Orchard Park, NY (WGR550) - With plenty of possibilities on the board with pick No. 35 in the NFL Draft, the Bills jumped head-first back into a familiar pool - the defensive line - and specifically on the edge.
T.J. Parker of Clemson is the third defensive lineman the team has drafted with its first-round pick since Brandon Beane became general manager in 2017, joining Ed Oliver (2019) and Greg Rousseau (2021). He’s the sixth defensive lineman taken in the first two rounds in Beane’s tenure, adding A.J. Epenesa (2020), Boogie Basham (2021), and T.J. Sanders (2025).
The Phenix City, Alabama, native joins a Bills defensive front that already has starters Greg Rousseau and Bradley Chubb, along with third-year edge-rusher Javon Solomon, whom the team has been heaping a lot of praise on this offseason, as well as Michael Hoecht, Landon Jackson, and Andre Jones, Jr..
Hoecht is recovering from a torn Achilles. If he isn’t fully ready to go at the start of the season, Parker will give new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard more depth and options in his immediate rotation. Once Hoecht is full-go, it will be interesting to see how Parker fits into the new hybrid 3-4 Leonhard plans on employing.
Jackson is coming off a season-ending knee injury. But he may project more to a defensive end in the new scheme, with the edge rushers outside of him with a five-man base front.
Beane said earlier this week this draft may have some more older players than drafts in year’s past due to the extra Covid year college athletes received from the NCAA and others staying in school longer due to NIL rules and the ability to get paid. Parker, however, is still just 21 years old. He’s turn 22 in September.
He will win more with power than speed from the edge. At 6’3”, but just 263 pounds, that power will be tested at the NFL level, but he plays violently with his hands at the point of attack, which has allowed him to beat offensive lineman at a consistent level at Clemson.
Parker’s 19.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks were the most by a Clemson player since Clelin Ferrell, who went fourth-overall to the Raiders in 2019.
Parker has also proven to have a nose for the football, setting the Clemson single-season record with six forced.
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