Big Board Ranking: #54
Positional Ranking: #2
Overview
Position: LB
College: Arkansas
Class: Junior
Age: 21
Measurables
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 235 lbs.
Arm length: 32 1/8″
Hand size: 9 3/4″
Athletic testing
40-yard dash: N/A
10-yard split: N/A
Vertical jump: N/A
Broad jump: N/A
Bench press: N/A
3-cone drill: N/A
Short shuttle: N/A
Strengths
Rare size and length for a linebacker. Very smooth athlete. Great speed and closes fast on the ball. Extremely light on his feet for a bigger player. Outstanding ability to track the ball to the sideline. Tremendous aggressiveness as a tackler. Very strong. Throws his body around to get in on plays and clean things up. Physical taking on blocks when going downhill. Fast penetrating with a clear lane. Terrific tackle radius with his combination of athleticism and size/reach. Can deliver some big hits. Has the quickness to sidestep blockers before they reach him on the second level. Great versatility as a former edge defender at Alabama. Impressive ability to turn the corner on speed rushes at his size. Has flashed a quick inside rush move. Often used on A-gap blitzes. Gets ideal depth to clog passing panes in intermediate zone coverage. Quick to cover the flats in man coverage. Coverage drops when lined up along the line of scrimmage are very smooth.
Weaknesses
Sometimes takes poor run fits and will wash himself out of plays. Will overrun and miss some scrape tackles. Can take time to accelerate after coming to a stop after sprinting. Knocked down too often as a pass rusher. Rush effectiveness falls off when opponents latch on. A bit slow seeing things in zone coverage. Slightly delayed in diagnosing running back screens.
NFL comparison
Kenneth Murray
Conclusion
Overall, Sanders is a very smooth and versatile linebacker with the ability to impact the game in a variety of ways. Some teams might view him as an edge defender, but his best fit should be as an off-ball linebacker in a blitz-heavy scheme.