No, T.J. Sanders isn’t the ideal size for an NFL defensive tackle.
That was 1 of the knocks on him when the Buffalo Bills selected him in the 2nd round (No. 41 overall) of the 2025 NFL draft — especially after South Carolina listed him at 6-foot-5 and 300 pounds, but he came in shorter and lighter at the NFL Scouting Combine.
To Sanders’ credit, no one is really talking about his size anymore. They’re talking about exactly how good he might be in Buffalo’s defense under new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, with ESPN’s Ben Solak putting Sanders smack-dab in the middle of his list of possible breakout stars in the NFL.
Solak also paid Sanders, 6-foot-4 and 297 pounds, a pretty hearty compliment in comparing him to versatile Tennessee Titans defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, who just signed a 3-year, $63 million free-agent contract.
“I did not particularly like the Sanders pick for Sean McDermott’s defense in the 2025 draft,” Solak wrote on July 8. “Sanders is an undersized defensive tackle at 297 pounds with a long and upright build. He’s at his best slanting, stunting, and occasionally lining up as a big defensive end in subpackages. In fact, he did just that when he returned from a knee injury to discover a Bills team with a ton of injury issues on the edge. Luckily, that makes Sanders a much more natural fit in new coordinator Jim Leonhard’s defense, which uses three-down fronts and needs big defensive ends to draw multiple players in pass protection while blitzes land from the other side of the line. Sanders is unlikely to become a high-impact player like, say, John Franklin-Myers overnight, but he’s a good candidate to evolve into a dirty work champion in Buffalo’s reimagined defense.”
T.J. Sanders Called ‘3-Down Solution’ Before Draft
Sanders, a South Carolina native, stayed in his home state to play college football and was wildly productive over his final 2 seasons for the Gamecocks, with 93 tackles, 8.5 sacks, 16.5 TFL, and 5 pass deflections over 25 games in 2024 and 2025
“Sanders is a powerful roadblock with heavy hands and a strong core,” NFL Draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote in his pre-draft evaluation, where he correctly predicted Sanders would be drafted in the 2nd round. “He rarely touches the ground. Despite a lack of knee bend, he usually gives better than he gets and blockers have a hard time keeping him sealed. He punches and locks out quickly with a twitchy shed to tackle a gap over. His rush features average first-step quickness, but sudden hand swipes and play-through power in his lower half open pathways to the pocket. Sanders’ blend of power and pressure should put him on the board for both odd- and even-front defenses as a potential three-down solution.”
Despite undergoing a minor knee surgery that cost him 5 games in the middle of the season, Sanders played in 12 games with 2 starts, including making appearances in 2 playoff games.
Bills Added Another Undersized DT in NFL Draft
The Bills went back to the well when it comes to undersized defensive tackles in the 2026 NFL draft, selecting 6-foot-1, 297-pound Penn State star Zane Durant in the 5th round (No. 181 overall).
Buffalo had already added to their defensive front with Clemson edge rusher T.J. Parker in the 2nd round (No. 35 overall).
“Durant brings depth to the line and will compete for a role as a backup,” ESPN’s Alaine Getzenberg wrote in April. “Although a bigger nose tackle was seen by many as a need for Buffalo, Durant instead brings speed — he led all DTs with a 4.75 40-yard dash — and a smaller size (6-foot-1, 290-pounds). He has experience lining up as a 3-technique. He is also just the latest part of the defensive rebuild to take place through the draft, with the Bills using five of seven picks in the first five rounds on that side of the ball.”
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