Shilo Sanders is very quickly becoming the more popular Sanders currently in the NFL. Before the NFL Draft, all the talk was about quarterback Shedeur, his potential and where he’d land. Then it became about his slide to the fifth round to a team that already had four quarterbacks.
Now, not much is spoken about Shedeur Sanders while he aims to prove he’s worth the four-year, $4.6 million rookie contract the Browns awarded him earlier this week. There is a lot of talk about Shilo, though. The older of the two, who went undrafted and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Not only is Shilo doing and saying all the right things, but he’s performing in minicamp as well, getting the attention of the coaching staff. His rise from undrafted afterthought to possibly making the 53-man roster is making it really hard to ignore how quickly he’s becoming a fan favorite.
Don’t take my word for it, though. He was on one of his streams recently and gloated about how much he’e enjoying Tampa.
“Am I liking Tampa? I love Tampa. I’m not gonna lie, Tampa — actually like living here now — Tampa is one of the best places to live,” Shilo said in a recent stream.
Shilo Sanders is turning heads early and staking a claim to make the 53-man roster in Tampa Bay
Shilo’s rise is better than Shedeur’s, not just because he’s performing better off the field than his younger brother, but because he’s being humble about it. Not that Shedeur wasn’t humble, but it came out that he thought he was a first or second-round lock and talked to teams like it.
His fall to the fifth round had less to do with his talent and more to do with his attitude and how he handled the pre-draft process. Shilo had no choice but to sell his personality because he wasn’t a coveted prospect out of Colorado.
That’s why his rise is so much better because nobody expected him to be in the position he is now. There was no question that Shedeur was getting drafted, though it took 144 picks for it to happen. Shilo didn’t get drafted and now he has to prove why the 31 teams that passed on him in the draft made a mistake.
Shedeur doesn’t have that luxury. If he thrives in Cleveland, the narrative will be, if he did this all along, it wouldn’t have been an issue for him to get drafted earlier. If he flops, it will be: This is what we expected all along.
For Shilo, even if he doesn’t have a long NFL career or doesn’t make it past the practice squad, people will look back and wish he did because he’s quickly becoming the most likable Sanders in the NFL.