The Buffalo Bills added some depth to the defensive line on Thursday night at the 2021 NFL Draft with the selection of Greg Rousseau from the University of Miami with the 30th overall pick.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane has had a history of taking defensive players in the opening round of the NFL Draft since he took the job in 2017. He said Rousseau was a guy they liked and felt did well throughout the pre-draft process.
“We really liked [Rousseau] through the process,” Beane said on his Zoom conference call early Friday morning. “We spent multiple Zoom [meetings] with him, like we did a lot of guys. He’s a Grade-A young man, very mature for his age. He has the intangibles that we look for and he’s a guy that’s going to work. ... We like who he is, and we think he’s a guy that in time will reach his potential.”
Rosseau sat out the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns, but the season before he made quite an impact. Rosseau registered 15.5 sacks, 54 tackles, and two forced fumbles in 2019 for the Hurricanes. Beane and the rest of the front office team in Buffalo took Rousseau's opt-out into account before picking him.
“We talked to him on his Zoom [meeting] about it,” Rousseau said. “He was still watching tape, he had access to all that. He was removed [from the team], but he was still hanging in there. He missed [football], and he didn’t want to do it, but that was the decision he decided to make, and we understood it.”
Rousseau joins a defensive ends group in Buffalo that already includes veterans Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison, second-year pass rusher A.J. Epenesa, Darryl Johnson, and newcomer Efe Obada. Beane factored in how Rousseau will fit into the group, and how Hughes and Addison can mentor him, once he arrives in Buffalo.
“We got some veterans in there, and [Hughes and Addison] are two of the best," Beane said. "They’re guys that are pros, tough, know how to work hard, know how to get in the training room; they’re grinders. Those guys did a great job of helping Epenesa grow last year, Darryl [Johnson] as well. I have no doubt that Jerry and Mario will show them what it is to be a pro.”
You can listen to Beane’s entire conference call with the Buffalo media below: