Colorado coach Deion Sanders was asked Monday how he compares the stress and anticipation of watching his son Shedeur and Shilo Sanders go through the pre-NFL draft process to how he felt going through it himself decades ago.

"No, it's not nerve-wracking. First of all, it's a blessing," the elder Sanders said. "They received a lot more ignorance than I did. I received some, but we didn't have the social media channels and all the different things that's privy today so you could get abreast of all that. Not at all. You got to understand, I was a two-sport guy at the time so you can imagine what it would have been like with all the hate and the naysayers. I was a little different."

Like his father, who was a first-round pick (No. 5 overall by the Atlanta Falcons) in the 1989 NFL Draft, quarterback Shedeur Sanders is expected to be taken high in the first round of the draft next month while safety Shilo Sanders is projected as a late-round pick or undrafted free agent.

Shedeur Sanders, especially, has gone through the pre-draft ringer of being picked apart and scrutinized, with NFL insider Josina Anderson reporting that an unnamed NFL assistant coach had characterized the QB as "brash" and "arrogant."

"Shedeur is a workaholic, you guys know that. He is who he is, and sometimes people forget what he's accomplished here at CU and how accurate and how good he is because you've got to take a shot at somebody and you might as well take a shot at a Sanders -- we're built for this," Deion Sanders said. "We've been through this from birth, from youth ball, from his first PeeWee ball. You don't think when we pulled up in a car ... that we weren't attacked and criticized from [a young age]? They've been through this. They got this.

"So I love it because it's given them that understanding and that chip on their shoulder -- not that they need it but I like it, I really like it and I can't wait. We've already won. We came from a private school and we came from an HBCU -- we've won. He's getting drafted, he's going to go in the first round. Shilo's going to do his thing. All he needs is an opportunity. We've won, man. We've already won. So we're thankful and we're just trying to pave the way for others, so we can't lose at this point. We're so darn blessed -- we're not stressed. Do I see how I look right now? Do I look stressed? Let me take these glasses off so you can zoom in ..."

With that, Sanders removed his shades and gave a big smile for the cameras.

"Do I look stressed? No, I look blessed, OK?" he continued. "I don't know what they expect from my kids -- they daddy's sons, man. We're used to adversity. We're used to ignorance and adolescence. We're used to that. So if anybody could handle it, I think they can. And I'm a proud father. Not for the stuff that you know about. I'm proud for the stuff you don't know about that they've got through."

Shedeur Sanders is considered one of the top quarterbacks in this draft class after passing for 7,364 yards, 64 touchdowns and 13 interceptions the last two seasons for the Buffs, after previously starring at Jackson State.

In relating to his own pre-draft process, Deion Sanders said he did exert his leverage as a two-sport star who could choose baseball over football to help him land with a preferred team -- the Falcons. He indicated that wouldn't be the case for Shedeur, but also left open the potential of letting a franchise know behind-the-scenes if he had such thoughts for or against his son playing somewhere.

"It was a team I wanted to go to that I made it possible for me to go to that team and that team only because I had the leverage of playing baseball, and I'm thankful that the Atlanta Falcons chose me. That's where I wanted to go. My kids don't have that luxury of saying where they wanted to go. We would never do such a thing, and I told you if it would come to that, I would quietly talk to that team behind the curtains -- I would never put them on blast for nothing of the sort," Sanders said.

Last week, Colorado offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur shared the feedback he's given to NFL teams who have asked him about Shedeur Sanders -- while indirectly addressing some of those critiques of the QB.

"I've talked to all 32 teams and some of them multiple times, some of the teams ought to get an AirBnB out here -- they've been out here a bunch of times doing the research on Shedeur for the right reasons," Shurmur said. "I told them all this and I really believe it, having worked with them at this level and knowing how he's going to project to the next level, if you need a quarterback draft Shedeur. If you don't need a quarterback, take Travis. As my daughter would say, it's not that deep. I'm not trying to be funny -- I just believe in it.

"Quarterbacks have to have confidence. You're thrust into a big stage. It's third-and-6 and the wind is blowing and you've got to have it, if you don't have confidence it ain't happening. And you've been tagged a few times, some of your guys have maybe dropped a couple balls and you've got to be able to stand in there and take it so confidence is a huge thing. Being natural at the position is a huge thing, and I just think he has some of the traits that will allow him to be very, very successful. ... I think whatever team chooses to pick him is going to make a really good choice."