Bills' one-year defensive experiment fizzles out in playoff loss as free agency looms

The Buffalo Bills signed him to help stop Patrick Mahomes, and, in the end, he couldn't even handle Bo Nix.

In what should be his last game wearing a Bills' uniform, veteran defensive end Joey Bosa didn't hit Nix all night until landing a cheap shove in overtime.

Outside of the late-game "roughing the passer" penalty, and breaking contain on a couple of occasions, Bosa was practically invisible throughout the Bills' 33-30 divisional round playoff loss to the Denver Broncos on Saturday at Mile High Stadium.

He finished with three tackles and no sacks over 60 defensive snaps against the Broncos. Like Buffalo's pass rush as a whole, Bosa clearly lacked juice in Denver.

Joey Bosa just lost it in the tunnel. pic.twitter.com/5tCWGeLlLZ
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) January 18, 2026

Not only did the Bills fail to sack Nix on any of his 46 drop backs, they managed to produce pressure on only one of out every five pass attempts (per NextGenStats).

Complete playoff no-show

It was the second week in a row where Bosa appeared impotent coming off the edge. Prior to the disappointing showing in Denver, he was a non-factor in the wild-card win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Bosa came away with no tackles in 31 snaps against the Jaguars, and he was physically dominated on a run play by wide recover Jakobi Meyers.

MORE: Bills DE Joey Bosa vents frustration in epic fashion following loss to Broncos

Bills' defensive coordinator Bobby Babich didn't mince words when evaluating the performance.

"Don't let it happen again. Play the way we know Joey Bosa can play," said Babich.

Unfortunately, Bosa was unable to rebound in Denver. He finished with no sacks and one QB hit over two playoff games.

Jan 17, 2026; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) throws during the fourth quarter of an AFC Divisional Round playoff game against the Buffalo Bills | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Underperformed expectations

Bosa showed he was capable of nothing more than flashes at this stage of his career. His production isn't bad for a role player, but it's not close to worthy of the $12.6 million starter contract he signed last March (per Spotrac).

Although he was able to remain available throughout the regular season, it appeared as if the heavy workload eventually took its toll on the 30-year-old Bosa as time wore on.

Overall, he underperformed in terms of recording only 5.0 regular season sacks over 15 games. Meanwhile, Von Miller recorded 9.0 sacks for the Washington Commanders. Bosa did forced five fumbles, but four of them came during the month of September.

MORE: Bills suffer another playoff exit due to same Sean McDermott-rooted shortcomings

His last sack was on November 30 when he stripped Aaron Rodgers in one of his few impactful plays during the season's second half. Bosa totaled one quarterback hit over his last four appearances combined. After a key pass deflection against Drake Maye in the December 14 win over the New England Patriots. he was hardly heard from again.

Other than a handful of awesome plays, Bosa was rather pedestrian throughout his 10th NFL season. He routinely failed to keep contain on run plays and was a repeat victim to over pursuit. It also didn't help matters that he fought through wrist and hamstring injuries at different points in the year.

Bosa seems like a nice guy and good teammate. No longer, however, is he a reliable gamewrecker. It was an idea worth trying, but the end result left a lot to be desired.

Set to become an unrestricted free agent, Bosa should be a one-and-done with the Bills.

Buffalo Bills defensive end Joey Bosa grabs his wrist on the sideline during second half action against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Nov 16, 2025 at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park. | Tina MacIntyre-Yee/Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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