Penny-pinching Colorado could gift wrap Deion Sanders to Cowboys, Jerry Jones

Deion Sanders practically single-handedly saved Colorado's football program in just two years. The Buffaloes went from irrelevant to a premier destination almost overnight and garner near daily attention from major networks. Fans ought to know, that should be raking in some serious cash for the university.

Now, the 2024-25 season didn't end exactly as Coach Prime wanted it to but there was enough promise to signal that if he was allowed to keep cooking, Sanders would be bringing hardware home to Boulder sooner rather than later.

Well, that promise could quickly be dwindling as reports indicate the school is penny pinching as Sanders looks for additional investment in the program. Per NFL Network's Jane Slater, Coach Prime asked the university for more NIL funding in order to coax more top-tier recruits to commit to his team.

That was reportedly "met with resistance," and now paired with the news Sanders is in talks with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones over his team's head-coaching vacancy, Colorado may regret its approach to the situation.

Colorado's financial timidity may send Deion Sanders packing to the NFL and Dallas

Per Slater, Colorado "would neither confirm nor deny" the report about its hesitancy to spend more on Sanders' NIL bids and the man himself did not comment. But the writing on the wall is speaking loud and clear for fans monitoring the situation.

Sanders is a clever business man, plain and simple. He knows how to play both sides of a coin to his benefit and it appears as if he's doing so here. Rather than going to Colorado and asking for a bigger paycheck, likely understanding fully well Dallas' salary will be much higher, he's finding a more PR-friendly reason to make the school out to be the bad guys.

While there's not certain confirmation on whether Jones will hire Sanders, why would he reach out to speak to him if neither side was interested? Coach Prime is angling to hold all the cards in this situation and so far he's putting on a masterclass.

It looks like he's setting himself up to have a noble reason to ditch Colorado if it won't put its money where its mouth is in backing his vision there, plus his two sons are leaving for the NFL. If Dallas truly wants to hire him, he'll have bargaining power to press the team into trading up in the first round to select quarterback Shedeur and safety Shilo later on. He's previously stipulated he'd only take an NFL job where he could coach both.

This is going to be an interesting situation to watch play out but fans and pundits alike will continue to monitor updates as the enter the public sphere. It won't be surprising if "Primetime" heads back to Big D to lead the way back to the promised land.