The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have released rookie safety Shilo Sanders as NFL teams were required to cut their preseason rosters to 53 players by 4 p.m. ET Tuesday Aug. 26, according to various reports.
The move comes after Sanders was ejected from Tampa’s final preseason game Saturday Aug. 23 for throwing a punch against Buffalo Bills tight end Zach Davidson in the second quarter.
‘You can’t throw punches in this league,’ Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles said after the game Saturday. ‘I mean, that’s inexcusable. They’re going to get you every time. Gotta grow from that.’
Sanders, 25, didn’t get selected in the NFL draft in April but signed with the team as an undrafted free agent soon afterward. He was listed as a third-string safety before Saturday’s preseason game.
But his NFL hopes are still alive. He could get signed to the team’s practice squad Wednesday. Or he could catch on with another team that’s a better fit.
Sanders is the middle son of Colorado coach Deion Sanders, whose youngest son, Shedeur, a quarterback, was picked in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns.
Both played for their father at Jackson State and Colorado, where they led the Buffaloes to a 9-4 season last year.
In Shilo’s case, he became known as a hard-hitting ballhawk with lots of college experience. He led the team in tackles in 2023 (70) and was their third-leading tackler last year (67) despite missing three games in 2024 with a broken forearm.
He started his college career at South Carolina in 2019 and 2020, before playing two years at Jackson State and another two at Colorado in 2023 and 2024.
Off the field, his attorneys have been trying to get him out of more than $11 million in debt after he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2023. The debt stems from an incident at his school in Dallas in 2015, which led to a lawsuit and a default judgment against him of $11.89 million, all owed to a former security guard at his school, John Darjean. Darjean said Shilo punched him and threw a roundhouse elbow at him, leading to permament injuries. Shilo Sanders claimed it was self-defense.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com