Usage / Role
51%
Regular defensive contributor
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2019-2023Northern Illinois
James Ester
DT • 6'3" • 298 lbs • Detroit, MI, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
James Ester shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 25.3 disruption score.
Impact Production
37
Developing production for a defensive lineman
lowelite
Reliability
70
Reliable weekly contributor
lowhigh
Star Power
33
Limited ceiling signals so far
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2023 Postseason · Northern Illinois
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Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 1
- Unique Seasons
- 5
- Program Path
- Northern Illinois
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Central Michigan
Player Story
James Ester built his college career from 2019 through 2023 as a defensive tackle from Detroit, MI wearing No. 1, spending time with Northern Illinois. The clearest part of James Ester's career was his defensive...
Read the story2★
- Committed To
- Northern Illinois
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2019
James Ester, DT. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2023 Postseason · Northern Illinois. James Ester shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 25.3 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 107
- TFL
- 16.5
- Sacks
- 9
- QB hurries
- 12
- Passes defended
- 6
- Touchdowns
- 2
Quick Answers
James Ester quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Northern Illinois · DT
- Career Tackles
- 107
- Tracked sample
- 5 unique seasons · 7 entries · 43 games
- Best season
- 2023 Postseason · Northern Illinois
- Top game
- Central Michigan
- Recruit profile
- 2-star · Cass Technical · Northern Illinois
- High school pipeline
- Cass Technical · 77 FBS recruits · 10 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 1 · Senior
- 2023 Tackles rank
- 44 tackles · DT 5th (top 3%) · Mid-American 67th (top 13%) · National 759th (top 13%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 55.8 |
| 2020 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 5 | 16 | 2 | 1 | - | 2 | 0 | 34.3 |
| 2021 Postseason | Northern Illinois | 13 | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 46.2 |
| 2021 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 13 | 24 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 46.2 |
| 2022 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 10 | 20 | 3.5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 52.4 |
| 2023 Postseason | Northern Illinois | 13 | 1 | - | 0 | - | 1 | 0 | 63.4 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 13 | 43 | 5.5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 63.4 |
Related Context
Keep exploring James Ester
James Ester played DT for Northern Illinois. Across 5 tracked seasons, James Ester recorded 107 tackles and 2 touchdowns. His top tracked season came in 2023 with Northern Illinois.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2023 Postseason
Northern Illinois paired 14.5 primary output with 25.3 efficiency.
Supporting note
2023 Postseason role shape
impact-led usage with 25.3 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value stayed steady
2023 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Akron
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2023 Postseason · Northern Illinois
Games
13
Havoc Plays / G
1.1
Efficiency
25.3
Usage
8.5
Consistency
57.5
Best Game by takeover score
Akron
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
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Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Arkansas State: 1. Boston College: 1. Southern Illinois: 1. Nebraska: 2. Tulsa: 0. Toledo: 0. Akron: 3. Ohio: 0. Eastern Michigan: 2.5. Central Michigan: 1. Ball State: 0. Western Michigan: 2. Kent State: 1
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Arkansas State: 1 by 14.2. Boston College: 1 by 14.2. Southern Illinois: 2 by 18.3. Nebraska: 5 by 40.8. Tulsa: 1 by 4.2. Toledo: 3 by 12.5. Akron: 3 by 42.5. Ohio: 5 by 20.8. Eastern Michigan: 6 by 50. Central Michigan: 5 by 30.8. Ball State: 5 by 20.8. Western Michigan: 3 by 32.5. Kent State: 4 by 26.7
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins1.5 · Games = 7 · +0.8 vs Losses
Losses0.7 · Games = 6 · -0.8 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
13 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Akron
Best efficiency game
50 vs Eastern Michigan
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat 12/23 | vs Arkansas State | W 21-19 | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sat 11/25 | @ Kent State | W 37-27 | 4 | 2 | — | 0 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Wed 11/15 | vs Western MichiganSplash game | W 24-0 | 3 | 2 | — | 0.50 | 0.50 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Wed 11/8 | vs Ball State | L 17-20 | 5 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Tue 10/31 | @ Central Michigan | L 31-37 | 5 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/21 | vs Eastern MichiganSplash game | W 20-13 | 6 | 3 | — | 1.50 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/14 | vs Ohio | W 23-13 | 5 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 10/7 | @ AkronSplash game | W 55-14 | 3 | 2 | — | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/30 | @ Toledo | L 33-35 | 3 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/23 | vs Tulsa | L 14-22 | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/16 | @ NebraskaSplash game | L 11-35 | 5 | 3 | — | 2 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/9 | vs Southern Illinois | L 11-14 | 2 | 1 | — | 0.50 | 0.50 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/2 | @ Boston College | W 27-24 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
James Ester story
James Ester built his college career from 2019 through 2023 as a defensive tackle from Detroit, MI wearing No. 1, spending time with Northern Illinois. The clearest part of James Ester's career was his defensive production: 107 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, 9 sacks, and 1 interception across 43 career games in the available record. That gives James Ester's career enough real context without stretching the story beyond the available production.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Northern Illinois
2019-2023
Opening stop
Season Value Progression
2019202020212021202220232023
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 2 | 14.2 | 11.5 | — |
| 2020 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 5 | 23.3 | 5.9 | 3 |
| 2021 Postseason | Northern Illinois | 11.5 | 16.9 | 6.8 | 6.5 |
| 2021 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 11.5 | 16.9 | 6.8 | 0 |
| 2022 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 11.5 | 19.8 | 6.8 | 0 |
| 2023 Postseason | Northern Illinois | 14.5 | 25.3 | 8.5 | 3 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Northern Illinois | 14.5 | 25.3 | 8.5 | 0 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
vs Central Michigan
Week 10 · L 22-35 · Conference game
Loss with 2.5 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2.5
Havoc Plays
83.3 takeover
2.5 disruption/tackle impact with 83.3 takeover score.
#2
@ Eastern Michigan
Week 15 · L 33-41 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
80.8 takeover
Loss with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 80.8 takeover score.
#3
@ Akron
Week 6 · W 55-14 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
80.8 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 80.8 takeover score.
#4
vs Bowling Green
Week 7 · W 34-26 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
78.1 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 78.1 takeover score.
#5
vs Eastern Michigan
Week 5 · W 27-20 · Conference game
3
Havoc Plays
78.1 takeover
Win with 3 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
3 disruption/tackle impact with 78.1 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2023 Postseason · Northern Illinois
14.5 primary output · 25.3 efficiency · 8.5 usage
63.4
#2
2023 Regular Season · Northern Illinois
63.4
14.5 primary · 25.3 efficiency · 8.5 usage
#3
2019 Regular Season · Northern Illinois
55.8
2 primary · 14.2 efficiency · 11.5 usage
Milestones
10
Impact games
12
Splash games
0
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring James Ester
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