While the spotlight hovered endlessly over his younger brother, Shedeur, Shilo Sanders’ journey to the NFL simmered in the background, shaped by hard hits, missed games, and the lingering question of whether he was more athlete than asset. His final season came in 2023, a year cut short by injury, and he did not appear in a game in 2024. At Colorado, he was a vocal leader on a defense that wore down late, a senior safety with experience but without the statistical profile that typically excites pro scouts. No interceptions. Just one pass breakup. A single sack. And yet, 67 tackles in 10 games is the kind of effort stat that hints at instinct and discipline, if not elite traits.
By the time he returned to the field for a 2025 pro day, he posted a solid 4.52 in the 40 and a 10-foot-4 broad jump. Respectable numbers, but they didn’t outweigh the concerns. There were the past injuries. There was no Combine invite. And the safety board was already deep with prospects whose athletic profiles didn’t come with such a medical history.
For a player whose last name is synonymous with defensive greatness, the metrics fell short of the mythology. And so, the weekend unfolded where 257 names were called and his wasn’t one of them.
There weren’t too many surprises there. But now that he did, what was the way ahead for him? In a video by Fair Catch, we see him admitting to the only thing Shilo could do – wait for that momentous call. But that didn’t come during the draft weekend. “You don’t really know if you’re going to get the call or not. They just call randomly and be like, ‘Oh, we’re going to pick you next.’ So I didn’t get the call,” Shilo recalled. Trying to find a way out of this situation, he knew the one guy who had the answers. “So now my brain goes into like, Well, d–g. Let me go. Let me go with my dad.”
Like his brother Shedeur, Shilo initially went through the pre-draft process without an agent, relying on his father, Deion Sanders, to handle the business side. But when the draft passed without his name being called, Shilo recognized the need for a change. He signed with Drew Rosenhaus, a powerhouse agent known for his aggressive negotiations and deep NFL connections. Infact, he even joked about ‘firing’ Coach Prime as his agent.
Rosenhaus’ involvement proved pivotal. Despite no initial interest from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his outreach changed the course of Shilo’s career. Buccaneers GM Jason Licht admitted that, after the draft, they hadn’t planned on signing Shilo, but Rosenhaus’ call prompted a reassessment: “After the draft, his agent reached out if we would be interested – Todd [Bowles] & I looked at each other, nodded & said ‘yeah, let’s do it,’” Licht said.
The result was a contract offer from the Buccaneers, a turning point in Shilo’s career. Deion Sanders, though faced with setbacks, thanked the team for offering his son a fair opportunity. With Rosenhaus’ expertise backing him, Shilo’s path now had professional representation and a legitimate shot at proving himself in the NFL, no longer just a legacy, but a prospect in his own right.
It turns out that maybe all of the cards that could affect his draft have finally lined up after those three tough days. “As soon as I walked out the room, the agent called me. He was like, ‘Hey, the Buccaneers, they got a contract for you bro.’”
Deion Sanders played a role in Shilo’s draft, but not in the way he’d hoped
“Everybody was laughing [because] I said I had to get a new agent, that I fired my dad,” Shilo said amusedly. But he never really meant it. “I didn’t fire him, bro,” he declared, setting the record straight. He made the comment on a livestream when Shedeur was yet to be drafted. “Dad was our agent, but that hasn’t been working out too good. So today I had to sign with an agent,” he joked. But still, critics argue that Deion Sanders’ association was a factor behind their draft stock taking hits.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio added more fuel to the fire by saying. “Deion’s decision to serve as agent for both sons arguably did them a disservice.” Though it was apparent that Shilo was harmlessly joking, he did sign agent Drew Rosenhaus to bolster his rep. This was after he went undrafted, so Coach Prime was the guy who did the talking until the very end. Neither that, nor his being a father to them, helped the brothers land higher spots in the draft. Shedeur was being passed on by teams as QBs kept getting drafted, while there was absolutely no certainty about Shilo’s prospects.
But now, the Sanders prodigies are in a world where their association with Coach Prime will not be much help. This is an era where the brothers will have to earn their keep, building their legacies, while also carrying forward that of their father.
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