Sean McDermott’s love of wrestling comes in handy
The Buffalo Bills and head coach Sean McDermott have clearly shown an affinity for former wrestlers during their time together. McDermott, a wrestler himself growing up, has long discussed the discipline that the sport teaches, as well as the lessons on leverage and using one’s body that come with success on the mat.
While the team has employed plenty of former wrestlers, or football players who traded in their fall-sport cleats for their winter-sport singlet, they took a bigger plunge into the deep end of the wrestling pool this past month. Not only did they sign a former wrestler, but they inked one who is a former gold-medalist who’s never played football at any level in his life.
Will the gamble pay off on the field? Only time will tell. For now, in our latest edition of “91 players in 91 days,” we discuss the Bills’ latest addition along the defensive line.
Name: Gable Steveson
Number: 61
Position: DT
Height/Weight: Reports vary. Wikipedia lists him at 6’1” and 265 pounds., but I’ve seen him listed at anywhere between 265 and 280.
Age: 24 (25 on 5/31/2025)
Experience/Draft: R; signed with Bills on 5/31/2024
College: Minnesota
Acquired: Signed with Bills on 5/31/2024
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Steveson’s one-year contract is worth a total of $795,000 overall, none of which is guaranteed. I’ve read reports of his deal being three years, but Spotrac has him locked in for a one-year deal.
2023 Recap: Steveson spent the year on the NXT program of the WWE franchise. He was with the company through early 2024, but he was released from his contract prior to signing with Buffalo.
Positional outlook: Steveson is one of eight defensive tackles on the roster. The others are Ed Oliver, Eli Ankou, DeShawn Williams, DeWayne Carter, DaQuan Jones, Branson Deen, and Austin Johnson.
2024 Offseason: Steveson just signed after a tryout with the team, so he hasn’t had much opportunity in OTAs thus far.
2024 Season outlook: This is an interesting signing for the Bills in terms of searching for talent in untapped markets. While Steveson is on the small side for a professional defensive tackle, he very clearly understands that the low man wins, and his functional strength is obviously of elite caliber given that he won a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
The difference in wrestling and football, of course, is that opposing wrestlers are all around the same weight, whereas the other guys in a football game aren’t bound by such rules. Offensive linemen who outweigh Steveson by 50 pounds could use their significant size advantage to negate any leverage advantage he has.
Perhaps the Bills’ strength and conditioning team can add 20 pounds or so to Steveson and teach him the technique needed to succeed as a rotational player, but I think this is more likely a dart-throw at an elite athlete than it is anything else. Steveson is a long shot for even the practice squad given his inexperience, but stranger things have happened.