John Maurice "Deac" Sanders (born January 11, 1950, in Chicago, Illinois) is a former American football

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the National Football League. Sanders played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at South Dakota. He was signed by the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

as an undrafted free agent in 1974 and played with them for 3 years, first as a cornerback and then as a

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

. Sanders then replaced

Bill Bradley (American football) William Calvin Bradley (born January 24, 1947) is a former American football coach and former two-time All-Pro defensive back in the National Football League (NFL). He played with the Philadelphia Eagles for most of his career. As an assistant c ...

as the starting free safety for the Philadelphia Eagles in 1977,

Dick Vermeil Richard Albert Vermeil (; born October 30, 1936) is a former American football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for seven seasons, the St. Lou ...

's second year as the Eagle head coach, and also in 1978. But in 1979, his final year, he played only one game, replaced by Brenard Wilson.

Personal

Sanders was a schoolteacher when the Patriots signed him in 1974.

External links

New England Patriots bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanders, Deac 1950 births Living people American football cornerbacks American football safeties South Dakota Coyotes football players New England Patriots players Philadelphia Eagles players