Bills Linebackers on the Roster Bubble vs. Roster Locks

Linebacker is one of the few positions with a starting spot up for grabs entering training camp.

Buffalo Bills linebacker Joe Andreessen (44) leaves the field after a game against the New York Jets. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With training camp approaching, one of the few Buffalo Bills position groups with a starting spot still available is inside linebacker, where the Bills will be replacing a couple of veterans who were on the roster a season ago.

Both Shaq Thompson and Matt Milano remain free agents, leaving a role on the Bills’ first-team defense up for grabs, which is likely to be filled by one of two players.

After Dorian Williams was lost this offseason due to injury, that allowed rookie Kaleb Elarms-Orr to take a step toward solidifying a prominent position in the starting lineup alongside Terrel Bernard during the 2026 fourth-round pick’s first professional season. However, we will have to wait and see the team take the field for camp before we know for sure what this expected positional battle will look like leading up to Week 1.

With both players in line to compete for a starting role, that leaves Williams and Elarms-Orr as obvious roster locks with the first training camp practice scheduled for July 29. Williams received a concerning Pro Football Focus overall defense grade of 55.3 during his time on the field in 2025. Elarms-Orr has yet to show his stuff at the professional level, but could very well prove to be a better option than his veteran teammate.

Elarms-Orr was a standout in college, earning an 82.5 overall defense grade from PFF during his final season with the TCU Horned Frogs in 2025. He finished his last collegiate campaign with 130 tackles and 11 tackles for loss and many analysts believe he displayed pro-ready traits during his senior year.

Assessing other Bills LBs sure to make the roster

Buffalo Bills linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr (52) trains during Buffalo Bills Minicamp. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Aside from Williams, Elarms-Orr and Bernard, it will be interesting to see how the rest of the position group shakes out. Joe Andreessen is likely to fill in as a depth piece as he has since the team brought him in as an undrafted free agent in 2024. Andreessen has played in 30 games during his first two professional campaigns, but has never exceeded 14% of the team’s defensive snaps in a season.

He has been a key special teams contributor, playing 71% or more of the Bills’ snaps in that phase each of the past two years. Andreessen may be the fourth and final inside LB added to Buffalo’s roster at the end of the summer, but there are a few other names to keep an eye on.

Keonta Jenkins and others are on the Bills’ roster bubble

Bills linebacker Keonta Jenkins works extra coverage reps in before day three of Buffalo Bills training camp at St. John Fisher University. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Behind Andreessen, Keonta Jenkins is likely the next-best option currently positioned on the Bills’ roster. The former undrafted free agent transitioned back and forth from the team’s practice squad to the active roster during his rookie campaign in 2025, which may give him a leg up among Buffalo’s other options in the fight for a potential roster spot.

With that said, Jenkins is nowhere near a roster lock, joining several other names who will be vying to stick around throughout the team’s time at training camp. That list includes last summer’s fan favorite Jimmy Ciarlo, a former Army West Point captain, along with 29-year-old veteran Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and undrafted rookie Theron Gaines.

Fowles spent the 2025 season with the New York Giants, where new Bills inside linebackers coach served in the same role last year. Gaines recorded 108 tackles for Tennessee Tech during his final collegiate season.