Tomorrow will be the Buffalo Bills’ first chance at going up against an opponent in a live action atmosphere, and fans can’t wait for it. They will be welcoming in the Carolina Panthers, who already have one preseason game under their belt when they defeated the Arizona Cardinals in the Hall of Fame game.
Everyone knows that the preseason matters, but it’s not as super important from the fan perspective because each game doesn’t count on the team’s win/loss record. However, from the coaching point of view, these games give the coaching staff a chance to evaluate the talent that they have on the roster.
At the end of the day, they only get to carry 53 guys on the active roster going into, and throughout the regular season. When you only have three games to evaluate the players, it’s a tough job. What makes it even more tough is when they get hit with news about one of their current players that will be suspended to start out the 2026 season.
Bills' defensive line depth must now deal with suspension to open 2026
According to Ian Rapoport, Bills’ defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis has been suspended for the first three games of the regular season for violating the NFL’s Substances of Abuse Policy. While Mathis will be able to play in the preseason, his suspension will go into effect on August 30th and he will be reinstated on September 28th.
#Bills DT Phidarian Mathis is suspended for the club’s first three regular season games without pay for violating the NFL’s Substances of Abuse Policy. The suspension will begin on August 30 and he will be eligible for reinstatement on Monday, September 28.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 14, 2026
Last year, the Bills dealt with not one, but two suspensions with EDGE/OLB Michael Hoecht and DT Larry Ogunjobi as they had violated the league’s PED policy, and were each given a six game suspension which severely hurt the Bills’ depth on the defensive line.
Even though Mathis will only have half of that suspension, him not being available hurts the run-defense in terms of depth, and that is an area that the Bills cannot afford to be bad in for a second consecutive year, especially under a new defensive coordinator.
Bills must strongly consider bringing in extra depth for stability
This could very well be an overreaction. At the same time, injuries pop up all the time. With Mathis now not being available for the first three games, that puts more pressure on the current defensive linemen to step up and potentially lose more rest time.
However, if the Bills were to sign someone to the active roster to take the spot for atleast the first three games, then it atleast keeps the stability going in terms of how much time players are getting on the field.
Mathis is not a consistent starter, but he is a valuable rotational run-defender. He can help plug the middle and create a mess to make running backs have to pivot without warning. Not having him won’t be the end of the Bills, but it certainly doesn’t help the run-defense at all.
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