Deion Sanders was arguably the best cornerback in NFL history. The Hall-of-Famer won two Super Bowls, was Defensive Player of the Year in 1994, and was a six-time first-team All-Pro.
He still is one of the most polarizing figures in football, and he took the college football world by storm once he transitioned to coaching. The University of Colorado recently rewarded Coach Prime with a well-deserved contract extension, but ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith says he’s “underpaid”.
Stephen A. Smith Thinks Deion Sanders Deserves More Money
Jackson State hired Coach Prime in 2020, and he instantly made the FCS program must-see TV. The Tigers went 27-6 in Sanders’s three years at the helm, winning back-to-back SWAC championships in 2021 and 2022. Colorado came calling with a five-year, $29.5 million contract in 2023.
He had a rough first FBS season, going 4-8 after a 3-0 start. It was a three-game improvement from the year before, but Coach Prime expected better from his team and had significant roster turnover heading into 2024.
Last season was the improvement Sanders and Colorado was looking for, as the Buffaloes went 9-3 in the regular season and finished No. 25 in the final AP poll. The resurgence was led by two-way star Travis Hunter and Sanders’s son Shedeur. The two are expected to be top-five picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, and Colorado rewarded Coach Prime with a five-year, $54 million extension.
The ESPN “First Take” crew discussed Sanders’s new extension on a recent episode.
Smith said, “I’m not happy. Five years, $54 million. Deion Sanders deserves more! I’m happy for him. It seems like a really good contract. I applauded it last week. But upon further thinking, reminding myself of how irrelevant Colorado was until he brought them not national attention, national prominence. I think the brother’s worth $25 million more myself.
“But I’m happy for him, he’s happy. But let me be very clear to America. Prime Time Deion Sanders, specifically at the University of Colorado, with what he has done for that program, that brother is underpaid!”
Smith isn’t wrong that Sanders deserves more money. Colorado was a college football Siberian outpost before he arrived, and he’s returned the program to national prominence. He rejuvenated the fan base, with his first spring game bringing in over 47,000 fans.
He’s made headlines recently concerning Shedeur’s pre-draft process, but Prime Time appears to be all in for Colorado. 2025 will be different without Hunter and Shedeur, but the school is confident that Coach Prime will continue the program’s upward trend.