Recent Tryouts Suggest Buffalo Bills Aren't Satisfied With Current DTs

This past Sunday, the Buffalo Bills made the necessary moves to set their initial 53-man roster. They then signed 17 players to their practice squad, but as is always the case, those rosters are subject to change.

We were reminded of this on Thursday as the Bills hosted seven players for a tryout. Only one of those players was from the offensive side of the ball, with Buffalo kicking the tires on fullback Brock Lampe, who was released in early August by the Seattle Seahawks following an injury.

The Bills had two fullbacks during the offseason with undrafted free agent Jackson Ackers battling free-agent addition Ben VanSumeren. Neither made the 53-man roster, but clearly head coach Joe Brady is still considering using someone at the position and is considering Lampe, who spent 2025 playing for the New England Patriots before trying to catch on with Seattle this year.

Bills hosted six defensive tackles

Dallas Cowboys DT Jay Toia goes through a drill during practice at the Ford Center at the Star Training Facility. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As for the defensive side of the ball, the Bills were focused on one position: defensive tackle. Buffalo hosted the following six interior defenders on Thursday:

Cole Brevard
Earnest Brown
Fatorma Mulbah
Haggai Chisom Ndubuisi
Jay Toia
Zion Wilson

The most experienced player out of this bunch is Brown, who was a fifth-round pick for the Los Angeles Rams out of Northwestern in 2021. Brown has appeared in 15 games in his career and has 14 tackles with one tackle for loss.

Ndubuisi made his first NFL appearance in 2022 with the Arizona Cardinals. He has been on six different teams, but has appeared in just one game. That was last season with the Houston Texans and he had only one tackle.

Toia was a seventh-round pick for the Dallas Cowboys in 2025 and is intriguing for his massive size. At 6-foot-2 and 340 pounds, Toia is a prototypical nose tackle and was known for his run defense with UCLA. He appeared in five games for Dallas as a rookie, recording three tackles. He was released during final cuts and did not get added to their practice squad, which was somewhat surprising.

Purdue Boilermakers defensive lineman Cole Brevard walks the field before the game against the Oregon State Beavers. | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

The other three players have not had any NFL experience. Fatorma Mulbah was with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2025 and spent time in the UFL. As for Brevard and Wilson, they were both undrafted free agents this year. Brevard was unable to make it with the Kansas City Chiefs while Wilson was released by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Buffalo has had issues shutting down the run, finishing 28th in the league in run defense a year ago. They added Greg Gaines, but outside of that, they haven't done much to bolster their run defense. Their workouts on Thursday suggest they know it's still a weakness and are considering all options.

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