’s elevated the school’s exposure to levels never seen before (and that includes when the Buffaloes won a national title, if we’re being honest). Colorado would be *very* motivated to secure Deion, should a revamped contract be necessary, and either way, the Cowboys would have to pay a reported $8 million buyout. And Jerry Jones doesn’t seem to be too keen on paying buyouts.
Then there’s the other wrinkle: Deion is thought to be a package deal if he takes an NFL job. His son, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, is projected to be among the top picks in the upcoming draft, and it’s hard to see a scenario where dad coaches one NFL team, and son plays for another.
All of that sits in the backdrop of Monday night’s various reports that Jones has at least spoken with Deion about coaching the Cowboys. The news, which broke right around kickoff of the NFC Wild Card game between the Rams and Vikings, predictably trumped talk of anything happening on the field (this is Jerry’s NFL, after all).
The speculation quickly went from “Will the Cowboys hire Deion?” to “How will they also land Shedeur?”
Enter the social media general managers, always at the ready to shake things up.
Their consensus thought Monday night seemed to be: Trade Dak Prescott to the Tennessee Titans for the No. 1 overall pick, and then draft Shedeur Sanders (after hiring Deion as your next coach, of course).
The Titans need a quarterback. They’ve needed one for a decade or so. The Cowboys can reset with one of the top projected draft picks. And all it would cost are a couple extra draft picks sent back to Tennessee. Simple enough, right?
FanDuel got in on the action, too, posting this hypothetical trade scenario:
Except it’s never that simple.
Prescott, importantly, has a full no-trade clause in his four-year, $240 million contract, which means no deal gets done without his approval. He also carries an $89.8 million salary cap hit in 2025, according to Spotrac, and Dallas would actually take a $104 million cap hit as a result.
Spotrac actually fired back at the FanDuel hypothetical.
The other sticking point here: Successful NFL quarterbacks in the heart of their prime don’t get traded too often.
Matthew Stafford is one recent example. But his blockbuster trade from the Lions to the Rams was the Lions going into a full reset (one that has paid off) and the Rams going all-in to win a Super Bowl (which they did).
A Prescott swap to the Titans would be much different. It would involve a Tennessee team that likely doesn’t have the pieces in play to win immediately, and then be tasked with re-signing Prescott to a mega-deal in three years. And it would involve the Cowboys, who have plenty of pieces to win, when healthy, but would be giving the keys to a rookie quarterback and a rookie NFL coach.
The Packers traded Aaron Rodgers a couple years ago, but that was more Rodgers’ frustration spilling over, and Green Bay deciding to develop Jordan Love. The deal hasn’t really worked out for the Jets, and Love’s tenure has been inconsistent, so far.
Going back a bit further, the Indianapolis Colts after the 2011 season decided to move on from Peyton Manning, who then signed as a free agent with the Denver Broncos. But Manning was dealing with serious injury concerns (which he overcame), and the Colts had the option to pick Andrew Luck with the first overall pick.
Maybe that’s an angle for the Cowboys — move on from an older star and take a direct path to drafting the top overall pick. But Luck was considered a much better prospect than Shedeur Sanders; in fact, Luck was as highly-touted as any prospect ever. That’s not to say Shedeur won’t be a good NFL quarterback.
But a potential trade of Prescott for the rights to draft Shedeur, while also hiring Deion as the head coach, might lead to more questions than answers.