How Will the Bills’ Linebacker Room Shake Out For the Stretch Run?
Credit: Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
Matt Milano has been an excellent player for the Bills for a long time. His best season came just two years ago, where he notched First Team All-Pro honors and had 3.0 sacks in two postseason games, which fully justified his debut in the NFL Top 100 Players rankings to kick off the 2023 season.
A nice #NFLTop100 debut for @MatthewMilanoo. 👌
📺: NFL+ pic.twitter.com/KYotqZSKVU
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) July 28, 2023
Buffalo already said the Nice thing, so we’re not going to say it.
Since then, Milano has been bitten hard by the injury bug, suffering a fractured leg in Week 6 of the 2023 season, and tearing his bicep in practice this preseason. Dorian Williams, the Bills’ third-round pick from 2023, has played the majority of snaps in his place since then. Even upon Milano’s return, Williams’ level of play has shown that he won’t give back the starting job without a fight.
It feels like we need to give some love to Dorian Williams. Fast, physical, and improving each and every week. The Bills are going to be in the middle of a great problem to have when Milano returns, because Dorian is absolutely earning the right to see the field.#BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/nsEtgrN3A3
— Lauren Elizabeth🌹 (@xLauren_Mx) October 8, 2024
In addition to currently leading Buffalo in tackles (74) and defensive stops (40), PFF grades Williams as Buffalo’s third-best run defender (77.4) as well as their best pass-rushing linebacker (75.5). Milano, on the other hand, has struggled with poor play and injuries upon his return, and he was inactive in Week 16 vs. the New England Patriots. Milano also out-snapped Williams in the two games in which the Bills gave up a combined 92 points. At that point, Buffalo’s defense came under heavy scrutiny, despite the fact the first eleven games of the season — in which Williams was a starting lineup mainstay — saw the Bills allow the NFL’s second-fewest points (21.4).
In their Week 14 loss to the Rams, Williams did not see a single defensive snap, all while Milano recorded more missed tackles (three) than converted tackles (second). Milano’s season-long missed tackle rate of 31.6% is the third-highest on the team.
Even with that, Sean McDermott seems ready to give Milano, who made the Pro Bowl in 2022, every opportunity to reinsert himself into the lineup, and perhaps rightfully so.
“I can tell you, [Milano is] going to be given every opportunity to get back and to perform,” McDermott told Bills beat reporter Matt Barrino. “Is it going to take some time, absolutely, like it would for anyone who’s been out the number of months he’s been out. So I think we owe him that. And then there is certainly a team element to this bigger picture.”
However, in the current moment, with the Bills defense struggling of late upon Milano’s return, there’s a good case to ride the hot hand in Williams.
This kind of “giving the reps to the veteran instead of the younger hot hand” conundrum is not unique to Buffalo. For example, the Cincinnati Bengals’ long-time defensive end Sam Hubbard, was continuously given the majority of snaps despite showing a consistent inability to rush the passer, as he only logged two sacks during the entire 2024 season. With younger defensive ends on their team like Joseph Ossai and Myles Murphy now getting snaps due to Hubbard’s season-ending injury, the Bengals had five sacks in Week 16.
But the decision on how to give out playing time to both Milano and Williams is in the hands of McDermott. And in fairness, there’s more to the decision than what we see on the field. The decision may come down to on-field chemistry, and who gels more effectively with Terrel Bernard, and it also may come from the team’s faith in Milano to shake off the rust.
“What’s the connection with the person that they’re playing next to?” McDermott said. “So in this case, Milano next to [Bernard] – is Dorian and [Bernard], are they more comfortable with each other? And so we’ve had some of that, really, through the whole course of the season, defensively. And now we’ve been out those four guys, and so hopefully we’re getting some of them back. They can get back and work together, Matt included. So at the end of the day, Matt’s a team player, and I think that’s the short answer, is… because he’s such a great person, great team player, he’ll respect whatever decision we have to make.”
Buffalo is primed to lock in the No. 2 seed by winning on Sunday against the New York Jets. The offense is locked, loaded, and ready to go, but the defense is facing some questions. They’ll need to figure them out, and at the top of the list is determining what to do with Milano underperforming and Williams shining.
Up Next