Shilo Sanders Waived by Bucs amid Roster Cuts After Being Ejected from Preseason Game

Shilo Sanders' time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is reportedly over before the regular season begins.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Sunday the NFC South team waived the rookie safety. Sanders' agents, Drew Rosenhaus and Robert Bailey, said "we're hoping he gets claimed on waivers."

This comes after Sanders struggled during Saturday's preseason loss to the Buffalo Bills and was ejected after throwing a punch at Zach Davidson in the second quarter:

It should be noted Sanders was fighting for a roster spot even before throwing the punch.

After all, he joined Tampa Bay as an undrafted free agent and was never seen as a surefire NFL prospect like his brother Shedeur was when they were at Colorado. Shedeur ended up falling to the fifth round and is now battling for positioning on the Cleveland Browns' depth chart behind Joe Flacco.

Yet Shedeur was a star quarterback at Colorado who took home last year's Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.

By contrast, Shilo was a safety who flashed his potential at times with the Buffaloes but also struggled with consistency. He is also 25 years old, which made him older than most NFL rookies with more of an urgency to reach that potential in the immediate future.

That made the preseason games all the more important if he was going to make the Tampa Bay roster.

Sanders posted one tackle in a win over the Tennessee Titans, two tackles in a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and one tackle in the loss to the Bills before he was ejected. He was also penalized for pass interference prior to the ejection.

"It's inexcusable," Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles told reporters when discussing the punch Sanders threw.

By the time Bowles made those comments, the writing seemed to be on the wall for Sanders' time with Tampa Bay. As a result, there is plenty of uncertainty regarding his NFL career, especially after failing to make much of a positive impression during the preseason.