The Buffalo Bills will be kicking off their training camp here in just a few weeks and all eyes will be on how this team will look in the Joe Brady era. There is continuity, but there have been a good amount of changes as well. Even though changes have happened, the expectations haven't changed for the team.
One set of players that should be closely watched is the Bills’ rookies from last year, that is headlined by cornerback Maxwell Hairston. When you look back at that draft class, there were only two players that had instant success; DT Deone Walker and TE Jackson Hawes. One player that fans were hoping a lot more from was T.J. Sanders, who the Bills traded up 15 spots in the second round to acquire.
Sanders only suited up for 12 games and it resulted in just 16 total tackles and one sack that happened in Week 18 when the New York Jets were playing their backups. Not impressive for a second rounder who the Bills traded up for. Luckily, Sanders will get the chance to bounce back and Ben Solak from ESPN is making a bold prediction about Sanders.
T.J. Sanders predicted to be Bills' breakout candidate for 2026
Solak listed each team’s breakout candidate for the 2026 season and Sanders was surprisingly listed for the Bills.
"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." said Solak.
"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." Solak added.
With the switchup in the defense and going to a 3-4, maybe this benefits Sanders greatly. While he was drafted as a defensive tackle, he played a little bit of defensive end as well so now Jim Leonhard can utilize him across the line.
Sanders was already outshined by his classmate in Deone Walker last year, and if he can’t take a step forward this year, then he could be in some roster trouble next year. However, a switchup for Sanders is exactly what he could need in order to be successful.
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