While his younger and more famous brother, Shedeur Sanders, was experiencing one of the most shocking draft slides in NFL history, Shilo Sanders wasn’t too worried. He even joked to his brother during the whole fiasco, “If they’re doing this to you, I can’t imagine what they’d do to me.” He knows himself and acknowledged that he was unlikely to get drafted after a subpar final year at Colorado.
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But whether due to that college experience, his Sanders family pedigree, or his dedication to improving during the lead up to the draft and afterwards, Shilo was given a shot by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent. They signed the 25-year-old safety a few days after the draft.
However, he faces a tough journey to making the final 53-man roster for the Buccaneers’ promising 2025 campaign. Head coach Todd Bowles, like Shilo, was a safety during his eight-year NFL career from 1986 to 1993, so he likely keeps a special eye on those positions during camp battles. And when asked recently about the rookie undrafted free agent’s chances of making the team, Bowles wasn’t effusive, but he was definitely positive.
“He’s coming along. He’s getting the scheme down. He’s made plays like everybody else back there. A few tests that come up during the preseason. Tuesday night was one. The other three preseason games and practices will be others, so he’s got a chance to make it,” said the head coach.
🔥 Shilo Sanders. Coach Bowles on #28's Progress
"He's coming along. He's getting the scheme down. He's made plays like everybody else back there. He's got a good chance of making it"
📽️ @Buccaneers https://t.co/Jevzt5W6fd pic.twitter.com/C5NBMG9NqY
— JaKi 🇺🇸 (@JaKiTruth) August 2, 2025
Bowles is saying that Sanders has done what he’s been asked to do, and now it’s just about passing those “tests” when he gets out there against opponents rather than teammates.
Perhaps it’s Bowles’ history as a safety himself, but he’s gone heavy at the position, with seven on the roster right now. Teams generally only carry four or five safeties on their active roster. Bowles spoke about that depth back in June during minicamp.
“I think we’ve got a lot of depth from that standpoint with [Rashad] Wisdom coming into his second year, making some plays. But then you’ve got J.J. [Roberts] and you’ve got Shilo [Sanders] also coming along and learning the system and starting to get more comfortable and make some plays back there as well.”
Bowles also mentioned starting free safety Christian Izien, as well as strong safety Antoine Winfield, the second-highest paid player at the safety position. Winfield is not going anywhere, but Izien, who is an undrafted FS like Sanders, is far from locked in at the other starting spot.
Kaevon Merriweather (2023 UDFA) and Rashad Wisdom (2024 UDFA) sit behind Winfield at SS. The Bucs are obviously hoping their All-Pro DB won’t be missing much time. Behind Izien at FS, Tykee Smith (2024 third-round pick) and J.J. Roberts (2025 UDFA) are ahead of Shilo Sanders.
From the looks of the depth chart, it seems Sanders is the last out of seven. But based on the youth and lack of pedigree among this group, apart from Winfield, this competition should be wide open. As long as Sanders performs on the big preseason stage, he should be able to leapfrog two of those other UDFAs to get a depth role on this defense for the 2025 season.
