Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - My 2025 State of the Buffalo Bills series continues with a look at the defensive tackles:
Under contract:
- Ed Oliver
- DaQuan Jones
- DeWayne Carter
- Zion Logue
- Branson Dean
Pending free agents:
- Austin Johnson
- Jordan Phillips
- Quinton Jefferson
- Eli Ankou
State of the position:
This is a perfect time to talk about the state of this particular position, because there's been so much focus on the Bills possibly looking to select a defensive tackle early in this year's NFL Draft.
The general feeling is they'd like to get bigger and stronger on the interior of their defensive line, as well as be able to disrupt the quarterback better.
At 6-foot-1 and 287 pounds, Ed Oliver is an undersized tackle. He can be dominant at times as a penetrator, but those instances were not enough last year.
After a 9.5-sack performance in 2023, Oliver only registered 3.0 sacks in 2024, and wasn't consistently impactful enough.
The 27-year-old signed a contract extension prior to the 2023 season, and still has three years remaining on his deal, which will cost a little over $20 million on this year’s salary cap.
DaQuan Jones was one of the Bills' more notable free agents last offseason, but re-signed a two-year deal to return to the team.
At 6-foot-4 and 320-pounds, Jones is the perfect kind of big body to pair with Oliver. But much like Oliver, Jones' impact wasn't consistent enough in 2024, and the team needs more from the duo overall.
Jones just turned 33-years-old, and has one year left on a deal that will cost the team $9.4 million on the salary cap hit this season. Due to void years attached to the contract, moving on from him would only save the team $1.7 million in cap space, while still costing over $7 million in dead cap.
Rookie DeWayne Carter really started to flash in late September/early October. It looked like he was going to start being a factor in the rotation upfront, playing over 45% of defensive snaps over a three-game stretch, including over half of the snaps in back-to-back weeks.
However, a wrist injury in Week 7 sidelined Carter for five games. He came back to see the field for the last month of the regular season, but was inactive for every playoff game.
With a full offseason and healthy body, Carter should be an interesting player to watch in OTAs, minicamp, and training camp. The team, no doubt, will be expecting a big step up from him in Year 2.
After signing a one-year contract to join the Bills last offseason, veteran Austin Johnson played the fourth-most amount of snaps of any defensive tackle on the team, at 28%.
The 6-foot-1, 314-pounder will turn 31-years-old in May. He wasn't extremely productive on the stat sheet, but with injuries and a rotation-based system, he was on the field for about 20 snaps per-game.
Johnson will now be an unrestricted free agent once again.
So will Jordan Phillips and Quinton Jefferson, who both re-joined the club during the season after having spent time with the organization in years past.
Both players played exactly seven games for the club, mainly used as situational players.
Phillips was on the field for over 25% of the defensive snaps in the final two playoff games against the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs. He is a high-energy player who loves being in Buffalo and playing for the Bills. He said after the season, he’d love to return once again.
Both players will be 32-years-old next season, and both are scheduled to be unrestricted free agents in a few weeks.
Eli Ankou has been like a yo-yo on the team’s roster. He has spent time with six different clubs throughout his NFL career, but mostly with the Bills over the last four seasons.
Last year, he was on the practice squad for most of the season, elevated twice, then released and re-signed back to the practice squad multiple times when the team needed to make roster maneuvers.
The 30-year-old from Ottawa, Ontario has done a great job to stick around the NFL and be a contributor wherever he’s gone. He’ll now be an unrestricted free agent and have a chance to hook on with another club, or even come back to Buffalo once again.
Zion Logue and Branson Dean both signed reserve/future deals with the club after the season. They’ll return in 2025 to fight for spots.
Logue is a huge presence, standing at 6-foot-6 and 314 pounds. He’s played two NFL games, both with the Bills last year. He was signed off the Atlanta Falcons' practice squad in late September, then spent most of the season inactive before being released and re-signing with the practice squad.
Dean was on the Bills practice squad all year, elevated once, played a game and was then released near the end of the season before signing the futures deal. He is an undersized tackle at 6-foot-1 and 280-pounds
Related
