All signs pointed to former third-round pick DeWayne Carter being cut after the preseason, and now he’s actually playing quality football as a rotational defensive tackle in Jim Leonhard’s scheme.
And it took two rather rare occurrences for the former Duke captain to be afforded the opportunity he’s been given in these first two games.
On one of the last defensive snaps of the preseason finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers, rookie defensive tackle Zane Durant suffered a neck injury that ultimately
sent him to IR-designated to return. While I can’t be completely sure, it was the likely catalyst for Carter to make Buffalo’s 53-man roster once the three exhibition games concluded this August.
The veteran had hardly made an impact in the preseason and was playing well into the fourth quarter in all three contests. When faced with situations like Carter vs. Durant, NFL clubs initially side with the rookie draft picks. But because of the severity of Durant’s injury, Buffalo may not have had much of a choice.
And, sure, maybe the powers that be in Orchard Park believed Carter’s experience was more valuable than Durant’s upside. We’ll never know.
I thought Carter was a goner.
Instead, he was was on the field for 18 snaps against the Texans in Week 1. He only made one tackle, but it was a run stop. A “stop” is an advanced stat that constitutes a “loss” for the offense based on down and distance. He also registered one pressure on seven pass-rush snaps and did not miss any tackles.
Then, before Week 2’s game against the Lions, Ed Oliver was a last-minute scratch after injuring his hip during warmups. Another coincidental domino fell, and following some inactive-list shuffling, Carter was set to play even more. He logged 31 snaps in Buffalo’s 10-point victory, made two tackles — one stop — and accumulated a pair of pressures on 20 pass-rush snaps.
The sample size is tiny, but Carter’s pressure rate is 11.1%, and he’s nearly halfway to the amount of pressures he registered his entire rookie season (8) on 162 pass-rush snaps in 2024. For a defensive tackle, 10% is the pressure-rate threshold that separates the average from the outstanding.
Sure — sample size. But because Carter has two stops on just 21 run-game snaps, he’s standing out amongst his defensive tackle contemporaries. And apparently he’s “winning” on more than half those reps.
Carter underweight a body transformation during the offseason in hopes of being more capable of contributing on this new Bills defense as a bulkier nose tackle than the one-gap penetrating three-technique he was drafted to be during the Sean McDermott era.
He was just under 6’3” and 305 pounds at the 2024 NFL Combine. This summer, Carter said he had gained 20-30 pounds before reporting to training camp at St. John Fisher University.
After his Achilles tear that wiped away his entire second season in the NFL after a lackluster rookie campaign, I thought Carter was toast in Buffalo.
And maybe he’ll never become a regularly disruptive force. I doubt he will.
But the Bills need to take what they can get from him now. He’s appeared on 34% of the defensive snaps through two games and given the defense ample production as a rotational player.
Sometimes it takes a multi-layered coincidence for a player to get serious playing time in the NFL.
That’s very likely what happened to Carter, and he’s taken full advantage of his opportunity.
