Sanders Joins Cowboys for a Prime $25 Million

After a summer of frantic negotiations had ended, after football’s best defensive player had finally decided where he would fasten his earrings for the next five years, the Dallas Cowboys didn’t know which felt better:

Securing Deion Sanders . . . or sticking it to the San Francisco 49ers.

In one grand swoop Saturday, they did both.

In a move that had been predicted for a month, cornerback Sanders followed the money and a chance for once-in-a-lifetime glory by leaving the 49ers for the Cowboys and an agreement worth $25 million that includes an estimated $12.5-million signing bonus.

Sanders should be in a Cowboy uniform by Oct. 8, when they play host to the Green Bay Packers on the first Sunday after the end of his baseball obligations with the San Francisco Giants.

The Cowboys, who lost to the 49ers in the NFC championship game last season partially because they were afraid to throw near Sanders, are giddy.

“Deion is our baby now,” Dallas guard Nate Newton said after his teammates celebrated the announcement by chanting, “Prime time, prime time.”

“Everybody on the team is happy,” Newton said. “We’ve taken him away from San Francisco, and that’s all we care about.”

The 49ers, who won the Super Bowl partially because of Sanders’ heroics, are angry.

Carmen Policy, 49er president speaking at a news conference, said, “We were the favorites in terms of where he wanted to go. The only thing that dissuaded him from following his heart was his head. I’d say Dallas got to his head.”

It also got to his ego. Not only will Sanders be allowed to continue his baseball career, he will also play wide receiver for the Cowboys.

While Sanders’ receiving skills are questionable because he admittedly does not like to get hit, there is no doubt about his defense.

Sanders, 28, was the NFL defensive player of the year last season even though he played in only 14 of 16 regular-season games because of baseball.

Of his six interceptions, three were returned for touchdowns, tying a club record. He also set an NFL record by returning two of those interceptions more than 90 yards for touchdowns (93, 90).

Only by joining the Cowboys, however, can he realize his ultimate dream of becoming football’s premier impact player.

After all, if the 49ers win a Super Bowl with Sanders one year . . . then the Cowboys can defeat the 49ers and win a Super Bowl with Sanders the next year . . . well, you do the math.

A potential kink in this scenario involves Sanders’ left ankle, which he sprained while playing baseball in May. The ankle is not expected to be receptive to Dallas’ artificial turf, and already the team is talking about possible arthroscopic surgery.

But no matter what happens between now and the meeting between the 49ers and Cowboys Nov. 12 in Dallas, Sanders has already had an impact on both teams.

The Cowboys now have a cornerback to replace injured Kevin Smith, and then replace struggling Larry Brown when Smith returns from the torn Achilles’ tendon in the second half of the season.

The 49ers now do not have a cornerback to replace overmatched Marquez Pope, a converted safety signed from the St. Louis Rams this summer with the hope that he would only have to back up Sanders.

The Cowboys, however, now also have a potential morale problem, particularly with running back Emmitt Smith.

Sanders will make almost as much in one bonus check as Smith will make over the life of a four-year contract ($13.6 million). And remember, Smith had to hold out for two games to earn that deal.