Joe Sanders

Defensive end for Northern Illinois. 2017: 1 sack, 1.5 tackles for loss, 20 tackles.

DE · Northern Illinois · #9

6′3″ · 248 lb · LaGrange, GA

Northern Illinois 2017 alumnus

The story

2017 defensive end for Northern Illinois. 2017: 1 sack, 1.5 tackles for loss, 20 tackles.

The record fills in as he plays.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Two seasons at Northern Illinois, 1 sacks — his college career is complete.

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

Northern Illinois

2016–2017

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

2017 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2 seasons under Rod Carey — 13-12 over that span.

2016Northern Illinois5-7HC: Rod Carey · Run-leaning, fast tempo

2017Northern Illinois8-5HC: Rod Carey · Run-leaning

Where this defender ranks vs the field

Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort

6 metrics · season cumulative

Concern: solo tackles (29th percentile).

Box-score production (6)

QB hurries#441 / 2682 · 78th pct

Passes defended#483 / 2682 · 77th pct

Sacks#799 / 2682 · 62nd pct

1.0

Tackles for loss#1583 / 2682 · 38th pct

1.5

Tackles#1878 / 2682 · 29th pct

Solo tackles#1864 / 2682 · 29th pct

Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2017 season · 11 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Home7g	2.3	0.1	0.1	0.4
Road4g	1.0	0.1	0.0	0.0

First half vs Second half

	TKL/g	TFL/g	SACK/g	PD/g
Weeks 1-77g	1.4	0.0	0.0	0.1
Weeks 8+4g	2.5	0.4	0.2	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Rob Harley

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2017

Rotational

Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Career stats

Season	Team
2017	Northern Illinois	20	11	1.5	1.0	3	--	--
2016	Northern Illinois	16	11	3.0	0.0	--	--	--
Career		36	22	4.5	1.0	3	--	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2017

W 38–10

vs Eastern Illinois

1 TOT · 1 SOLO

Dominant 28-point win at home against Eastern Illinois.

With D. Santacaterina — 252 yds · 3 TD · 1 INT · QBR 87.2 · 14 rush yds (5 car) · M. Ference — 41 AVG · 42 LONG · 4 NO

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week