The Buffalo Bills are running a new defense this season. I’ve written that sentence so much this offseason that I feel like a broken record, and as much as we’d like to assume that we know what will happen with that defense, we can’t know for sure until real games start. With nearly all of Buffalo’s defensive personnel having been drafted to play in former head coach Sean McDermott’s scheme, there are plenty of questions about whether the players on the roster fit what new defensive boss Jim Leonhard
wants to do.
In today’s edition of “91 players in 91 days,” we discuss one particular edge rusher who might benefit tremendously from the scheme change.
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Name: Javon Solomon
Number: 56
Position: OLB
Height/Weight: 6’1″, 246 pounds
Age: 25 (26 on 1/17/2027)
Experience/Draft: 3; selected by Buffalo in the fifth round (No. 168 overall) of the 2024 NFL Draft
College: Troy
Acquired: Fifth-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Solomon enters the third year of his four-year rookie contract, a pact which totals $4,274,276 overall. For the 2026 season, Solomon’s cap hit is $1,138,569 if he makes the 53-man roster. Buffalo will carry a dead-cap hit of $127,138 if he’s released.
2025 Recap: Solomon once again worked in as a pass-rush specialist on defense, but it was his work on special teams that made him especially valuable to the club. He was one of Buffalo’s core special teams players, appearing on 278 snaps in that phase of the game, equal to 64% of the total snaps. Only Joe Andreessen, Reggie Gilliam, and Sam Franklin did more on special teams than Solomon did.
On defense, he only played more than 17 snaps in three contests, all of which featured lopsided results. He hit that threshold in both games against the New York Jets, as well as Buffalo’s 30-13 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
Solomon totaled 17 tackles, two quarterback hits, one takcle for loss, and one sack on the season. In the playoffs, he played just one defensive snap, totaling two special teams tackles on his 38 special teams snaps.
Positional outlook: Solomon is one of eight edge rusher/outside linebacker types on the current roster. Michael Hoecht, T.J. Parker, Greg Rousseau, Bradley Chubb, Cade Denhoff, Mike Danna, and Andre Jones Jr. are the others.
2026 Offseason: Solomon is healthy and participated in OTAs before the Bills broke for their pre-camp recovery time.
2026 Season outlook: Of all the edge players who played in Sean McDermott’s defense over the last few seasons, Solomon is the one who remains with the team that I think is best suited for new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard’s scheme. Whereas McDermott prioritized bigger, longer edge rushers who could control the point of attack with their length, Solomon is a bendy, twitchy athlete who thrives in attack-and-chase scenarios. It’s why he’s been so good on special teams, and it’s why I think he’ll be better in a system that gives him space to operate off the edge.
NFL.com‘s Lance Zierlein predicted that Solomon might be best suited for a move to a stand-up edge rushing role in his profile of Solomon leading into the 2024 NFL Draft, and I’ve always thought that he looked less like a guy that McDermott would use as a 4-3 end and more like a player who could do damage coming in behind some long-armed tanks eating space in front of him. Solomon has to prove himself this summer, but he has quickness and leverage advantages that Buffalo’s other converted 4-3 defensive ends don’t; while his shorter frame might have been a disadvantage in McDermott’s scheme, his could use his height–or lack thereof–to his advantage while coming off the edge from a standup position.In a game where the low man wins, Solomon has the ability to use his 4.7-second 40-yard dash speed in combination with a frame that places him anywhere from four to eight inches on average lower than most tackles to cause plenty of issues off the edge.
If I were making the roster decisions, Solomon would be on the team; however, the question of “who isn’t on the team, then” is much more difficult to answer. Chubb, Rousseau, Parker, and Hoecht are roster locks, with the only true question in the group being whether Hoecht is healthy Week 1 or not. How many edge players will Buffalo keep? They have a pair of solid veterans in Danna and Jones Jr. who could definitely help the team this year, and while Denhoff is a solid young player, he’s unlikely to make the club as an undrafted rookie.
If Buffalo keeps six edge players, it feels like a lot, but they might have some different roles in mind for some of those players. Hoecht, in particular, has shown the ability to move all around different defenses and play various roles, and Solomon has the athleticism to do similar things. Each player is listed as an OLB, but they might do some A-gap mugging that leads to rushing the passer or dropping into short zones to keep offensive lines and their protection schemes honest.
Solomon is likely battling for a spot on the roster with Jones and Danna, with two out of three of those players probably making the team. Each of that trio does things that can help, as Jones has shown the ability to help on special teams and he has experience in a 3-4 system, Danna is a good, solid veteran with championship experience as a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Solomon possesses all the athletic gifts we’ve discussed above.
Solomon should be on the team thanks to his contributions on special teams and his potential to be a legitimate disruptor as a pass-rusher. Whether he makes the squad or not will likely come down to production and health this summer, but I feel good about his chances of not only being on the team, but being a big part of what the Bills do on defense this season.
