Who will lead the Buffalo Bills in sacks in 2021?
One of the focuses for the Buffalo Bills this offseason has been to improve their pass rush. There is a case to be made that they should be better in 2021 considering they added Greg Rousseau and Carlos Basham Jr. in the 2021 NFL Draft and players like Ed Oliver and A.J. Epenesa can improve on past seasons and develop into more prominent pass rushers.
However, those scenarios are far from guaranteed, and the Bills coaching staff has always liked rotating players along the defensive line. When considering the players previously mentioned, along with Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison still on the roster, there are a number of candidates who could end up finishing the year leading the team in sacks. I rank the five players most likely to accomplish that in 2021.
5. Matt Milano
The hope is that the leader in sacks will come from someone on the defensive line but over the years the Bills have gotten good production in this category from the linebacker position. Last season, A.J. Klein ended up being tied for the team lead with five and in 2018 Lorenzo Alexander finished the year with 6.5.
If there is a linebacker who could finish the season leading the team in sacks it would be Matt Milano. Last season, even though he missed a large portion of the season and started only five games, he had 3.5 sacks and 10 pressures.
However, the hope for the Buffalo Bills this season is to get enough pressure with their front four and not have to send additional players on blitzes. If Milano ends up leading the team in sacks, they weren’t able to achieve what they hoped for.