Shilo Sanders gets key update on free agency after Buccaneers cut decision

Billy Heyen

Shilo Sanders gets key update on free agency after Buccaneers cut decision image

It's kind of flown under the radar as the NFL's cutdown day approached.

Players around the league left and right are being cut loose, and so while Shilo Sanders garnered headlines on Sunday when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cut him, his name has been lost in the fray a bit.

But there's a key detail that went mostly undiscussed as this week got underway. By Monday afternoon, Shilo had cleared waivers.

The Bucs had to put him through waivers because he has less than four years of time in the NFL. That meant he was available to be claimed by any other team.

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No teams claimed him, though. That's something that would've been reported immediately by all the big NFL insiders because of Sanders' name value.

That means Sanders is now a free agent. He can sign with any team.

And Tuesday, with Sanders now a free agent, is a crucial day.

At 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, every NFL team had to be down to a 53-man roster. They can still make moves after that, but lots of players are being cut.

There'll be lots of roster movement in the days ahead as teams shuffle players around once they see who other teams let go of.

It wouldn't have made sense for a team to sign Sanders too early, because they need to see what else is out there.

But once the full free agent pool is clear, Sanders can likely start to line up his next destination.

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The safety had made four tackles in the preseason for the Bucs before his month ended a bit prematurely on an ejection after Sanders punched Bills tight end Zach Davidson at the end of a physical blocking engagement.

That likely didn't help his cause to make the Bucs, or to be signed by another team.

But he's still got talent and pedigree after a solid college career that ended in 2024 playing for his dad Deion at Colorado.

The Buccaneers could bring him onto the practice squad, as could another team. Or he could even be signed to a different 53-man roster.

It seems likely Shilo will go somewhere, and although it flew under the radar that he passed through waivers unclaimed, it won't fly under the radar if he soon signs with a new team.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle