Deion Sanders' initial discussions with Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys may have been a leverage play for Coach Prime to get more money from Colorado football. That's what KOA Colorado's Benjamin Allbright reports, anyway.
"Jerry would owe Colorado $8mil buyout if he were to actually hire Deion Sanders away," Allbright wrote.
"Most people I know look at this as a contract leverage play from Sanders’ side and Jerry being PT Barnum from the Dallas side."
FOX Sports' Jordan Schultz first reported the talks between the two sides.
"Sources: Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has spoken with Colorado HC Deion Sanders about the team’s head coaching vacancy, and discussions are expected to continue regarding the possibility of him becoming the next head coach in Dallas," Schultz wrote.
"Coach Prime is considered a top candidate, though the Cowboys plan to interview other candidates as part of the process, per team sources.
"Deion Sanders has long publicly dismissed any interest in coaching in the NFL — but this was one call he wasn’t going to ignore. Sanders is listening, and talks are expected to continue as Jerry Jones explores the possibility of bringing Coach Prime to the NFL, per multiple sources."
Perhaps Allbright is right. If there's something Sanders can be fairly labeled, it's calculating. It'd be shrewd to use the biggest money-making franchise in the sport to extract more money from the University of Colorado Boulder's brain trust.
But Sanders has never played hardball with CU. And if it got out that he was just using Jones for leverage, he may be messing with any potential future NFL negotiations. The chance to coach his kids would be more remote in that scenario. Sanders likely knows better than to burn any NFL connections.
There's a real possibility that this is the beginning of the end for the "Prime Time" Buffs.