Deion Sanders's Struggle With Blood Clots Goes Beyond Professional Football

Success in professional sports can come with a few injuries along the way. This is especially true in the NFL, where athletes are expected to keep their physicality up throughout a busy schedule. This process leads to many players getting hurt.

Retired wide receiver Deion Sanders is the only athlete to have competed in a Super Bowl and World Series. However, blood clots have sidelined the player-turned-coach repeatedly. In 2021, he underwent several foot surgeries and had two toes amputated due to his condition.

Blood clots can be very dangerous. Coach Prime has been particularly open about how this condition affected him and his career. A blood clot is a semi-solid mass of blood cells and other substances that form in the patient's blood vessels (via Cleveland Clinic).

The interruption of the blood flow can lead to heart attacks, deep vein thrombosis, or a pulmonary embolism. Since Deion's clots were located in his legs, it caused him pain while walking and moving on the field.

Deion has mentioned in the past that his blood clots are a hereditary condition. When the player had some of his toes removed due to the issue, Deion's mother revealed that she struggled with clots, as well as other members of the former wide receiver's family.

"They were first talking about the amputation of toes, then the amputation of my leg from [the] knee down, and then they were trying to ensure that I had life," Deion said on Coach Prime.

"The hardest thing of it all was to look down there and see that and understand once upon a time you were this type of athlete and [now] you don't even know if you're gonna walk because all you feel is pain and you just want to get out of the hospital."

However, he recovered and was named the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes in 2023. In 2025, he signed a five-year extension worth $54 million with the college team.

During the 2025 season, Coach Prime openly admitted that he felt that more blood clots invaded his leg (via USA Today).

"Cat's out of the bag, all right. I think I've got more blood clots," Sanders said. "It don't make sense. I'm hurting like crazy. ... I'm not getting blood to my leg. That's why my leg is throbbing," he shared during a postgame conference.

Deion was noticeably uncomfortable on the sideline before he shared his health update, even taking off his shoe and sitting a few times.

In July 2025, it was also revealed that Deion was diagnosed with bladder cancer and had surgery to remove the organ a couple of months prior.

So it was no surprise that before the 2025 season started, there were rumors that Deion was going to retire due to his health. But for now, the Pro Football Hall of Famer is pushing through.

"Who told u life would be easy? Who said your dreams would come readily & who told u that u wouldn't have to work for everything? They LIED," Deion recently tweeted. "Our decisions are what make life difficult & consistent hard work is what it takes to win at Life."