Buffalo Bills: Jordan Poyer describes why Star Lotulelei is important to defense

Last year, one of the big absences on the Buffalo Bills defense was tackle Star Lotulelei. The veteran opted out of last season due to the pandemic.

He is expected to return this season and while he is working out on his own, as evidence by this video on Twitter, there is no question that Sean McDermott appeared frustrated in his answer when asked if the starting defensive tackle was at OTA.

Certainly part of that frustration had to come from the fact that Star Lotulelei is a big part of what has made the Buffalo Bills defense so successful recently. He is a defensive tackle that won’t have big numbers in the box score but he is a player that makes the players around him better.

On Wednesday, Jordan Poyer was asked about Star Lotulelei and his answer summed up pretty nicely what he does for this defense and Jon Scott of Spectrum News tweeted his response.

Lotulelei is a player that will win in the trenches by commanding those double teams as Poyer notes and this is something that shouldn’t be understated. The way Lotulelei is able to hold those blocks keeps an offensive lineman from moving to the second and third level to block Tremaine Edmunds, Matt Milano, and eventually Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde.

The way Lotulelei takes on the double team also helps on the defensive line. The return of the starting one-tech should help Ed Oliver, who moves back to being more of a three-tech and with more one-on-one matchups, the third-year player could be in line for a career season.

This is a big reason why Jordan Poyer describes Star Lotulelei as a player who is selfless. He does the little things that often go unnoticed in the course of a game but his teammates certainly recognize it. Hopefully, Star Lotulelei is back sooner rather than later because the defense is certainly better with him on the field.