Deion Sanders has been in the news lately. A lot.
And not for good reasons.
Sanders has prompted tampering charges to be filed by the 49ers against the Jets in connection with the Michael Crabtree holdout. More recently, Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant has lost his college eligibility after lying about his interaction with Deion.
Already, there are whispers that the NCAA might soon be poking around the relationship between Deion and West Virginia running back Noel Devine, though we’re told that no investigation has been launched.
Jason Whitlock of FOXSports.com has seen enough. And, as usual, he’s got no qualms about speaking his mind.
“Not since Jim Jones led a flock of followers to Guyana has one religious con man been responsible for simultaneously misleading so many young people,” Whitlock writes. “Is there no limit to Deion’s foolishness?”
“Ever since Master D negotiated himself off the high-profile CBS studio show and onto the low-profile NFL Network studio show,” Whitlock continues, “he’s been buddying up (mentoring/advising) to young NFL players as a way of remaining relevant.”
That said, we’re not sure he’s doing it to remain relevant. An increasing number of league insiders are curious about whether Deion is working a a “runner” for Eugene Parker, with Deion using his charm (and he really is charming) to help Parker close deals with players headed for the NFL draft. The next question, if Deion is helping Parker, is whether Deion is getting paid for this and, if so, how much and by whom?
Again, we don’t know whether there’s any fire beneath the growing plume of smoke. But we think that, if the NFL is going to continue to employ Deion, the NFL needs to find out the truth, and act accordingly.