The Sanders name comes with weight plates attached. 2025 tested every corner of the family. Deion made the toughest call with his sons, Deiondra faced her own storm, and Shedeur eased into the league the hard way. Still, Coach Prime’s words have them striding into 2026 chin up, chest out.

“I’m so Proud of EVERYONE of y’all. This has been a trying year for us ALL & we hadn’t entertained a pity party or quit,” wrote Deion on Instagram on December 15, accompanied by a group family picture. “We’ve been lied on, cheated, talked about & mistreated, but we’re still here.”

The 2025 Draft season began with sky-high hopes in the Sanders household. Deion’s quarterback son rewrote Colorado’s record book: 4,134 yards, a 74 percent clip, 37 touchdowns, and a gaudy 168.2 rating. With this, he wore the label of a consensus No. 1 pick. Then April arrived and brought reality crashing down.

Deion’s son slipped to the fifth round with the 144th pick by the Cleveland Browns. But there, too, Shedeur did not catch immediate attention. He started the season as the No. 4 quarterback. The Browns reshuffled the quarterback room, shipping out Kenny Pickett and Joe Flacco. Then fate stepped in. Dillon Gabriel’s concussion against Baltimore cracked the door open for Shedeur.

Shilo’s NFL welcome wasn’t smooth either. Deion’s safety son heard his name skipped on draft weekend before landing in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent. And before Deion could even catch his breath, his daughter’s once-sunny chapter took an unexpected turn.

The Sanders fam got one of their best gifts last year, when Deiondra gave birth to Snow, coincidentally on the same day as her dad’s birthday. She had found her fiancé, R&B King Jacquees, throughout her pregnancy. But by April, the vibes shifted. 

Deiondra took to X and spoke out on social media about Jacquees’ collaboration with DeJ Loaf, claiming she’d been sidelined. The situation snowballed, and the couple ultimately called it quits. Then, July became the heaviest chapter of the year for the Sanders family. 

A routine scan, another check-in after years of vascular battles and toe amputations, felt like business as usual. Until it wasn’t. A follow-up appointment led to more doctors, a discovered tumor, and surgery that confirmed the worst. Deion was facing cancer. He had to undergo a procedure called an aspiration thrombectomy.

In the meantime, Deion’s younger daughter kept fighting with diabetes. Shelomi was 13 when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The Alabama A&M Bulldogs women’s basketball star went toe-to-toe with Mark Andrews in a spirited July matchup, then switched gears to give back at the Dexcom U Signing Day Camp. Before talking with SB Nation, she checked her numbers; it had dipped.

“It’s definitely not for the weak,” Deion’s daughter shared.

Deion Sanders Jr., better known as Bucky, avoided major setbacks of his own. However, his dad’s health scare was the one thing that truly shook him. While Deion holds a positive outlook for the upcoming year, the Sanders family can already smell trouble looming.

Draft board spells trouble for Deion Sanders’ son Shedeur

Cleveland’s trip to Chicago produced a lopsided 31-3 loss and very little else, except draft leverage. The result pushed the Browns near the top of the 2026 draft order. That’s great news in the boardroom. However, it’s alarming for rookie quarterback, Shedeur. Deion’s son witnessed a three-interception day in a three-point output.

If the Browns lock in a top-two pick, all guardrails come off. Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza and Oregon’s Dante Moore become real options at the top. However, Deion is not allowing any distractions to come his way.

He has been focusing fully on his business. DNVR Buffs’ Scott Procter reported that Colorado was planning to add Darrius Darden-Box to fill Corey Phillips’ place as Colorado’s director of player personnel. Deion did not waste much time and handed Darden-Box the promotion.

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Before that, Coach Prime made another shakeup in the coaching roster. Deion’s Colorado added Sacramento State Hornets head coach Brennan Marion as the offensive coordinator. The new coach’s offer in Boulder is reported to be $1.5 million per year through Jan. 31, 2028. 

Deion Sanders never moves without a second act. He knew the coaching change would trigger dominoes. Four-star Xavier McDonald, long committed to Sacramento State, flipped right along with the head coach. Even when life threw punches, Deion stayed two steps ahead. That’s the blueprint he’s handing down to his kids.

That kind of pressure isn’t unique to the Sanders family, and history shows they aren’t the first to navigate it.

The Sanders family isn’t the first high-profile sports household to face pressure on multiple fronts at once.

The Manning family went through a similar crucible when Eli Manning entered the NFL in 2004 amid enormous expectations, constant comparisons to Peyton, and skepticism about whether he could live up to the family name.

Peyton was already an MVP-level star, while Cooper’s career had been cut short by spinal stenosis, placing even more spotlight on Eli as the family’s remaining on-field successor.