Deion Sanders’ Family Friend Confirms New Problems for Shilo Sanders After Abrupt Buccaneers Split

A serious contender for one of the coveted 53-man roster spots, Shilo Sanders seemed to finally be finding his footing. He successfully made the transition from Saturday snaps in college to Sunday blitzes in the NFL. But last weekend marked a turning point, and not in a way he hoped. During the preseason finale, the then-Bucs’ safety threw a punch to Bills tight end Zach Davidson. A mistake costly enough to derail his career. Soon after, he was released from his contract and fined for unnecessary roughness. Bucs’ head coach Todd Bowles called it “inexcusable,” and with that, reactions poured in from all over. But even behind the headlines, concern for Sanders mounted.

In the whirlwind that followed, a close friend made sure he wasn’t left to face the fallout alone. During a candid exchange with Chad Johnson, Shannon Sharpe expressed both sympathy and unease over the situation. “Shilo Sanders was fined $4,669. Shilo fined for fight in preseason finale for unnecessary roughness in the preseason game in the Tampa final preseason game. He ain’t made that. He owe the NFL,” he said. To which Johnson quickly reassured, “He got it. He good.”

Shannon pressed further, voicing the uncertainty around Sanders’ future. “They took the man last check; Did he did he get resigned? Did anybody sign him? Did they resign him to the practice squad?” he posed the question. Johnson replied with a negative. “No, because remember, they brought in another safety.”

May 27, 2025, Tampa, Florida, USA: Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerback Shilo Sanders 28 warms up during practice at the AdventHealth Training Center in Tampa on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. Tampa USA – ZUMAs70_ 0820759656st Copyright: xJeffereexWoox

Shilo had been competing for the fourth spot to back up Antoine Winfield Jr., Tykee Smith, and Christian Izien. The preseason debut tipped the scales in his favor, but the following events did a clean sweep on that goal. However, CBS’s Brad Crawford’s intel chipped in an interesting bit regarding the whole episode. “Sanders was competing in fall camp and during the preseason in a deep secondary for the Buccaneers and would’ve likely been a roster casualty regardless of his ejection in last week’s finale,” he stated. Confused, Sharpe’s reaction was totally justified. “Yeah. Well, damn. I was reading that he was doing good and next thing you know, he’s not. Yeah, he was; I sure hope he can squeeze out a year. Yeah. get a little better. Got some time though. Somebody might pick him up still,” Sharpe further stated.

But does that mean it puts an end to Shilo’s potential career? Deion Sanders doesn’t think so.

Deion Sanders gets candid on Shilo’s future

The Sanders family treaded through a lot of challenges in the past few months. One of them had been Shilo and Shedeur’s NFL prospects. Eventually, they trudged through the whole saga, with Shedeur taking off to the Browns, while Shilo went as an undrafted free agent to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But all it took was one swing to lose that footing. Shilo’s final punch saw to that. Pilar reacted with a cryptic message: “It’s all comedy at this point,” while Prime Time, remaining unfazed, wished Shilo the best for his future.

“He is mentally where he needs to be, physically, where he needs to be. We’re praying that he gets another opportunity to go with a team, but if he doesn’t, the plans have already been put forward to what he’s going to do next,” Coach Prime said. Considering the fact that Shilo already made his acting debut in season 3 of the TV series “BMF”, portraying a younger Deion Sanders, the pivot to the entertainment industry won’t be surprising.

“I’ll be talking to my agent and we’re waiting on the next opportunity,” Sanders said. “If that’s in the NFL, cool, but God has blessed me with a lot of talent to do things other than football.” Shilo isn’t bluffing. If not, he might as well go back to the Buffs and help Coach Prime over there. But one thing is clear: Shilo’s story isn’t over, not until Shilo (and Papa Prime) decide it is.

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