Deion Sanders’ $54 million contract extension at Colorado is facing fresh public scrutiny after the Buffaloes dropped to 2-3 following three straight losses. Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt said this week that the deal was “given far too early,” while former NFL player and Super Bowl champion Brandon Stokley called the extension a “major mistake” by the school.
Colorado signed Sanders to a five-year, $54 million extension in March 2025, running through the 2029 season, after the Buffaloes finished 9-4 in 2024 behind Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. That deal replaced his original five-year, $29.5 million contract from 2022 and made Coach Prime one of the highest-paid coaches in the sport. Since signing it, Colorado has gone 3-9 in 2025 and now sits 2-3 to start 2026, dropping Sanders’ overall record in Boulder to 18-24 across four seasons.
Klatt and Stokley Question the Timing
Speaking on Denver Sports 104.3, Klatt directed his criticism at the structure and timing of the deal rather than at Sanders himself. “I think every school errs in their negotiation with their head coaches because the ADs panic, because the AD’s job is also tied to the success of that coach in particular if they hired that coach,” Klatt said. “I do think that contracts and extensions and raises are given far too early. They are given far too much guaranteed money in general, and I think this contract falls into that.”
Stokley, who agreed with Klatt’s assessment, was more pointed in a post on X. “Looks like it was a major mistake. FACTS. What’s the record going to be this year? I say 4 wins at the most. Who will Deion blame this year?” he wrote. USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer has also noted the financial complication: if Colorado wanted to move on from Sanders after this season, it would reportedly owe him roughly $26 million in buyout money.
What Comes Next for Colorado
Colorado’s three-game losing streak includes defeats to Northwestern, Baylor and a ranked Texas Tech team, with quarterback play and overall roster depth drawing scrutiny after the departures of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter to the NFL. The Buffaloes are now in their bye week before a stretch that includes a home date with No. 12 Utah on Oct. 17, a road trip to No. 18 Oklahoma State on Oct. 24, and additional matchups against Kansas State, Arizona State, Houston, Cincinnati and UCF to close the regular season. Colorado sits 0-2 in Big 12 play.
Betting Markets Reflect the Skepticism
The betting markets have been signaling doubt about Colorado’s trajectory for months, and the team’s slow start has only reinforced that pricing. Entering the season, Colorado carried a regular-season win total of 4.5, the lowest mark of any team in the Big 12, with the under favored at roughly -160 to -175 across multiple sportsbooks and the over sitting at plus money. Preseason conference title odds had the Buffaloes at +9000 to win the Big 12, among the longest prices in the league.
With Colorado now 2-3 and facing a difficult remaining slate that includes two ranked opponents, that win-total number looks increasingly accurate to oddsmakers rather than pessimistic. A team projected for four or five wins needs to split its remaining toss-up games just to approach bowl eligibility, and national power ratings such as ESPN’s SP+ have Colorado’s full-season projection in a similar range. The gap between Sanders’ new $54 million price tag and the market’s modest expectations for his team is exactly the tension Klatt and Stokley are pointing to: the betting world priced in a rebuild year months ago, while the contract assumed sustained Big 12 contention. How Colorado performs against Utah and Oklahoma State over the next two weeks will go a long way toward determining whether the extension looks defensible by season’s end or becomes a larger storyline in Boulder.
