Buffalo Bills position preview: Who will emerge as the closer opposite Greg Rousseau?

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Buffalo Bills position preview: Who will emerge as the closer opposite Greg Rousseau?

The Bills need more from Rousseau, particularly in key situations when coach Sean McDermott needs his defensive line to get to quarterbacks like Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson.
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Editor’s note: This is the second story in a series previewing the Bills’ position groups as training camp looms. Today is edge rushers.

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Over the past three seasons, Bills defensive end Greg Rousseau has collected 21 of his 25 career sacks.
Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News

Shortly after the Buffalo Bills’ loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game, general manager Brandon Beane resumed negotiations with the agent for arguably his best defensive player.

The talks ended in March with Greg Rousseau signing a four-year contract extension that tied the talented edge rusher to the Bills through 2029.
The $49 million guaranteed to Rousseau ranks eighth in the NFL at his position, trailing Myles Garrett, Nick Bosa, T.J. Watt, Josh Hines-Allen, Brian Burns, Maxx Crosby and Danielle Hunter.

Rousseau’s $20 million average salary ranks 12th, a potential bargain for a 25-year-old athlete at a premium position with 10 sacks between the regular season and playoffs in 2024. The gradual improvement Rousseau has shown across the past four years, beginning as a rookie first-round pick in 2020, convinced Beane that the best is yet to come for their top defensive lineman.

Rousseau set several career highs in 2024, including quarterback hits (24), tackles for loss (16), solo tackles (36) and forced fumbles (three). The 20 quick pressures – three seconds or less – Rousseau created were tied for seventh-most by an NFL defensive lineman, only one behind the Chiefs’ Chris Jones.

The Bills revamped their defensive line this offseason to try to create more pressure and improve against the run. If others can make more plays, including fellow edge rusher A.J. Epenesa, who’s entering the final season of his contract, then offenses won’t be able to run away from Rousseau or use multiple blockers to try to limit his impact.

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Bills defensive end Greg Rousseau set several career highs in 2024, including quarterback hits (24), tackles for loss (16), solo tackles (36) and forced fumbles (three).
Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News

Rousseau needs to be more consistent and Bills coach Sean McDermott wants to see another level of physicality from him throughout the season. Someone as big (6-foot-7, 253 pounds) and athletic as Rousseau could be among the NFL’s elite edge rushers. He had some remarkable games last season, like Week 1 when he had six tackles for loss or Week 7 with his six quarterback hits, the highest single-game total by any player over the past two seasons.

But the Bills need more from Rousseau, particularly in key situations when McDermott needs his defensive line to get to quarterbacks like the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the Baltimore Ravens’ Lamar Jackson.

On the roster​

Eight: Rousseau, Epenesa, Joey Bosa, Landon Jackson, Javon Solomon, Michael Hoecht, Hayden Harris and Paris Shand.

How many on the 53?​

Five, not including Hoecht, who will be suspended six games to start the season. Harris and Shand aren’t expected to make the cut.

Most impactful offseason move​

The Bills gave Bosa a one-year, incentive-laden contract to provide clutch, game-wrecking production in the playoffs. He had double-digit sacks in four of his nine seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers, but Beane understood the risk in signing the oft-injured 29-year-old pass rusher. Bosa played just 28 games in his last three seasons with the team that drafted him third overall in 2016. He’s already injured, having suffered a calf strain that kept him out of OTAs and mandatory minicamp. They’ll have to monitor his snap count and usage, particularly early in the regular season.

Biggest question to answer in camp​

How will the Bills use Hoecht? With the Rams last season, Hoecht lined up at defensive end, outside linebacker and inside linebacker. He’s a crafty pass rusher who’s reliable against the run and athletic enough to drop into coverage, invaluable versatility that can earn him a prominent role in this defense. The challenge, however, is Hoecht will be suspended for six games to start the season, and the Bills will need to use camp to prepare others, particularly Jackson, to make an impact during Hoecht’s absence.

Battle to watch​

Can Jackson make enough of an impact in training camp to be used in place of Epenesa in obvious passing situations? Epenesa has at least six sacks in each of the last three seasons, however, Pro Football Focus credited him with the second-lowest win rate on pass-rush snaps among Bills edge rushers last season. Jackson, a third-round pick, became the first player at Arkansas since 1994-95 to lead the Razorbacks’ defense in tackles for a loss and sacks in consecutive seasons. He has the size, strength, explosiveness and experience to earn significant snaps as a rookie.

Under-the-radar player​

Solomon created eight quarterback hurries in 89 pass-rush snaps, compared with Epenesa’s nine hurries in 356 snaps, according to PFF. Solomon, a rookie fifth-round draft pick in 2024, had two sacks and six quarterback hits while playing just 15% of the Bills’ defensive snaps during the regular season. He’s not as physically imposing as others in this position group at 6-2, 245 pounds and he’ll need to earn a role in camp as a situational pass rusher, but he could emerge as a useful chess piece in this defense. The 2024 fifth-round pick has juice.
 
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Ah yes, "the closer". McD's wet dream. We haven't had one, and still don't. Unless we think that Bosa is going to some how make it to January healthy and become that guy. Groot I'm sorry is a good player but not a closer. Same for is Ed Oliver.
 
Victor7 said:
Ah yes, "the closer". McD's wet dream. We haven't had one, and still don't. Unless we think that Bosa is going to some how make it to January healthy and become that guy. Groot I'm sorry is a good player but not a closer. Same for is Ed Oliver.
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Bosa will never see the field after game 5, I predict
 
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