Keeping it in the family: Why Deion Sanders, Jerry Jones and the Cowboys make sense

Perhaps no owner in the NFL understands the value of “keeping it all in the family” better than Jerry Jones, who even said the same thing in episode 9 of the hit TV show “Landman.” In a cameo opposite Jon Hamm and Billy Bob Thorton, Jones took five minutes to convey a message that could only come from a real, true and authentic place.

Jones, playing himself, a wild hunter who dug holes in the ground and made a fortune, told the true story of his daughter Charlotte who left Arkansas to study at Stanford. He couldn’t stand being so far away from her for such a long period of time, so he moved to Palo Alto, California, to be near her. The only way he could make a move like that was if he went to work there too. So he did. He found land near Brentwood, California.

“I bought 25 lots like I was going to build 25 houses, except I drilled four gas wells,” Jones said. “And those four gas wells in 18 months gave me enough money to buy the Dallas Cowboys. Paying attention to my children actually led me to become involved in my life’s passion. And all the while, everything I was trying to do “It was just hanging out with my daughter.”

All along, all Deion Sanders has been trying to do is spend time around his kids, and that has led to a passion for coaching football.

Never mind that Sanders played with the Cowboys for five years, led the team to the Super Bowl and was an All-Pro in Dallas. Never mind that their forever home, a 5,000-acre Country Prime Ranch, is in Canton, Texas. Never mind that Texas residents don’t pay state income taxes.

No coach in America better understands why Jones employs his three sons in high-ranking positions within the Dallas Cowboys. No owner understands better why Deion Sanders needed his sons to play on a team he coaches.

Not only did Prime start coaching his boys, he never coached a single football season without his youngest son, Shedeur Sanders, who could be the first QB off the board in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft, on his team. Shedeur has started 47 college games at quarterback with Deion as his head coach. In those games, Prime and Shedeur are 33-14, with seven of those losses coming together in Year 1 in Colorado.

Pairing a new head coach with the quarterback he wants is not a new concept in the NFL. The Arizona Cardinals did just that when they signed Kliff Kingsbury, who made Kyler Murray, the man he wanted, the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NFL Draft.

While Dak Prescott’s four-year, $240 million extension comes into play this season and his no-trade clause is still active, I have little doubt that if Jones wants the Cowboys to move on from Prescott, that’s what will happen. Salary capologists will be furious. The analytical idiots will vent and Dallas sports radio will talk about it for hundreds of hours. Prescott and his big contract are not a problem for someone who has the kind of money Jones has.

Meanwhile, Shedeur will leave Colorado having set every notable passing record in the program’s history. He will also leave as one of the most popular players in the sport.

And there’s no doubt Shedeur would like to continue playing for his father.

In 2021 and 2022, Deion Sanders was constantly in and out of the hospital, and had to undergo eight surgeries during that time to remove blood clots that could have been fatal. Shedeur made it a point to visit his father every day during the 2021 season, and during that time, his play on the field suffered. Deion missed several games in his son’s first career as a head coach, and Shedeur felt his father’s absence.

“Shedeur came to me and said, ‘Dad, I need you,'” Sanders recalled. “You have to understand that he had never played a game without me in his life, except for those.”

After witnessing the suffering of his son’s game, Deion agreed. He had lost 30 pounds in the hospital. But he kept his word, fragile and weak. He watched Shedeur throw the game-winning touchdown pass, his son and safety Shilo Sanders make the game-clinching interception, and his Jackson State Tigers defeated the Southern Jaguars, 21-17.

“I said, ‘God, look at you,'” Deion told Shannon Sharpe on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast. “[You had] 21 points on the scoreboard with Shedeur making the game-winning pass and Shilo making the interception that clinched the game.”

Deion has made 21, the number he wore in the NFL and made famous with the Dallas Cowboys, as much a part of his image as his nickname, “Coach Prime.” Where there’s a sign to see, Deion Sanders will notice it.

He is the only head coach to have managed to appear on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” “CBS This Morning,” a talk show on Tubi (“We Got Time Today”) and a docuseries on Prime Video. It’s the latter that led him to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” where he gave an answer about whether he would seek a head coaching position in the NFL.

“The only way I would consider [coaching in the NFL] is training my kids,” Deion said on Jan. 8.

By January 13, Jones had fired head coach Mike McCarthy and called up the only man who might be bigger than Jones in Texas. FOX Sports’ Jordan Schultz broke the news.

On Monday night, media members and entertainers were abuzz over news that seemed absurd to most people who hadn’t paid much attention to Prime’s rise through the coaching ranks. Those are the same people who say this year’s Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, a talent the likes of which the sport has never seen before, can’t play both ways in the NFL. They forget that Hunter played for the only man who has done that in the modern NFL, and the only man who knows what it takes physically.

Deion has said he considers Hunter his fourth child, meaning Jones would need to find a way to not only add Shedeur to the Dallas Cowboys roster, but also Shilo and Hunter. While there remains little doubt about when and where Shedeur and Hunter will be drafted (first round), some still harbor concerns about Shilo’s place in the NFL.

He is an undersized safety who has made 137 tackles, forced five fumbles and made one interception in two seasons in Colorado. His ceiling compares favorably to that of Bob Sanders when he was the Indianapolis Colts’ box safety and a two-time All-Pro.

While Bronny James might not be playable in the NBA, Shilo can and should make an NFL franchise’s 53-man roster. I have no doubt that Jones would make the same concession for Deion that the Los Angeles Lakers made for LeBron James, even if he wanted to make his podcast partner his offensive coordinator or head coach, as James did with JJ Redick.

The stars rule and the stars make their own rules. Deion Sanders is on the short list of the most popular head coaches in North America and probably polls better than Los Angeles Dodgers coach Dave Roberts, Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr , and Ohio State coach Ryan Day. In fact, the only coach who might be more popular than Prime right now is Kansas Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, and that’s far from a sure thing.

Knowing what we know about Jones, we shouldn’t doubt that he has both the power and the money to bring Sanders to the Cowboys, and yes, that includes paying the $8 million. buys to ensure it. Could anything less make Prime the highest-paid coach in college football, along with an extension, keep him in Boulder if Jones decides to push for him?

Paying Prime more than double his current annual salary ($5.7 million) might not be enough, as USC coach Lincoln Riley, Florida State coach Mike Norvell and Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer, each earn more than $10 million a year, according to USA today.

Paying Prime a similar amount to Georgia coach Kirby Smart, who makes more than $13 million a year, or Clemson coach Dabo Swinney, who makes more than $11 million a year, could make the high Boulder’s controls will blink, but that’s a much better fate than disappearing again. oblivion, which is where Colorado football was before Prime arrived.

Colorado’s identity is tied to Deion Sanders, not the other way around. We know what will happen to Colorado football if he leaves, and so do they. So bet or get ready for nothingness to be your name again, Colorado.

Now tell the truth and shame the devil. You knew very well that Deion Sanders was going to be a candidate for the Dallas Cowboys coach job. You knew it because this is what Sanders has been all along. You knew it from the moment Sanders rose from his chair for the eighth time at a youth football practice to correct a coach on the fly. From the moment he took a hard look at how much he loved his family, knew about football, and had the ability to convey meaning, he knew this would always be true.

You’ve already made peace with that. If this happens, you’ll put on a cowboy hat, sit back in your chair, and turn on FOX in the Sunday afternoon window to watch Deion Sanders lead Dallas to the most convincing season the organization has seen since 1996.

And you will smile for it.

RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports and host of “The Number One College Football Show” podcast. follow him on @RJ_joven.

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