The Buffalo Bills have confirmed what Greg Rousseau's role will be in their new defense, and the hope is that his pass-rush production will improve.
With a new coaching staff for the first time in nine years, there are plenty of changes coming for the Buffalo Bills. One of those changes involves a new 3-4 base defense under defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.
Because of the shift, some players will be moving positions. One of those players is Greg Rousseau. Since being drafted in the first round out of Miami in 2021, Rousseau has exclusively played defensive end for the Bills. This season, however, that's going to change.
Speaking with The Athletic ahead of the 2026 NFL Draft, general manager and president of football operations Brandon Beane was asked where the team sees the 26-year-old lining up. For Beane, head coach Joe Brady, and the Bills, there's no question about it.
"Yeah, I think he’ll be on the outside ‘backer," Beane said. "You’re not gonna see him dropping [into coverage] as much as you would some other guys. But he can still do it enough — he might do it one time a game."
He added that having him drop back in coverage doesn't give the Bills Rousseau's best value as a player. That said, if needed, Beane believes Rousseau is "versatile enough" to drop back.
"Like anything, if we needed him to go do it, if these guys are like, ‘man, you’re the best guy,’ Greg would," he said. "But we see him in the outside ‘backer group, not that 3-4, 5-tech, 4i type stuff."
Rousseau is coming off a season in which he played 16 games, recording 7 sacks and 46 tackles. For his career, Rousseau has 32 sacks, 228 tackles, 17 passes defended, and seven forced fumbles over five seasons.
In the playoffs, however, he has just four sacks and 30 tackles in 11 games. He's also failed to reach double-digit sacks in any of his five years.
Rousseau is entering the first year of his four-year, $80 million contract extension he signed with the Bills last season. With a move to outside linebacker and a higher salary, there will certainly be more pressure on the former Miami Hurricane to step up and be the pass rusher the team drafted him to be five years ago.
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