Deion Sanders as an NFL head coach, Mike McCarthy’s first game back as play caller: Sando’s Pick Six – The Athletic

Cover 7 | Monday A daily NFL destination that provides in-depth analysis of football’s biggest stories. Each Monday, Mike Sando breaks down the six most impactful takeaways from the week.

There was a time not long ago, just last month for some, when the idea of Deion Sanders coaching an NFL team would have invited laughter. The concept soon might feel inevitable. Not imminent, because Sanders is just getting started at the University of Colorado, but inevitable if his drive extends beyond coaching his two sons, including the Buffaloes’ star quarterback.

This 2023 debut edition of the Pick Six column leads with a look at what makes Sanders such an intriguing NFL coaching candidate in the future, at a time when another former NFL player, Dan Campbell, is gaining momentum in his third season coaching the Detroit Lions, after skeptics questioned how his outsized persona would translate to the top job at the pro level. There are lessons to be drawn from Sanders, Campbell and other hires who haven’t fit the conventional mold.

The full Pick Six menu this week:
• Deion Sanders, future NFL head coach
• Dan Campbell’s incredible turnaround
• New offensive play caller scorecard
• Chargers concerns on defense, offense
• Derek Carr escapes ‘QB Betrayal’ zone
• Two-minute drill: So close for Sean Payton

1. Deion Sanders has more to prove after only two games at Colorado, but early indications point to intriguing possibilities on an NFL sideline.

If a head coach is authentic, emotionally intelligent, smart, organized and knows the game, succeeding at the highest level becomes possible, whether or not the delivery is conventional.

Sanders is checking those boxes. He has put together a strong staff, including offensive coordinator Sean Lewis, the former head coach at Kent State, and Pat Shurmur, the former NFL coordinator and head coach. Sanders consistently delivers well-conceived answers on topics ranging from fatherhood to football and society. He prefers truth-telling to coachspeak, which adds to his authenticity.

“You have to be authentic or you can’t be successful,” an executive from an NFL team said when asked about Sanders. “Deion is a unique individual who was playing two sports, who was dominant. He obviously knows ball, and the difference is, while it is usually hard for great players to teach people to be great, Deion is getting these guys to play at a level above where they are at. That is what is so unique about him.”

Perceptions can lie.

A dozen years ago, some in the NFL wrongly viewed Pete Carroll as a rah-rah college coach who might struggle to get veteran players to buy in.

Campbell was mocked following his hiring for sounding more like a pro wrestling goon than a CEO coach when he vowed the Lions would bite kneecaps. We do not yet know what the future holds for Detroit, but Campbell’s Lions are 9-2 in their past 11 games and just upset Kansas City in Week 1. There is hope where there previously was none.

It seemed fair to question one year ago whether the Dolphins’ quirky new coach, Mike McDaniel, could command a room. He has a 10-8 record with a playoff appearance and seems to be doing well.

Now comes Sanders, who insists upon being called “Coach Prime” and was so flashy as a player, the stories have become legend.

When Sanders played at Florida State, the Seminole players would bus to the dorms on game days and then walk from there to the field. Not Prime.

“On the big games, Deion, he’d get off that bus, he would have a limousine take him around to the front of the stadium, probably a half-a-mile limousine ride on game day,” former FSU and NFL quarterback Brad Johnson said when I called him regarding Sanders a couple years ago. “That’s how Prime Time was built. He made a name for himself. Obviously, he backed it up on the field in college and then in the pros playing baseball, football, riding helicopters from World Series games, Atlanta Braves to Falcons games.”

We shouldn’t let the sunglasses and bravado distract from the fundamentals. As a player, Sanders practiced hard, kept detailed notes on opposing players and treated those around him, including staffers, with respect. He worked at his craft. He is now putting in the work systematically, having coached at the high school, FCS (Jackson State) and now FBS levels. Sanders’ Colorado Buffaloes are 2-0 after BetMGM set 3.5 as their win total for the season.

“Deion mentions that he’s been to the highest levels, the Super Bowl and World Series, just to remind everyone, but he talks for 25 minutes after the game the other day and only talks about himself for five seconds,” a second NFL team exec said. “The guy gets it.”

There were parallels between Campbell and Sanders recently in how they’ve handled success in stride. Campbell unflinchingly said the Lions expected to beat the Chiefs. Sanders set the same tone after beating Nebraska when a reporter noted that ESPN’s College GameDay planned to visit Boulder this week.

“At the risk of sounding arrogant, we truly expect that,” Sanders said from behind his sunglasses at the postgame news conference.

Sanders might already be changing what college programs look for in head coaches. He could do the same in the NFL.

“It will change the considerations, but there’s only one Deion,” the second NFL team exec said. “So it’s going to be just like, ‘I want Sean McVay’ and then I hire an offensive play-calling head coach who is nothing like McVay really. In that regard, McVay and Deion are the same. They are super smart, they came through a completely different path and point of view. McVay was around it his whole life with his grandfather being a 49ers executive, so he is just smarter and understands the game better.”

There is no one else with Sanders’ pedigree.

“Deion is the guy who switches teams and wins Super Bowls with both and works the system in free agency before anyone else did it. He has been one step ahead the whole time,” the exec added. “Just think how good he would be (as a head coach) in free agency. It would be unbelievable. ‘Hey, this is what we are going to do, this is how you are going to be used,’ and the dude is so smart, you believe him more than you believe the coordinators.”

2. Dan Campbell’s U-turn following 4-19-1 start: Lions 9-2 since then, matching a Hall of Fame nominee from Detroit’s distant past.

At no point during Campbell’s tenure as Lions coach has anyone longed for the Matt Patricia era, not even during the 0-8 start to Campbell’s run in Detroit. But as we pointed out after Detroit opened Campbell’s second season (2022) with a 1-6 record, at some point, the victories must come.

Campbell’s compelling personality and obvious investment in the job wasn’t enough without evidence in the win column suggesting he can effect real change. That evidence is mounting.

Detroit’s 21-20 victory at Kansas City in Week 1 moves the Lions to 9-2 in their past 11. They had been 4-19-1 under Campbell previously, the second-worst record through the first 24 games of any coach in franchise history. Even Patricia fared better than Campbell fared through 24 games on the job.

Above we see Campbell’s current 9-2 streak vaulting him past Patricia. Only Buddy Parker, who started 16-7-1 and then went 9-2, has done as well as Campbell among Lions coaches in his 25th through 35th games with the team. Parker won NFL championships in his second and third seasons and was recently named a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist.

Campbell is tracking how Jim Schwartz tracked after a rough start in Detroit. Schwartz’s 4-20 record through 24 games was the worst in team history. He went 7-4 in his next 11 and was 10-6 with a playoff berth in his third season.

Lions HCs: Game #25-35 W-L