← 1981 DRAFT PLAYER PROFILE R5 · #136 OVERALL · T

Eric Sanders

Drafted by ATL · GM Eddie LeBaron · Nevada

All NFL teams

Full-career context

These totals follow Eric Sanders across every NFL team. Draft credit is separated below for each team that selected him.

Games played158
Games started42
Weighted career AV23
Pro Bowls0
AP1 All-Pro0
Career seasons12

Accountability by draft event

What each drafting team received

1981 · Round 5 · #136

ATL draft credit

GM Eddie LeBaron

Team games75
Team starts18
On-team AV12
On-team PB / AP10 / 0
Terrible-2.39 contribution22nd of 22 picks for this GM

Games: direct team-season record. Starts: direct team-season record.

Long-career hit

Eric Sanders became a 12-season, 158-game NFL player after going #136. The retained-value model still ranks him 22nd of 22 for Eddie LeBaron because ATL only got 75 of those games.

His retained-value contribution score (opportunity plus quality plus recognition, with related outcomes collapsed inside each bucket) is -2.39. This is a per-pick accountability metric, separate from Eddie LeBaron's leaderboard composite θ.

Full-career context prevents this from being labeled as a bad talent pick: the negative model score is about retained team value, not whether the draft identified an NFL-caliber player.

The walkthrough below shows which bucket carried the pick: playing time, value quality, or league honors.

Opportunity
Did he earn the field?
Games played
75
on drafting team · 158 full-career
Games started
18
on drafting team · 42 full-career
Snap-z
0.0
0 modeled seasons
Quality
Was that time valuable?
On-team AV
12
modeled; full weighted AV 23
AV / 1k snaps
snap-era only
AV-rate z
position-year adjusted quality
Recognition
Did the league notice?
Pro Bowls
0
all on drafting team
AP1 All-Pro
0 AP1
all on drafting team · AP2 context 0
All-Decade
0
context only

Did this pick move Eddie LeBaron's grade?

The first chart removes the time axis: every Eddie LeBaron pick is sorted by retained contribution across opportunity, quality, and recognition. Eric Sanders totals -2.39. The second chart breaks that same contribution into the seasons when the evidence arrived. Opportunity and quality can move separately, which keeps high-snap, low-AV profiles from looking cleaner than they are.

Aggregate contribution by player

-2-10+136. Curry#36 · Buddy Curry · aggregate +1.95137. Johnson#137 · Kenny Johnson · aggregate +1.12109. Scully#109 · John Scully · aggregate +0.937. Miller#7 · Junior Miller · aggregate +0.669. Riggs#9 · Gerald Riggs · aggregate +0.3125. Butler#25 · Bobby Butler · aggregate +0.2963. Bailey#63 · Stacey Bailey · aggregate +0.2363. Jones#63 · Earl Jones · aggregate -0.16176. Toloumu#176 · David Toloumu · aggregate -0.44164. Stanback#164 · Harry Stanback · aggregate -0.45172. Smith#172 · Mike Smith · aggregate -0.45149. Kelley#149 · Mike Kelley · aggregate -0.47146. Davis#146 · Mike Davis · aggregate -0.59104. Hipp#104 · I.M. Hipp · aggregate -0.84117. Vassar#117 · Brad Vassar · aggregate -0.91122. Mansfield#122 · Von Mansfield · aggregate -0.9754. White#54 · Lyman White · aggregate -1.0595. Brown#95 · Reggie Brown · aggregate -1.0791. Laughlin#91 · Jim Laughlin · aggregate -1.1136. Rogers#36 · Doug Rogers · aggregate -1.1980. Woerner#80 · Scott Woerner · aggregate -1.49136. Sanders#136 · Eric Sanders · aggregate -2.39Sanders -2.4

Incremental contribution by season

-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-10+1+21980 · Kenny Johnson · incremental +0.041980 · Junior Miller · incremental +0.811980 · Buddy Curry · incremental -0.041980 · Earl Jones · incremental -0.471980 · Mike Smith · incremental -0.751980 · Jim Laughlin · incremental -0.831980 · Mike Davis · incremental -1.001980 · I.M. Hipp · incremental -1.381980 · Brad Vassar · incremental -1.501981 · Earl Jones · incremental +0.101981 · Kenny Johnson · incremental +0.421981 · Buddy Curry · incremental +0.541981 · Junior Miller · incremental +0.931981 · John Scully · incremental -0.371981 · Jim Laughlin · incremental -0.551981 · Harry Stanback · incremental -0.791981 · Lyman White · incremental -1.581981 · Eric Sanders · incremental -1.631981 · Scott Woerner · incremental -2.331981 · Bobby Butler · incremental -2.711982 · Earl Jones · incremental +0.061982 · John Scully · incremental +0.091982 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.221982 · Kenny Johnson · incremental +0.251982 · Buddy Curry · incremental +0.331982 · Lyman White · incremental -0.061982 · Junior Miller · incremental -0.061982 · Jim Laughlin · incremental -0.121982 · Eric Sanders · incremental -0.141982 · Stacey Bailey · incremental -0.491982 · David Toloumu · incremental -0.741982 · Mike Kelley · incremental -0.761982 · Gerald Riggs · incremental -1.031982 · Reggie Brown · incremental -1.531982 · Von Mansfield · incremental -1.611982 · Doug Rogers · incremental -1.741983 · Junior Miller · incremental +0.011983 · Gerald Riggs · incremental +0.031983 · Earl Jones · incremental +0.131983 · Stacey Bailey · incremental +0.181983 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.361983 · John Scully · incremental +0.371983 · Kenny Johnson · incremental +0.371983 · Buddy Curry · incremental +0.501983 · Doug Rogers · incremental -0.121983 · Reggie Brown · incremental -0.131983 · Eric Sanders · incremental -0.161984 · Gerald Riggs · incremental +0.031984 · Stacey Bailey · incremental +0.221984 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.341984 · John Scully · incremental +0.371984 · Kenny Johnson · incremental +0.391984 · Buddy Curry · incremental +0.501984 · Eric Sanders · incremental -0.381985 · Kenny Johnson · incremental +0.081985 · John Scully · incremental +0.181985 · Stacey Bailey · incremental +0.191985 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.361985 · Buddy Curry · incremental +0.441985 · Gerald Riggs · incremental +0.461985 · Eric Sanders · incremental -0.851986 · Stacey Bailey · incremental +0.051986 · Kenny Johnson · incremental +0.071986 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.171986 · John Scully · incremental +0.321986 · Gerald Riggs · incremental +0.441986 · Buddy Curry · incremental +0.561986 · Eric Sanders · incremental -0.441987 · Stacey Bailey · incremental +0.091987 · Buddy Curry · incremental +0.121987 · John Scully · incremental +0.261987 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.271987 · Gerald Riggs · incremental +0.441987 · Jim Laughlin · incremental -0.191988 · Gerald Riggs · incremental +0.001988 · Stacey Bailey · incremental +0.131988 · John Scully · incremental +0.241988 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.371989 · Stacey Bailey · incremental +0.101989 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.291990 · Stacey Bailey · incremental +0.031990 · John Scully · incremental +0.161990 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.241991 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.171992 · Bobby Butler · incremental +0.15Vassar -1.5White -1.6Sanders -1.6Woerner -2.3Butler -2.7Sanders -0.1Brown -1.5Mansfield -1.6Rogers -1.7Sanders -0.2Sanders -0.4Sanders -0.8Sanders -0.419809 players198111 players198216 players198311 players19847 players19857 players19867 players19876 players19884 players19892 players19903 players19911 player19921 player
Above expectationBelow expectationEric SandersGM total -8.1Eric Sanders by season -3.6

How much retained production did Eric Sanders return vs. his slot?

Each mark below is one player's model value above slot. Light gray marks are slot-similar peers: Ts drafted within ±5 picks of Eric Sanders since 2010 (8 players).The score is the retained production/value bucket from the pick-residual model: on-team AV plus AV-rate quality, adjusted for draft slot, position, and era. Opportunity snaps and league honors are excluded.

-1-0.50+0.5Model value above slot136. VolsonCordell Volson · model value +0.9138. CannonMarcus Cannon · model value +0.3140. FlemingCameron Fleming · model value -0.1131. MosleyBrandon Mosley · model value -0.2140. WangEd Wang · model value -0.2137. BannerZach Banner · model value -0.4139. SmithD'Ante Smith · model value -0.4141. AboushiOday Aboushi · model value -0.7136. SandersEric Sanders · model value -1.2-1.2
Eric SandersSlot-similar peers (8)

Cumulative value over time

Year-by-year running totals since draft. Left axis = games started. Right axis = honors (Pro Bowl / AP1 / AP2). Pre-2013 picks have no games-started line because that comes from per-game snap counts (not available for older players). Honors extend back to 1980.

'82'84'86'88'90'9201121324201Cumulative GSHonors count
Games started (cumulative) Pro Bowls AP1 All-Pro AP2 All-Pro

Full-career season history (12 scored seasons)

YearTeamGPGSSnapsSnap-zAVAV/snapPBAP1AP2
1981ATL1663
1982ATL901
1983ATL1601
1984ATL1022
1985ATL1673
1986ATL, DET1132
1987DET1201
1988DET1601
1989DET1673
1990DET1623
1991DET14147
1992DET611

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