Deion Sanders Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Deion Sanders has been in contact with Dallas Cowboys team owner Jerry Jones about potentially joining the team as the next head coach of the Cowboys, putting his status with the Colorado Buffaloes in a state of flux. And Sanders insists that those talks with Dallas are legitimate.

NFL insider Adam Schefter pointed out during a recent interview on Get Up! that there has been a lot of speculation that these talks with between Deion Sanders and the Dallas Cowboys have been nothing but a negotiation tactic to secure a larger contract with the Colorado Buffaloes.

“I can’t help but think about 16-17 months ago I had an NFL general manager call me up and say, ‘I want you to write this right now. The next head coach of the Dallas Cowboys will be Deion Sanders. Take it to the bank because of the respect that exists between Deion Sanders and Jerry Jones.’ A lot of people out there now are saying that Deion Sanders is using this as a leverage ploy to get more money from Colorado,” Schefter said.

But Sanders had a pretty strong response to that line of thinking as he sent a clear message to Colorado that he doesn’t need a “ploy” to show the school what he’s worth.

“I brought that up to Deion Sanders,” Schefter continued. “He said, ‘That ain’t true, and I don’t need any negotiating ploy. I’m me.’ And that’s how he feels. He doesn’t need any negotiating ploy.”

Sanders has made it very clear in recent interviews that he very much enjoys Boulder and coaching Colorado, but it’s also pretty clear that his talks with the Cowboys are very real and not simply a ploy to get more money out of Colorado.

We’ll have to see how things progress over the next days and weeks.