The Buffalo Bills kicked off their first week of voluntary organized team activities this week and Sean McDermott met with the media prior to the first practice on Tuesday. He provided an update on one of the key position battles this offseason on defense.
The Bills will be looking for a player to replace Tremaine Edmunds at middle linebacker and have a number of options that includes Tyrel Dodson and Terrel Bernard. However, it appears that third round pick Dorian Williams is also going to be factoring into that competition.
Buffalo Bills lining up Dorian Williams at middle linebacker during OTAs
According to Joe Buscaglia of The Athletic, Sean McDermott said that Dorian Williams will be playing middle linebacker during OTAs and the focus for him is to just learn that position.
This is a pretty significant shift from what Brandon Beane said about Williams after he was drafted. At the time, Beane said he would start out at outside linebacker and potentially factor in at middle linebacker.
Dorian Williams was the third round pick by the Buffalo Bills in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft and was a tackling machine at Tulane with over 300 total tackles the past three seasons.
The Bills coaching staff got a chance to work with Williams earlier this month at the rookie minicamp and they might have seen something that gave them confidence that he is ready to step into that role at middle linebacker.
Another potential reason might be that with middle linebacker being the ideal position for Williams, having him start there and learn just one position instead of starting at outside linebacker before moving to middle linebacker might help with the learning curve.
Regardless of the reason, the fact that Williams is already playing middle linebacker dramatically helps his chances of starting as a rookie this season.