Bills offseason position spotlight: Defensive line
Turns out the Bills had the right defensive mindset heading into their matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game. They just lacked the horses to pull it off.
The multi-talented and underrated Tampa Bay Buccaneers' defense proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt in blowing out the Chiefs, 31-9, in Sunday night's Super Bowl.
Like the Bills, they positioned their safeties deep to keep the Chiefs' speedy receivers, particularly Tyreek Hill, from beating them over the top. And they paid extra attention to tight end Travis Kelce.
But unlike the Bills, they were able to generate a devastating pass rush without sending extra players at quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
That's what proved to be the difference.
Of course, the Bucs had two weeks to prepare for the Chiefs playing without right tackle Eric Fisher, who played nearly the whole game against the Bills before suffering a torn Achilles tendon late in the game. So maybe the Bills would have been able to contain Mahomes better had they been playing against the weakened line the whole time.
But the bottom line is that the Bills' front four wasn't nearly as dynamic as Tampa Bay's, which might have turned out to be the biggest reason the Chiefs made it to the Super Bowl instead of the Bills.
In this latest installment examining each Bills' position group, we focus on the defensive line and where they go from here.
The Bills have invested heaviest in their defensive line since Brandon Beane became general manager in 2017. And although their line did not perform poorly in 2020 by any means, they were expecting more.
"I don't think as a group they were in-sync early," Beane said in his season-ending press conference. "I think no preseason probably didn't help that group with all the changes, including both coaches. But I thought [DL coach] Eric [Washington] and [defensive coordinator] Leslie [Frazier] did a great job to figure out what these guys do well.
"We were a little smaller up front, so figuring out who can anchor in there, who can provide pass rush. We don't want to get run on all day, but we also have to get some guys in there to affect the quarterback. I think the second half of the year those guys played really well."
But in the end, not well enough.
Pro Football Focus ranked the Bills 21st in the NFL in pressure percentage (22.7%) and 26th in hurry percentage (7.8%).
So does this mean the Bills give up on three of their most recent free-agent acquisitions, Mario Addison, Quinton Jefferson and Vernon Butler? They certainly are in position to gain a great deal of savings under the restrictive 2021 salary cap because of the way Beane structured their contracts.
But the answers aren't so obvious.
The Bills may believe that Addison, a defensive end who will turn 34 in September, can return to the form he showed in a four-year stretch from 2019 through 2019, when he totaled 39 sacks for the Carolina Panthers.
Addison's 5.0 sacks in 2020 were the lowest he's had as a fulltime player in this league.
They also may believe that Jefferson, the defensive tackle who will turn 28 in March, has better days ahead.
But there wasn't much evidence of that in 2020, when he delivered just 3.0 sacks and his quarterback hits dropped to six after 10 the year before and 15 in 2018, while with the Seattle Seahawks.
A similar decision must be made about defensive tackle Butler, who parlayed a 6.0-sack season with Carolina in 2019 into a two-year contract with the Bills, with whom his production dropped to zero sacks in 2020.
Of course Butler and everyone else may have been more productive had Star Lotulelei not opted out due to COVID-19.
Lotulelei being out impacted everyone, Beane suggested, including second-year defensive tackle Ed Oliver, their 2019 first-round draft pick, and maybe even defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, who still wasn't close to 100 percent after tearing an ACL the year before.
One thing is certain: They will need more from defensive end A.J. Epenesa, who struggled to get his weight right as a rookie in 2020.
"We asked him to get his body weight down, make it a better body comp from a fat percentage," Beane said, "and not only did he get it down, he went way down. He came in probably a little too light, lighter than we wanted. But that showed how hard he had worked this offseason.
"I think he came in and started a little slow and we were a little worried how he'd hold up against the run early on. He added a little bit, but he couldn't move the needle. I thought he played well. He improved his pass rush."
Epenesa isn't going anywhere. But fellow DE Jerry Hughes might have played his last game as a Bill. Hughes will turn 33 in August and bring more than $7 million in cap relief if let go.
However they decided to go about it, the Bills know they have to get better up front on defense in 2021 or have little chance of ever taking that next step in their evolution as a true championship contender.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro.
