When the Buffalo Bills knew that they had a franchise quarterback in Josh Allen, the next biggest piece to the puzzle was bringing in a dominant edge rusher who could give the ball back to Allen. In the 2021 NFL Draft, the Bills drafted Miami defensive end Greg Rousseau at No. 30 overall and now he got his first big contract extension with the Bills this offseason (four-year, $80 million deal).
Rousseau didn’t have a ton of production in college but he was a potentially high reward prospect for the Bills. While Rousseau doesn’t have the big numbers like some edge rushers across the league, he does his job for the Bills and creates a lot of pressure on quarterbacks. It seems like he is in the backfield every other play on a pass.
He has 25 career sacks (with no more than 8 per season), but he has 66 QB hits so he has no problem getting to the quarterback. The Bills gave him his extension in hopes that he can take the step forward and become a force for offensive lines.
Greg Rousseau is slowly trending towards elite status at DE position
Per Jeremy Fowler, NFL executives, coaches, and scouts ranked the NFL’s best edge rushers going into the 2025 season and while Rousseau wasn’t listed as a top ten edge rusher, he did receive votes for recognition. He is in the same category with players like Khalil Mack, Rashan Gary, and Montez Sweat.
For a player who hasn’t reached 10 sacks in a season and is still getting votes as one of the best at his position, this shows us that Rousseau has caught the attention of people across the league and he is only going to get better. One of the best advantages that Rousseau has coming into this season is that the Bills brought in extra help with Joey Bosa and Landon Jackson, while also having A.J. Epenesa and Javon Solomon. So, Rousseau won’t need to play all three downs and can keep his body healthy.
However, at the same time, he did get a good amount of money from the Bills so now he has no choice but to produce and deliver results. The last thing Bills fans want to see is him not being effective and basically getting paid to not do much.