Picture an NFL war room on draft night: phones buzzing, big boards glowing, the weight of franchise-altering decisions thick in the air. It’s less like a frantic auction and more like a high-stakes chess match orchestrated by Tampa Bay GM Jason Licht, who has been in his post since 2014. The Sanders conundrum, His move? Sacrificing the flashy queen for the steady king. Because in Licht’s game, the character isn’t just a piece; it’s the entire board.

“It’s very, very high,” Licht confessed on the FieldTalkPod when asked about the importance of a player’s skill set versus their makeup. “I would just tell you when we’ve missed, we rarely miss on the player. We miss on the person, and you have to have the right kind of person.” This philosophy isn’t lip service; it’s a hard line drawn in the sand.

Licht operates with a literal blacklist, excising even first-round talents if their character raises red flags. “I give my owners a document the day before the draft,” he revealed, “and said, ‘Okay, this is so you know: there’s a section of players that are probably going to go in the first round that…..we don’t have on our board. So don’t be shocked when these players get picked and we don’t have them on the board.’”

This is the lens through which Tampa Bay viewed Shedeur Sanders. Despite mock drafts linking the electric Colorado QB (7,364 career yds, 64 TDs, Johnny Unitas Award winner) to them at #19 – seen as a potential long-term heir to 30-year-old Baker Mayfield – the Bucs passed. Scouts whispered comparisons to Derek Carr, noting his slender 6’1″, 198-lb frame and pocket courage, but also flagged concerns about anticipation and mobility.

Yet, for Licht, the calculus went deeper than measurables. Shedeur’s journey, marked by immense pressure, high-profile NIL deals (~$6.5M valuation), and intense scrutiny under Coach Prime, generated headlines that likely flickered like warning lights on Tampa’s meticulously curated board. They opted instead for Emeka Egbuka, trusting the known quantity in Mayfield for now and adding developmental QBs like Michael Pratt and Jordan McCloud later. But they drafted Sanders’ brother.

Shilo Sanders: Tampa’s Perfect Culture Fit Amid Draft Day Irony

Meanwhile, Licht’s team saw a different Sanders-shaped opportunity materialize after the draft’s final bell. Shedeur’s older brother, safety Shilo Sanders, surprisingly went undrafted despite a productive six-year college career (52 games, 217 tackles, 6 INTs, 7 forced fumbles). His tape screamed resilience – playing through a torn ACL and broken forearm at Colorado – and clutch playmaking, like his iconic 80-yard pick-six against Colorado State.

Tampa’s secondary, ravaged by injuries in 2024 (29th-ranked pass D) and losing Jordan Whitehead, desperately needed depth and physicality behind All-Pro Antoine Winfield Jr. Shilo, a self-described ‘heat-seeking missile‘ safety and “heck of a tackler” according to Coach Todd Bowles, fit the culture-over-glitter profile perfectly. The Bucs pounced, signing him to a standard UDFA deal (3 yrs, ~$2.9M) – low risk, high character, immediate special teams value.

It wasn’t about choosing one brother over the other; it was Licht’s system filtering talent through its core values. “Our drafts have gotten a lot better over the last few years,” he noted, “just because we’ve focused on the right kind of person and resisted the temptation of taking the super-talented guy when we don’t know if he’s the right kind of person.”

The irony is poetic. One Sanders brother, the record-shattering QB with the “Brady mode” comebacks and Hail Mary heroics, landed in Cleveland via the 5th round (#144), deemed outside Tampa’s character constellation. The other, the hard-hitting safety whose journey included overcoming significant injuries and navigating off-field complexities, found a home in Tampa Bay precisely because his grit and grounded demeanor resonated with Licht’s “right kind of person” doctrine.

Shilo’s path – embracing his ‘Lil Prime‘ nickname while carving his own identity through culinary adventures and his ‘Headache Gang’ YouTube channel – embodies the resilience Licht seeks. It’s a testament to Tampa’s unwavering draft religion: Talent gets you on the radar, but character gets you on the roster. In the grand chess game of NFL team-building, Licht plays the long game, valuing the king’s steady integrity over the queen’s dazzling, but potentially risky, gambit. The Bucs didn’t just pass on Shedeur; they invested in their culture, and Shilo Sanders is their latest proof of concept.