Shilo Sanders
 Sanders in 2025 | |
| Profile | |
|---|---|
| Position | Safety |
| Personal information | |
| Born | February 9, 2000 Dallas, Texas, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Weight | 196 lb (89 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Trinity Christian (Cedar Hill, Texas) |
| College | South Carolina (2019–2020) Jackson State (2021–2022) Colorado (2023–2024) |
| NFL draft | 2025: undrafted |
| Career history | |
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
| Coaching profile at Pro Football ReferenceLua error in Module:EditAtWikidata at line 29: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). | |
| Stats at Pro Football Reference | |
Shilo Deion Sanders (born February 9, 2000) is an American professional football safety. He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks, Jackson State Tigers and Colorado Buffaloes. He signed with the Buccaneers in 2025 as an undrafted free agent, but he was cut during the preseason. He is the son of NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders.
Early life
[edit | edit source]Sanders is the oldest child of Deion Sanders and Pilar Sanders. His parents are divorced. He has two older half-siblings: Deiondra and Deion, and two younger siblings, Shedeur and Shelomi.[1] Sanders attended Trinity Christian High School in Cedar Hill, Texas, where he played safety, wide receiver and return specialist. His father was the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian High School throughout his son's high school career.
In his high-school career, he recorded 24 tackles, one pass deflection, five interceptions, and a fumble recovery, rushed for 45 yards and a touchdown, and hauled in 13 receptions for 199 yards and three touchdowns.[2] Sanders committed to play college football at the University of South Carolina over offers from 14 other schools.[3]
College career
[edit | edit source]South Carolina
[edit | edit source]As a freshman at South Carolina in 2019, Sanders recorded two tackles and a fumble recovery.[4] In week four of the 2020 season, he made ten tackles in a win over Auburn.[5] Sanders finished the shortened 2020 season with 32 tackles with one going for a loss, and a pass deflection.[6] After the season, he entered the NCAA transfer portal.[7]
Jackson State
[edit | edit source]Sanders transferred to Jackson State to continue his collegiate career.[8] In his first season with the Tigers in 2021 he notched 39 tackles, seven pass deflections, two forced fumble, and four interceptions which was tied for second in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC).[9] For his performance on the season, Sanders was named second-team all-SWAC.[10] In 2022, he suffered an ACL injury[citation needed] which caused him to only play in seven games, where he recorded 20 tackles and an interception.[11] After the season, Sanders entered the NCAA transfer portal for the second time in his career.[12]
Colorado
[edit | edit source]| [icon] | This section needs expansion with: was his time at CU football any more than these two plays?. You can help by adding to it. (August 2025) |
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Sanders transferred to Colorado to join his father[clarification needed] and brother for the 2023 season.[13] In his team debut, he tallied ten tackles and helped the Buffaloes upset #17 TCU.[14] In week three of the 2023 season, Sanders had an 80-yard pick-six for Colorado's first score of the game and forced a fumble, helping Colorado beat their rival Colorado State.[15][16]
Statistics
[edit | edit source]| Year | Team | Games | Tackles | Interceptions | Fumbles | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Solo | Ast | Comb | TFL | Sk | Int | Yds | Avg | TD | PD | FR | Yds | TD | FF | ||
| 2019 | South Carolina | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | South Carolina | 9 | 4 | 23 | 9 | 32 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | Jackson State | 13 | 8 | 28 | 11 | 39 | 1 | 0.0 | 4 | 99 | 24.8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 2022 | Jackson State | 7 | 2 | 15 | 5 | 20 | 1 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Colorado | 11 | 11 | 55 | 15 | 70 | 1 | 0.0 | 1 | 80 | 80.0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 2024 | Colorado | 8 | 8 | 38 | 17 | 55 | 2 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| FBS Totals[17] | 32 | 23 | 117 | 41 | 158 | 4 | 1.0 | 1 | 80 | 80.0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5 | |
| FCS Totals[18] | 20 | 10 | 43 | 16 | 59 | 2 | 0.0 | 5 | 99 | 19.8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Career[19] | 52 | 33 | 160 | 57 | 217 | 6 | 1.0 | 6 | 179 | 29.8 | 1 | 13 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 7 | |
Professional career
[edit | edit source]| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 10-yard split | 20-yard split | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Broad jump | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 ft 11+7⁄8 in (1.83 m) |
196 lb (89 kg) |
31+3⁄4 in (0.81 m) |
9+1⁄2 in (0.24 m) |
4.52 s | 1.60 s | 2.65 s | 4.40 s | 7.16 s | 9 ft 5 in (2.87 m) | |||
| All values from Pro Day[20][21] | ||||||||||||
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
[edit | edit source]After going unselected in the 2025 NFL draft, Sanders signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent.[22][23] During a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills on August 23, 2025, Sanders was ejected following an unnecessary roughness penalty for punching Bills' tight end Zach Davidson after a play.[24] Head coach Todd Bowles said the punch was "inexcusable" in the NFL.[25] On August 26, Sanders was waived by the Buccaneers as part of final roster cuts.[26] On August 30, the NFL issued a $4,669 fine to Sanders for throwing a punch in the preseason game from which he was ejected.[27]
Personal life
[edit | edit source]Sanders's younger brother, Shedeur, was drafted in the 5th round of the 2025 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns.
An October 2016 lawsuit filed in Dallas District Court alleged Sanders attacked a security officer. Following a dispute about Sanders disrupting a high school class, John Darjean claimed Sanders slammed his elbow into Darjean's chest and continued to hit Darjean after he fell. The case went to trial in 2022, but Sanders did not appear for the trial,[28] so a default judgment was entered against him.[29] The court ordered Sanders to pay Darjean $11.89 million.[28]
In October 2023, Sanders filed for bankruptcy, declaring he had $11.3 million in liabilities, including the court judgment against him.[29] The bankruptcy petition stated Sanders had $478,000 in assets, including a 2023 Mercedes valued at $75,900 and necklaces valued at $75,000.[29] Sanders’ attorney amended the petition in December 2023 to reduce the value of his assets to $320,000. This reduction included the removal of the high-value necklaces from the list of assets as they were alleged to have been on loan pursuant to an NIL deal with Saki Diamonds.[29] Darjean is currently contesting the bankruptcy filing, alleging Sanders transferred funds received from NIL deals to his company, Big 21, LLC, as a way to improperly shield his assets from the judgment he obtained against Sanders personally.[29] Sanders has admitted he did not disclose several social media NIL deals and that he is the sole owner of Big 21 LLC and SS21 LLC, but denied improperly failing to disclose contracts with those companies related to his NIL deals.[28]
There were at least five investigations into the Sanders-Darjean incident. A 2024 examination by USA Today of those investigations reported that four of them "favored John Darjean". The fifth "initially sided" with Sanders, but after additional information surfaced, the investigators changed their position and decided that fault for the incident simply was "unable to be determined".[29]
References
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External links
[edit | edit source]- 2000 births
- Living people
- Players of American football from Tyler, Texas
- American football safeties
- South Carolina Gamecocks football players
- Jackson State Tigers football players
- Colorado Buffaloes football players
- 21st-century African-American sportsmen
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers players
- Trinity Christian School (Cedar Hill, Texas) alumni
- 21st-century American sportsmen