The San Francisco 49ers entered the 2025 season with a revamped roster, featuring many young players guided by some proven veterans. Three games into the season and still undefeated, they showed that they could very well be title contenders. But in their win over the Cardinals, they lost their star pass rusher, Nick Bosa, to a season-ending ACL tear. And that’s how Shilo Sanders saw a door of opportunities open for him as he participated with a handful of names in San Francisco’s tryouts to strengthen their secondary.

Although it was expected that the 49ers would go with a veteran, the safety’s presence on the list itself meant that they saw something in him. Just 24 hours later, the Colorado alum heard that he did not even make their practice squad. However, the opportunity itself was enough for Sanders to showcase his talents and fitness to other NFL teams. Now, he could land in one of the three franchises looking for more secondary depth. Here is the list:

Chicago Bears: The Bears reloaded their roster and might be the top contenders for the title of “most improved roster.” But it still has some loopholes, the biggest being safety.

They currently have Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker in the starting lineup, but they have more questions looming above them than answers in the Bears’ new defensive schemes, wanting more man-to-man coverage. Brisker’s availability after three concussions in three years is an issue that the team might have to eventually consider.

Moreover, starting safety Kevin Byard is 32 years old and is entering his contract year in 2025. When asked in the OTAs about his future in Chicago, he was certain that he wanted to retire as a Bear, but was noncommittal regarding a possible extension. So, the Bears could consider Shilo Sanders.

Buffalo Bills: The first-ranked team in the AFC East may still have safety issues on its roster. They previously signed Jordan Poyer as a band-aid fix for this year, but he remains on their practice squad. The Bills had also drafted the 2025 fifth-rounder, Jordan Hancock. But entering the season, they’ve returned to their actual safeties in the roster and remain hopeful for Cole Bishop and Taylor Rapp to improve their game.

The latter was a serviceable safety who made some great plays last season. Then, Bishop showed signs of great potential down the stretch and in the postseason, promising another good year if he could amp up his skills. But adding a versatile safety like Sanders might help the team in the long term.

Pittsburgh Steelers: After trading Minkah Fitzpatrick to the Miami Dolphins, Juan Thornhill became the Steelers‘ starter. However, the veteran did not have a good season with Cleveland last year. They also added DeShon Elliott. However, the team will also need a backup. With a strong defense already showing its strengths in the league, HC Mike Tomlin might want to take a chance on Shilo Sanders and see how he develops with his Steel Curtain. After all, he has taken quite a few chances this year.

These are the three possible destinations for Sanders after the San Francisco 49ers signed safety Jaylen Mahoney instead. He spent parts of the past two seasons with the 49ers, playing three games last season, and was a part of the team’s 90-man roster during training camp. San Francisco also signed lineman William Bradley-King, who was with the Niners during the preseason, to the practice squad.

If Shilo Sanders does join any of these teams or others, there’s no doubt that he is willing to put in the work. However, the biggest challenge for him would be to prove that he has indeed learned from his literal rookie mistake with the Bucs. His issues with the Buccaneers began after he punched Bills TE Zach Davidson in their final preseason game.

The scuffle went down in the second half of the game when Sanders threw a punch at Davidson and faced an immediate ejection. His actions left everyone, including HC Todd Bowles, disappointed as he noted, “You can’t throw punches in this league… That’s inexcusable. They’re going to get you every time. Gotta grow from that.” The NFL fined Sanders $4,669. But the bigger hit to his NFL future was being cut from the final Bucs roster.

Since being cut, though, Sanders has been focused on improving every other area of his expertise, including music and acting. And that’s why his father, Deion Sanders, is sure that if any of his kids would make it, it would be Shilo.

Soon after the rejection, ‘Coach Prime’ took to his Instagram to share, “The strongest person is strong enough to walk away when it’s popular & convenient to stay! #CoachPrime.” The caption was added under a picture of matchsticks, with the burnt ones on the left separated by a single matchstick from the unburnt ones on the right side, possibly suggesting that Shilo Sanders walking away would save him from burning. The text on the picture read, “The Power of Walking Away.”

Last week, the father also hinted at some other alternatives for Shilo outside of football. “He was in California last week meeting with a bunch of agents because he has the opportunity to do movies and sitcoms and stuff like that and then YouTube content.”

Shilo also alluded to something similar earlier this month. “I’ve always done that my whole life, playing football, with music, acting, modeling… I’ve been prepared for anything that happen, cause you never know what could happen.”

It’s only a matter of time until we find out what he ends up doing in the future. What we do know is that he will either end up returning to the gridiron or show up on a Hollywood screen.