Colorado's Deion Sanders wants salary cap because he's losing grip of his greatest equalizer

Everyone knew Deion Sanders was going to say something noteworthy at Big 12 Media Days. Given the outspoken nature of the Colorado Buffaloes head coach, he was due for a good soundbite or several.

Perhaps the most notable of all things Sanders mentioned was that college football needed a salary cap similar to that of the NFL.

"I wish there was a cap," Sanders said, per ESPN. "Like, the top-of-the-line player makes this, and if you're not that type of guy, you know you're not going to make that. That's what the NFL does."

The idea is as bold as Sanders' personality. But Bleacher Report's Adam Kramer doesn't believe it could ever come to fruition.

"A salary cap of any kind would simply generate new off-the-radar ways to convince players to play for a specific team or coach," Kramer wrote. "For proof of this practice, look at how recruiting played out over the past few decades. In the end, programs with more resources will still find more ways to utilize them."

Resources are what Colorado is struggling to compete with. Unlike the powerhouses of the SEC or Big Ten, the Buffaloes are at a significant disadvantage in the NIL and transfer portal era. What they do have, however, is Sanders himself — and that’s been their great equalizer.

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It's Sanders’ appeal, charisma and larger-than-life presence that have lured top-tier prospects to Boulder since he arrived. But even he knows there are limits to how far that can take him.

"In many ways, Sanders is the greatest counter to this movement. His stardom is so robust and his reputation so large that high schoolers will choose to play for him, even if it means taking a pay cut of some kind," Kramer wrote.
"In this era, Sanders is the ultimate equalizer. But even he recognizes that there are limits to his gifts — that his presence can only do so much."

Sanders has always been a forward thinker, from his days as a standout at Florida State to his Hall of Fame NFL career and now as a head coach. He's built a brand around defying expectations and doing things differently. One look at his aggressive use of the transfer portal at Colorado proves as much. Every year, he’s flipped the roster with dozens of newcomers.

That approach has brought real improvement. Since Sanders took over, the Buffaloes have increased their win total each season by three games. He’s worked within the chaos of college football’s new landscape — a landscape with few rules and even fewer limits — and turned Colorado into a national talking point.

Still, even with Sanders' ability to captivate recruits and rebuild rosters overnight, the college football arms race is accelerating beyond personality and persuasion. The money is louder now — and more lopsided. Sanders’ call for a salary cap might sound idealistic, even impossible, but it speaks to a deeper truth: if even Deion can’t keep up with the financial imbalance, who can?

Whether or not his solution ever gains traction, one thing is clear — Sanders is sounding the alarm. And in today’s college football, that may be the most important thing a coach can do.