Buffalo Bills: 4 questions at defensive end entering training camp

Can Jerry Hughes bounce back this year?

In 2013, the Buffalo Bills made a trade with the Indianapolis Colts that sent linebacker Kelvin Sheppard for Jerry Hughes. At the time, the deal didn’t garner huge headlines and it felt very much like it was just a deal to help with depth. However, that deal will go down as one of the best trades the Buffalo Bills have ever made.

Over the past seven years, Hughes has developed into an excellent pass rusher, including 20 sacks in his first two years with the Bills. However, at 31 years of age the question of how much he has left has started to creep up.

The reason is that he is coming off a down year last season with only 4.5 sacks during the regular season. However, after the season it came to light that he had been dealing with a number of injuries and had groin and wrist surgery this offseason.

In addition to the fact that he is fully healthy now, another sign pointing to a possible bounce back year was how he played in the playoff game against the Houston Texans. He nearly matched his season total in that one game as he had three sacks.

While the team did add other defensive ends, Jerry Hughes is the one player that can elevate their pass rush the most.