If you suspected I forgot about sharing results from Buffalo Rumblings’ latest Reacts poll, fear not. The results weren’t ready before I skipped town to hit the beach for a few days. Now back and surrounded by far less sand, seagulls, and jellyfish, I’m here to share the info you’ve all been anxiously expecting.
You may recall that last week we decided to gauge fan opinions on the Buffalo Bills’ signing of defensive lineman Greg Gaines. Or, if you’ve been out to sea too long, you may be wondering:
“Who’s Greg Gaines”? A defensive tackle by position and a classic nose tackle by trade, Gaines comes to One Bills Drive to help fill an important role. Buffalo was in dire need of reinforcements after the news that defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis is set to miss the team’s first three games while suspended thanks to violating the NFL’s banned substances protocol.
Despite the presence of Tommy Akingbesote as roster depth at the position and prior to adding Gaines, Mathis was widely viewed as the team’s only viable one-tech defensive tackle. We know now that Akingbesote wouldn’t get a bigger opportunity with Buffalo thanks to his release as a corresponding move to adding Gaines.
So is Gaines just a fringe contributor, someone who may only see a few snaps a game? Gaines himself said that he passed up opportunities elsewhere, seeing real opportunity as a good fit for the scheme new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard intends to run.
No, Gaines is unlikely to start over either Ed Oliver or Deone Walker in a perfect world. However, rarely is anything perfect. That means Gaines could find himself playing significant snaps at some point during the 2026 season either due to scheme or roster needs.
For now, let’s see how you all voted regarding the Bills’ decision to sign Gaines.
In looking at the total numbers, 75% of voters approve of the signing. Broken down further, 21% of voters gave Buffalo’s addition of Greg Gaines an “A” grade. For those of you savvy in math and the idea of approval, you now know that means 54% of voters gave Gaines’ signing a “B” grade. That’s the largest percentage of votes, and reflects a segment of the fan base that’s reasonably optimistic this move was made to improve the roster.
Perhaps surprisingly, tied with the percentage of “A” voters are those who gave the signing a “C” grade (21% of voters). You might term this the “wait and see” group, which is understandable on many levels.
Depending on what you thought of Akingbesote and any shot he may have had, his dismissal could play into the 4% of voters who gave the addition of Gaines a “D” (1%) or “F” (3%) grade. Maybe those fans are bummed that president of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane didn’t get something done with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to trade for defensive tackle Vita Vea. It’s also possible that people are betting on Gaines playing little role for the Bills this season, thus viewing Gaines as anything other than a needle mover for the defense.
Think you’ve got what it takes to make a play with the Buffalo Bills in 2026? Head over to FanDuel Sportsbook now to put it to the test!
