Adding insult to injury, Shilo Sanders has not only been cut from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ahead of the start of the 2025 NFL season, but he will now have to pay a $4,669 fine for unnecessary roughness in the game against the Buffalo Bills.
The NFL fined former #Bucs S Shilo Sanders $4,669 for unnecessary roughness — punching #Bills TE Zach Davidson after a play in last week’s preseason finale.
Sanders was ejected and Tampa Bay released him the next day. Now, a fine on top of it.pic.twitter.com/5jWLuUPI2q
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) August 30, 2025
In the Buccaneers’ preseason finale against the Bills last week, Sanders fouled tight end Zach Davidson in an altercation, which ended with the former Colorado safety punching the opposing player in the middle of the end zone. The play was immediately flagged by the officials for unnecessary roughness. He was immediately ejected from the game.
The penalty has now been escalated by the league to a fine, which Sanders will have to pay. Analysts speculate that the altercation was the main motivation for Tampa Bay to cut the defensive back.
Shilo Sanders on what lies ahead for him
It seems that Deion Sanders’ son is facing the possibility that his football career might be at an end. Speaking with the press over the week, Shilo Sanders admitted that the future might not lie in football for him:
“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.”
“I feel like this is just part of my story to grow and do bigger and better things,” Sanders said. “Whether it’s finding another team, whether it’s getting another opportunity in the NFL, it is what it is. My time being with the Buccaneers has been nothing but great. The city, my teammates, my coaches, everybody has poured in love and support toward me and I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
Tampa Bay was already a second chance for the safety. Shilo Sanders went undrafted in the 2025 NFL Draft, and it wasn’t until he hired a new agent instead of relying on his father that he managed to get an undrafted free agent agreement with the Buccaneers. Up until the Bills game, indications were that he was integrating well into the Tampa Bay team.
Now it seems that a simple rash decision might have ended his NFL career.
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