Palm Beach, Fla. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - While the Buffalo Bills navigate the six-game suspensions of two defensive linemen to start the 2025 season, they’ll have to rely even more on others to contribute during that stretch. That includes two second-year players in defensive end Javon Solomon and defensive tackle DeWayne Carter.
Solomon, a fifth-round pick last year out of Troy University, was primarily a special teams contributor last season. He only saw action on defense in 11 games, but flashed at times, showing both speed and power off the edge, finishing with 2.0 sacks.
As for Carter, the third-round choice from Duke University in 2024, really started to flash in late September and into early October. It looked like he was going to start being a factor in the rotation up front, 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 him 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.
Earlier the month, it was announced that defensive end Michael Hoecht and defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, both players the Bills signed as unrestricted free agents, will be suspended six games for violation of the league's policy on performance enhancing drugs.
While speaking at the annual league meetings in Florida on Monday, Bills head coach Sean McDermott said it's going to be important for both players to have an impact, especially during the absence of Hoecht and Ogunjobi.
“It's going to be big,” said McDermott. “We’re going to probably be pretty young because of the two suspensions that we had with the guys. We're gonna need some young players to step in and develop, and develop in a hurry. I thought ‘DC’ [Carter] got off to a good start last year, then he had the injury, of course. And ‘Solly’ [Solomon] showed different things throughout the course of the year. Some special teams-wise, some defensively at the line of scrimmage. They'll be counted on big-time to come back this year and help us.”
