Shedeur Sanders, Deion Sanders

For the better part of the last two years, Shedeur Sanders has struggled with stepping out of his father’s shadow. While that was rather impossible for him to do during their time together at Colorado, the second-generation athlete is still fighting that battle even after proving himself against the Carolina Panthers at the top of the preseason.

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Throughout the past several weeks, other rookies and top NFL stars have been visited by their family members throughout training camp, but no one has come to visit Sanders in , Ohio. According to the former Buffalo himself, however, that’s by design, as an appearance from his father would only serve to undo the work that he has put in to distance himself from the notion of being a ‘daddy’s boy.’

In fact, he directly stated as much when asked about his father’s lack of attendance throughout the summer. “I don’t want him to come and see me and get a couple of reps and he’s cheering like a good dad,” Sanders explained. “You can’t be proud of me right now. I gotta get to where I’m going.“

In the eyes of the 10-year NFL veteran, MyCole Pruitt, that’s a bitter yet understandable choice for Sanders to make. “Shedeur is doing exactly what he’s supposed to be doing,” Pruitt explained during the episode of his MustBe2Sides podcast. “He’s taking the high road.”

According to the former Minnesota Viking, it’s nothing short of an absolute travesty that the media’s influence has reached a point where it is actively preventing a father and his son from celebrating one of the biggest accomplishments of either of their lives. Nevertheless, it’s the world in which we live, and he believes that Sanders is navigating it accordingly.

“When it comes to a point where you know that a media frenzy is finna come around your father coming out to practice and you’re not even at the point that you want to be. So, you’re telling your own dad not to come. You’re supposed to be proud of this moment… This is what we’ve been talking about since you were a little kid and I first handed you the football, but the story surrounding this environment is not a good spot for you to come right now, dad, so go ahead and wait.”

Thankfully,  was still able to visit one of his sons at their first NFL practice. The NFL Hall of Famer made the trip to Tampa Bay, Florida, to visit with and the Buccaneers ahead of the team’s first official practice of the calendar year.

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He may have been robbed of sharing a similar moment with , but given the rookie’s most recent performance, it may not be much longer before he’s able to spend time with him on the sidelines of a regular season contest. Suffice to say, their transition into the NFL may not have gone as smoothly as they had hoped it would, but it still appears as if their time is coming all the same.