The fourth-year man needs to take a big leap forward
The Buffalo Bills use a heavy rotation on their defensive line. In doing so, they keep their linemen fresh, which theoretically allows for maximum pass-rush efficiency as time ticks down in games — and as seasons wear on into the long, cold winter.
While this heavy rotation tends to keep players fresh, it doesn’t always allow for players to maximize their own stat lines. This makes evaluating their output over the course of a season difficult, as they’re being compared to linemen who play hundreds-more snaps over the course of a season than they have. Considering some of Buffalo’s defensive linemen have only been part of the Bills for their career, those statistical comparisons become even more difficult.
Whereas top pass rushers like Maxx Crosby (95% of his team’s defensive snaps), T.J. Watt (83%), Khalil Mack (81%), and Micah Parsons (81%) are nearly always on the field — in Buffalo, the highest percentage of defensive snaps an edge rusher played last season was just 55%. The highest percentage of defensive snaps an edge player has played in head coach Sean McDermott’s entire tenure was 66%, which Jerry Hughes did in both 2017 and 2018.
In today’s edition of “91 players in 91 days,” we discuss last season’s top edge player in terms of snap count.
Greg Rousseau
- Number: 50
- Position: DE
- Height/Weight: 6’6”, 266 pounds
- Age: 24 (25 on 4/5/2025)
- Experience/Draft: 4; selected in the first round (No. 30 overall) of the 2021 NFL Draft by Buffalo
- College: Miami (FL)
- Acquired: First-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Rousseau enters the fourth year of his rookie contract, which is now a five-year deal since Buffalo picked up the fifth-year option present in all contracts for first-round picks. For the 2024 season, Rousseau carries a cap hit of $3,693,518.
2023 Recap: Rousseau had another solid, if unspectacular, season in terms of statistical output. He put plenty of pressure on opposing quarterbacks, notching five sacks, 18 quarterback hits, and 25 overall pressures in his 585 defensive snaps. All of those totals were career highs except for the sack number. Rousseau also had 42 tackles, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery on the season.
In the playoffs, he had five tackles, two quarterback hits, and the first sack of his postseason playing career. He missed one game last season, Buffalo’s Week 5 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in London, due to a foot injury.
Positional outlook: Rousseau is expected to reprise his role as one of the team’s two starting defensive ends. A.J. Epenesa, Von Miller, Dawuane Smoot, Javon Solomon, and Casey Toohill round out the group.
2024 Offseason: Rousseau is healthy and ready to roll. He was a menace in preseason action against the Pittsburgh Steelers, notching 2.5 sacks, four tackles, and three quarterback hits on just 11 defensive snaps.
2024 Season outlook: Rousseau has developed into a steady presence along the defensive line. He uses his exceptional length to seal the edge in the run game, and his pass-rush efficiency has improved each season. When Rousseau was drafted after sitting out the 2020 NCAA season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was fairly well-known that he was a developmental prospect with the tools to translate into an elite pass rusher. While he certainly has yet to prove himself to be “elite,” he has been much improved over the course of his career so far.
The problem is that the 2024 Buffalo Bills could really benefit from Rousseau being “elite.” That means that some of those plays where, in the past, he’s come close to making a play need to start becoming times where he makes a play. As I mentioned in the introduction, it’s hard to compare Rousseau’s numbers with that of other top-end, elite pass rushers thanks to the disparity in opportunity between him and those players who rarely come off the field. However, Rousseau needs to be closer to the game wrecker that he was against the Steelers in August than a player who blends in, does his job, and makes a play every so often.
The eye test tells me that Rousseau has been building towards becoming that game wrecker over the past two seasons. Last year, he had Leonard Floyd across from him, but teams still game-planned to neutralize Rousseau, which allowed his teammates on the other side (A.J. Epenesa included) to total 17 sacks. This year, it’s very likely that teams will again be game-planning to neutralize “Groot.” Hopefully, Epenesa and a healthier Von Miller can take advantage.
If they do, teams may start rolling their additional assignments away from Rousseau, which is exactly the scenario Buffalo wants. When opposing offenses don’t know which side to provide help because both ends are equally devastating, that’s when the boys up front can eat. Right now, Rousseau is a good edge player. He needs to be great, and given the trajectory of his career so far, I’m betting on him becoming great sooner rather than later.