Myjai
Sanders.
Myjai
Sanders.
Cincinnati· 6'5"· 228 lb· 4.67s 40
Sanders is a long, loose-hipped speed rusher who wins with first-step quickness and bend around the arc. At 6-5 with 34-inch arms he can stack a tackle's shoulder, dip underneath and flatten to the quarterback, and he converts speed to power on the inside counter better than his weight suggests. Cincinnati moved him along the front and he was disruptive from wide alignments in obvious passing situations.
The frame is the problem. He played in the 250s and struggled to hold ground against down blocks and doubles, giving up the edge on run downs and getting reset by tight ends. He weighed in at 228 pounds at the combine after an illness, which amplified every existing question about whether the body could carry an every-down role.
An attacking front that rushes him from wide alignments on passing downs and keeps a heavier body on the field for base run situations.
Year 1: rotational sub-package rusher who plays 20 to 25 pass-rush snaps a game. Ceiling: a designated third-down specialist who produces eight sacks a season without ever taking early-down run snaps.
A two-gap or heavy base front that asks its ends to set edges against tight ends and pulling guards on first down, where his weight makes him a liability before the pass rush ever matters.
He needs 15 pounds and a hand plan. Without both, the only usable snaps are third and long.
Myjai Sanders || DE Cincinnati Bearcats || 2021 NFL Draft Profile
A full draft-cycle reel of the Cincinnati tape: the get-off, the bend and the edge-setting issues.
Myjai Sanders || UC Bearcats Defensive End || 2020 Highlights
The seven-sack junior season, his most productive pass-rush film.
Myjai Sanders NFL Scouting Report
A pre-draft breakdown of the frame-versus-traits question that decided his evaluation.
Sanders was a Jacksonville product who played high school ball in Florida and Georgia and became a four-year contributor on the Cincinnati defenses that turned into a national program. He redshirted the depth chart in 2018, then broke out over the next two years: 36 tackles, seven tackles for loss and four sacks in 2019, followed by 31 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and a career-best seven sacks in 10 games in 2020, when he was a first-team All-AAC selection.
The senior year told a different story. Offenses chipped, slid protection and ran at him, and while he graded well as a disruptor — 41 tackles, seven tackles for loss, six pass breakups and 13 quarterback hurries — the sack total fell to 2.5 as Cincinnati went undefeated in the regular season and reached the College Football Playoff. He closed a 48-game career with 115 tackles, 25 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks.
Then came the combine. Sanders arrived in Indianapolis at 228 pounds after an illness, roughly 25 under his playing weight, which turned a question about anchor into an alarm about durability. Arizona, needing edge depth behind Chandler Jones and Markus Golden, bet on the length and bend at 100.
- 01
First-step quickness
Beats tackles off the snap with an explosive get-off, the trait that generated seven sacks in a 10-game junior season.
- 02
Length
34-inch arms he uses well to stack and shed, keeping blockers off his frame and creating passing-lane deflections on rushes that stall.
- 03
Bend around the arc
Dips his shoulder and flattens to the quarterback with real ankle flexion, the hardest skill to teach in a pass rusher.
- 04
Disruption beyond sacks
25 career tackles for loss, 13 pass breakups and 23 quarterback hurries; he affected plays even when he did not finish them.
- 05
Alignment versatility
Cincinnati used him wide, in a three-point stance and reduced inside on passing downs without loss of effectiveness.
- 01
Play strength
Gets displaced by down blocks and doubles at his weight; he cannot hold the edge as a base end against NFL run games.
- 02
Weight and durability
Reported to the combine at 228 pounds after an illness, roughly 25 below his listed playing weight, which raised real frame concerns.
- 03
Pass-rush plan
Relies on speed and the inside counter without a developed hand package, so tackles who get their hands on him win the rep.
- 04
Senior-year production
Sacks dropped from seven to 2.5 against increased attention, and the tape did not show the counter-punches to answer it.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.67sp50
- Vertical
- 33inp50
- Broad jump
- 120inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- 4.37sp50
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Cincinnati | 10 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Cincinnati | 14 | 36 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 2020 | Cincinnati | 10 | 31 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 2021 | Cincinnati | 14 | 41 | 2.5 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Career | — | 48 | 115 | 13.5 | 0 | 13 | 1 |
2020 and 2021 read directly from cfbstats (Cincinnati team 140, player 1094367), which lists regular-season figures of 10.5 tackles for loss in 2020 and 7.5 in 2021. The season lines carried here follow Sports-Reference, which includes bowl and playoff games, and sum exactly to the published career line of 48 games, 115 tackles, 25.0 tackles for loss and 13.5 sacks. 2018 and 2019 are from Sports-Reference; cfbstats does not index this player for those years.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A speed-first rusher who spends his best years as a designated sub-package pressure player rather than an every-down defensive end.
The ceiling is a long, bendy edge who adds weight and a hand package and grows into a full-time starter with double-digit sack potential.
A tools-based edge whose lack of play strength keeps him off the field on early downs and out of the league within a few seasons.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Myjai Sanders has been a rotational defensive end for the Arizona Cardinals. He has contributed as a pass-rushing specialist in a limited role during his first two seasons.
Arizona got 13 games and three sacks out of him as a rookie in 2022, all of it as a rotational rusher with four starts, and then the role disappeared. The Cardinals waived him during the 2023 preseason, Houston claimed him, and he played seven games with five tackles and no sacks for the Texans before being released. That was the end of his NFL time: 20 career games, 24 tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble.
He kept playing. Sanders signed with the Birmingham Stallions of the UFL and appeared in nine games with five starts in 2025, still chasing a path back. The pre-draft concern turned out to be the exact one that decided the career — the frame never supported an every-down role, and a rusher who cannot hold the edge on first down needs elite production on third down to stay employed. Three sacks in two seasons was not it. A clean miss on a pick that spent third-round capital on traits that never found enough body to carry them.
Data note: Resolution JC-2A selection from Baltimore