Buffalo Bills: 5 biggest winners and losers after the 2021 NFL Draft
Losers: Efe Obada/Darryl Johnson
On the other side, the defensive ends near the bottom of the depth chart should be a little more concerned about their place on the 53-man roster. The Bills selected Greg Rousseau and Carlos Basham Jr. with their first two picks and the defensive end position now becomes very crowded.
The Bills will likely carry five, possibly six, defensive ends on their 53-man roster this coming season and Rousseau, Basham Jr., and last year’s second round A.J. Epenesa should be almost guaranteed to make the roster. This now leaves two, maybe three, spots left and the team still has Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison on the team.
One player who seemed like a player who would be a roster cut after the draft was veteran Mario Addison. However, Brandon Beane specifically talked after the NFL Draft about Addison and it sounded like they believe he is a key part of this team this coming season.
If this is the case, this leaves that one potential spot the Buffalo Bills could have if they keep six defensive ends. This means that either Efe Obada or Daryl Johnson would be cut before the start of the season.
Obada is an interesting player and one who looked to have some potential as he improved every year the past three seasons with the Carolina Panthers. He was very productive in limited snaps this past year with 5.5 sacks on 39% of the defensive snaps.
As for Darryl Johnson, he hasn’t been involved much in the team’s rotation at defensive end but he is a key part of their special teams unit. When considering the final player in this rotation likely wouldn’t play much on defense, this could give Johnson the edge over Obada.