Buffalo Bills expected to use a committee to replace Star Lotulelei

The Buffalo Bills are expected to lean on multiple players to replace Star Lotulelei against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

One of the big returns for the Buffalo Bills defense this season was supposed to be defensive tackle Star Lotulelei. He opted out of last season due to the pandemic and the defense struggled at times, particularly against the run, and forced players like Ed Oliver to play out of position.

Unfortunately, the Bills will need to wait at least one more week to get their starting defensive tackle back as Lotulelei will miss Week 1 due to a calf injury. This wasn’t much of a surprise considering Lotulelei didn’t practice this week due to the injury.

Buffalo Bills to go with a committee to replace Star Lotulelei

Chris Brown with the Buffalo Bills tweeted on Friday morning that McDermott said the Bills will be going with a committee to replace Star Lotulelei this week against the Steelers.

The names mentioned aren’t much of a surprise and all were likely to see snaps on Sunday. The Buffalo Bills coaching staff tries to rotate players pretty frequently during the course of a game on the defensive line.

The biggest question will be what the rotation now looks like without Lotulelei. The player who likely sees the biggest increase is Harrison Phillips, who brings a similar skill set to the position that Lotulelei does. The former third round pick is more of a one-tech and can help against the run more.

The Bills also used Ed Oliver last season at the one-tech at times to fill the void left by Lotulelei’s absence. The coaching staff could look to him as well but he is better suited as a three-tech and he can have more of an impact focusing on getting penetration and trying to make plays behind the line of scrimmage.

The Buffalo Bills defense is going to be trying to stop one of the best running backs in this year’s NFL Draft, Najee Harris, and this will be a big test for the defensive tackles this week.