The signing freeze with NFL second-round draft picks is finally starting to thaw.
The Buffalo Bills inked defensive tackle T.J. Sanders to a rookie contract Friday, mere days ahead of the team’s training camp open Tuesday.
Buffalo traded up to the 41st pick, from pick No. 56, to select the South Carolina defensive lineman in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Sanders was the last Bills 2025 draft pick to sign with the team.
Why Was T.J. Sanders The Last Bills Draft Pick To Sign?
If you have followed NFL off-season trends, you know second-round draft selections were holding out for fully guaranteed contracts.
Though each player receives a pre-slotted four-year contract based on where he is drafted, each first-round pick’s deal is fully guaranteed.
After Jaydon Higgins, who was selected with the 34th pick, received a fully guaranteed deal from the Houston Texans, then 33rd-pick Carson Schwesinger also received a fully guaranteed deal from the Cleveland Brownss, the bulk of second-round picks remained unsigned while seeking guaranteed contracts.
That mass holdout is still ongoing, though Sanders’ contract may trigger an onslaught of second-round signings since his reported four-year, $10.645 million contract is not fully guaranteed.
Still, Sanders’ contract is 95 percent guaranteed, since he will collect more than $10 million in guaranteed money over the life of his deal. That will set a precedent that rival teams and second-round picks can follow — even though No. 35 selection Nick Emmanwori reportedly signed a fully guaranteed four-year rookie contract with the Seattle Seahawks on Friday.
Sanders’ annual-average contract value of $1.95 million is 32nd on the team and roughly $800,000 less than that of Buffalo first-round pick Maxwell Hairston — who was selected just 11 picks ahead of Sanders.
Sanders’ contract is richer than that of 2024 second-round pick Keon Coleman — who was the first pick of the second round — but carries about the same percentage of guaranteed money.
Who Is T.J. Sanders, and What Should Bills Fans Expect From Him in 2025?
If healthy, the 6-4, 297-pound interior lineman is a run-stuffing machine who can also rush the passer, since Sanders had 9.5 sacks and 18 tackles for loss over his career with the Gamecocks.
The Bills would not trade up to select a player they did not intend to use immediately, especially with veteran mainstay Ed Oliver set to enter his seventh NFL season and the off-season signing of veteran EDGE rusher Joey Bosa creating a need for Buffalo to get younger on its D-line.
But the Bills likely view Sanders as a reserve interior tackle that will grow into a starter in relatively short order — whether that is opposite Oliver or to fill in if there are injuries along the Bills defensive line.
“There’s no doubt that Sanders is in line to see time this season, at minimum as part of the defensive line rotation, something that the Bills use heavily,” ESPN Bills writer Alaina Getzenberg wrote. “He is not set to see playing time as a starter as general manager Brandon Beane said that they see him as primarily a three-technique who can also play one-technique, which will place him as more of a backup to Ed Oliver.”
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