T.J. Parker's 74.5 PFF Grade and Sackless Streak Should Worry Fans as Bills Reset Draft Board

As the Buffalo Bills looked to upgrade their pass rush through the NFL Draft, it’s fair to question if T.J. Parker was the right man for the job.

Selected by the Bills with the No. 35 overall pick in the second round, Parker’s impressive ability to set the edge during his time with the Clemson Tigers has been well established. However, when it comes to his history of harassing opposing quarterbacks, there is plenty to be concerned about.

Parker’s sack total dropped from 11 in 2024 to just five in 2025, when three of his sacks came in his team’s final game of the season. Before that explosive performance, he suffered through a seven-game sackless streak. The Clemson product earned a Pro Football Focus pass-rush grade of 74.5, which was ranked 180th out of 852 players graded at the position.

For a team that should be aiming for a significant step forward in the sack department, it seems like Parker’s selection is the same old song and dance performed by the team year after year at perhaps the most important position on the defensive side of the ball.

And that’s a problem.

A prototypical piece

Clemson Tigers defensive end T.J. Parker (12) celebrates a sack against the Syracuse Orange in the first quarter at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

As I mentioned in a previous article, Parker’s skill set is eerily similar to that of former Bills draft picks Greg Rousseau, A.J. Epenesa and last year’s third-round pick Landon Jackson. All four players were projected as solid edge-setting defenders entering the draft, but their ability to pressure opposing quarterbacks and get them to the ground has proven to be middling at best.

Rousseau, a former first-round pick, has developed into a solid but not great player at this stage of his career, while sack production has always been a point of contention with him. Epenesa, a former second-rounder, has been less effective and now sits in free agency unsigned after a failed deal with the Cleveland Browns this offseason. It’s too early to judge Jackson, whose rookie campaign got off to a slow start before it was disrupted by injury, but let's just say things are looking too good for him right now.

Rather than make a move for a big-time athlete with bend and burst off the edge, the Bills selected another player with a comparable play style to that of several of the team’s former picks. A redundancy that should worry fans and will come back to haunt them down the road.

Resetting the board

Buffalo now moves into the third and final day of the draft with three fourth-round picks [101, 125, 126], two fifth-rounders [167, 168] and No. 220 in the seventh round. They remain with several roster holes, with the most glaring being at wide receiver and inside linebacker. Buffalo could also select a defensive tackle or safety in Rounds 4 through 7.

A couple of names to watch at two of those positions include UConn WR Skyler Bell and Oklahoma DT Gracen Halton, who the Bills could be targeting with their first pick of Round 4.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google