Sportsnaut
Shedeur Sanders, a rookie quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, recently opened up about the advice his father, Deion, gave him while battling bladder cancer in the offseason.
Deion Sanders, head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, revealed he was diagnosed with bladder cancer and underwent surgery to remove his bladder due to a high-grade tumor, a fact he initially kept private to avoid distracting his kids from their NFL pursuits.
Shedeur, a fifth-round draft pick, emphasized his father’s message to stay mentally focused and handle their respective responsibilities without being weighed down by his health struggles.
“Dad, he’s one person that — he’ll handle his; we handle what we’ve got to do,” Shedeur told reporters.
The comments come with the backdrop that his brother, Shiloh, is also fighting for a roster spot with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after going undrafted.
“It was like, ‘Y’all need to focus on what y’all could focus on. Y’all can’t sit here and feel sorry for me,” he continued, explaining his father’s advice. “At the end of the day, you’re all able to see and you’re all able to understand everything on and off the field that I go through.”
Following months of speculation and secrecy at the behest of Deion Sanders himself, the Buffaloes coach finally came out and revealed his brutal health battles to the media last month.
Sanders’ medical team revealed that they “proceeded with the removal of the bladder tumor” and eventually removed the entire bladder.
And even in that moment, Deion offered advice for others.
“Men, everybody, get checked out. Because if it wasn’t for me getting tested for something else, they wouldn’t have stumbled upon this,” Sanders said during the press conference.
“Make sure you get the right care because without wonderful people like this, I wouldn’t be sitting here today because it grew so expeditiously,” he urged. “But please get yourself checked.”
Shedeur Sanders expressed a bit of pride in how he’s followed Deion’s advice and blocked out distractions to handle his business in Browns training camp.
“So, then you’ve got to be some type of human at some point in the way I’m doing everything and how I’m handling everything that’s thrown at me,” he told reporters. “You’ve got no choice but to applaud that.”
For Shedeur, this past season has been a wild rollercoaster ride.
After spectacularly falling to the fifth round in the 2025 NFL draft, he has been fighting it out with a sea of quarterbacks on the roster for the Browns to get some playing time and possibly be named as a starter or at least backup.
It hasn’t been going well of late. The team’s owner recently explained he had little to no interest in selecting Shedeur at all, and the team signed yet another quarterback while Deion’s kid continues to languish on the depth chart.
Will Shedeur be able to continue blocking out the distractions and grind...
