Bills' Biggest Question Mark Remaining After Draft Will Put Run Defense At Significant Risk

The Bills have not done enough to address one of its most significant weaknesses entering the offseason.

Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Deone Walker (96)v applies pressure on Cleveland Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders (12) during the second half at Huntington Bank Field. | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

The Buffalo Bills’ biggest remaining question mark following the NFL Draft is at defensive tackle, where the team failed to adequately address one of its most significant roster holes entering the offseason.

Buffalo drafted Penn State DT Zane Durant in the fifth round of the draft, using pick No. 181 to bring in the athletic interior defender. However, despite a skill set that suggests Durant possesses a high ceiling as a prospect, his play style and strengths in the trenches were not what the Bills needed.

Buffalo was one of the worst run defenses in the league in 2025, and as a result, should have pressed harder to add a big-bodied player to help slow opposing ball carriers. Instead, they wound up with Durant, who is yet another young player with what has become a redundant skill set in the Bills’ defensive line room.

Major similarities

Penn State Nittany Lions defensive tackle Zane Durant (28) celebrates after a stop during the third quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Durant measures 6-foot-1, 287 pounds, strikingly similar to the frames of 2025 second-round pick T.J. Sanders [6-foot-4, 297 pounds] and 2019 first-round pick Ed Oliver [6-foot-1, 287 pounds], both of whom are expected to factor heavily into what the Bills plan to do defensively this season. With all three players bearing the same size along with similar athletic, pass-rush-first skill sets, it’s tough to imagine the Bills taking the leap in defending against the run that it plans to under first-year defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.

One player who was available for the Bills to acquire as a free agent as recently as May 5 was DJ Reader [6-foot-3, 330 pounds], but the New York Giants scooped him up on a relatively low-cost two-year, $12.5 million contract. That left the Bills with waning remaining free-agent options to step in and help the run defense.

Potential options

Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Greg Gaines (96) celebrates after a sack during the game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. | Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

There are two players with ties to the Bills still available on the open market, as veterans DaQuan Jones and Larry Ogunjobi remain free agents. However, Ogunjobi’s lone season with the Bills was a disaster, beginning with a PED suspension and ending with him being ineffective while recording a Pro Football Focus run defense grade of 53.2, which ranked 74th among 132 players graded at the position.

Jones is 34, so I don’t see him as a good fit for the Bills’ new defensive youth movement. He finished the 2025 season with 12 games played, recording three sacks and three tackles for loss.

Another possible option is veteran Greg Gaines, who is a bit younger than Jones at 30 years old, and measures 6-foot-1, 312 pounds, so he is more well-sized than many of the in-house options the Bills have to stand alongside 2025 fourth-round pick Deone Walker, who is expected to be the team’s starting nose tackle in 2026. Buffalo is expected to move 2024 third-round pick DeWayne Carter inside to help out at nose, but he has never proven to be the most stout defender against the run.

Gaines has spent seven seasons in the NFL, the last three with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He recorded a couple of sacks along with three tackles for loss in his final season in Tampa Bay. He earned a PFF run-defense grade of 51.1 a season ago.

As I mentioned previously, there aren’t many good options remaining, but this is… one of them? Gaines’ projected market value is $2 million, according to Spotrac.

It appears, at least for now, that the Bills expect to go forward with their current group rather than add a veteran late before training camp. However, keep your eyes peeled for a potential move over the next few months, as Buffalo could certainly use a boost in the middle of its defense.

If they don’t add one by the time they take the field in Week 1, it will put them at significant risk of repeating their poor performance against opposing rushing attacks, as we saw this past season.

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