Shannon Sharpe Doesn't Hold Back on Deion Sanders, Reporter Controversy

Shannon Sharpe had to respond to comments regarding his former NFL colleague and current Colorado Buffaloes football head coach Deion Sanders on Monday morning.

They have known each other for decades, having played in the NFL in the 1990s and 2000s. While they never played together on the same team, they still kept with one another.

And they highly understand that criticism comes with their personas following Hall of Fame careers whey they headlined as star players on their respective teams. Whether the critiques are warranted or not is where they make their stances clear.

Sharpe ultimately had to address that idea when Sanders announced that the University of Colorado has prohibited Denver Post columnist Sean Keeler from questioning Sanders, citing a "series of sustained, personal attacks" against the NFL Hall of Famer by Keeler.

While Keeler may still attend football events, Sanders and the rest of the program's members will not respond to his inquiries. This surprising move is within Sanders' rights; according to the Denver Post, his contract stipulates he must only communicate with "mutually agreed upon media."

Sharpe revealed his thoughts on ESPN's First Take show, debating with Stephen A. Smith and Paul Finebaum about Sanders and Colorado's handling of the situation.

"He used the phrases False Prophet, Deposition Deion, Planet Prime, Bruce Lee of BS, Deion Kool Aid....That's personal. If you want to talk about my program, if you want to say I'm not doing a good job of coaching, if you want to say that I don't do a good job of discipline, my players and my players are not disciplined, and they're not playing the game the right way, I can live with that," Sharpe said.

"But when you start to attack me personally, nah, I'm not gonna answer your questions. I'm just gonna keep it moving on. I'll let someone else go, and they can ask me a question that some people might deem negative, but I understand that comes along with the territory, but you attacking me personally, that don't come along with this territory."

Sharpe will hope that Sanders can move on from the situation and have his Colorado team focused on kicking off the 2024 season with a strong performance against North Dakota State in the opener on Aug. 29.

Related: Stephen A. Smith Makes Thoughts on Deion Sanders-Media Controversy Extremely Clear