Terrel Bernard
Among the rookie class, it will be tough for Christian Benford, Luke Tenuta, and Baylon Spector to move up the depth chart to make an impact this year. After those three, the next player is third round pick Terrel Bernard out of Baylor.
The Bills have typically played a nickel defense under Sean McDermott and those two linebackers have been Tremaine Edmunds and Matt Milano. For Bernard as a rookie, it would be surprising to see him surpass either starter.
However, the addition of Bernard to this roster gives the coaching staff some flexibility in their formations. At times, this defense was over-powered facing more run-heavy offenses or ones that utilize two tight end sets.
Bernard, similar to Milano, does a good job in pass coverage and when Buffalo faces some of these offenses, they can move to a 4-3 defense with Bernard as the third linebacker. It gives them a little more size without giving up much in terms of pass coverage.
As a rookie, Bernard will be limited to these certain situations so it may be tough to reach that 50% mark but it wouldn’t be surprising to see the coaching staff use more of these sub-packages in 2022.