{"id":211039,"date":"2025-01-18T08:30:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T13:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=211039"},"modified":"2025-01-18T06:55:02","modified_gmt":"2025-01-18T11:55:02","slug":"2025-nfl-draft-early-scouting-report-tj-sanders-sc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/01\/18\/2025-nfl-draft-early-scouting-report-tj-sanders-sc\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NFL Draft Early Scouting Report: T.J. Sanders, SC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T.J. Sanders has been a stout producer for South Carolina for the past two years and is expected to get picked during this draft cycle. Here is a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/12\/11\/defensive-nfl-draft-risers-in-2024-conference-championships\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2025 NFL Draft<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Early <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/01\/17\/2025-nfl-draft-early-scouting-report-carson-schwesinger-ucla\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scouting Report <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and film analysis on him.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Overview, Film Analysis, And Early 2025 Scouting Report Of <\/b><b>South Carolina DL T.J. Sanders<\/b><\/h2>\n<h3><b>Measurables:<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6\u20194\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">290 lbs<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Player Background:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the Top-10 players in the state of South Carolina, T.J. Sanders committed to the Gamecocks out of Marlon HS. He was ranked as a <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/247sports.com\/player\/tj-sanders-46100034\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">three-star prospect in the 2021 class<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and among the Top-100 defensive lineman recruits. During his freshman season he appeared in just two games, accumulating a quarterback hurry, and maintaining his redshirt status. He worked his way onto the field for 12 games the following season, without starting any.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In said contests, Sanders made 16 tackles with a sack and a pass breakup. He then became a strong contributor to the SC defense in 2023 with over 40 tackles, 9.5 tackles-for-loss, 4.5 sacks, and four PBUs. He returned for the 2024 season to boost his stock and did exactly that in all 13 games. His season totals finished at 51 tackles, seven TFLs, four sacks, and a pass breakup.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Accolades:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Third-Team All-America (2024)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Second-Team All-SEC (2024)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SEC Interior Defender of the Year (2024)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Third-Team All-SEC (2023)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Strengths\/Pros:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sanders is as explosive as anyone when exploding out of his stance and is able to generate leverage extremely quickly. He positions himself well between offensive linemen to puncture gaps and be a commanding presence on the interior. This early burst allows him to swarm rushers in the backfield and be a decent pass rusher. His arms are strong when working around interior lineman and can contort both within and without contact to set up leverage as a pass rusher.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He flashes a solid whip move at the line, keeping his base steady and regaining momentum fast. Sanders\u2019 anchor against inside runs is impressive and laterally disengages well to close out rushing plays. He\u2019s built well with good length and sets himself up away from the OL to establish himself before driving. He has experience around the defensive line and can play at multiple spots. He\u2019s a great overall run defender, attacking the ball carrier with efficiency and bringing them down with ease.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Weaknesses\/Cons:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sanders isn\u2019t a great athlete at the DL position and that leads to some unfortunate shortcomings. He doesn\u2019t move particularly well laterally, often restricted to smaller areas and is unable to work around the line of scrimmage. He gets too high in his pads when rushing the passer, and runs into that issue early in plays. It prevents him from maintaining any leverage advantages and doesn\u2019t let his legs dictate his drive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His stiffness increases exponentially when his initial moves fail, getting himself locked out and too reliant on his bull rush. Sanders\u2019 non-contact movements at the line get too clunky and won\u2019t win often with twitchy, compact adjustments. His feet get slow after first contact and doesn\u2019t continue to push through linemen. His stamina and conditioning become legitimate problems as games wear on, causing concern with any potential three-down ability.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Potential Team Fits:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bills\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buffalo Bills<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/vikings\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minnesota Vikings<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/packers\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Green Bay Packers<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>NFL Projection:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sanders\u2019 NFL future is likely more within a rotational role rather than a full-time starter, but he\u2019s an effective enough all-around player to be coveted. His ability to win at the line as both a pass-rusher and run stopper will draw in many DL-needy teams for his services. NFL coaching staffs will likely heavily stress improvement in his conditioning, but he has enough of a foundation as it stands to be an adequate and reliable DL in certain packages.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Prospect Grade:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Early 4th Round<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Film Exposures:\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2024 vs. Clemson<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2024 vs. Alabama<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2024 vs. LSU<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Jeff Blake &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview And Film Analysis Of 2025 NFL Draft Prospect And South Carolina DL T.J. Sanders, An Effective Early Down Lineman.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5364,"featured_media":211097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[32605,27673,33183],"class_list":["post-211039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2025-nfl-draft","tag-south-carolina-gamecocks","tag-t-j-sanders"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5364"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211039"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211099,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211039\/revisions\/211099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}