In the second installment of this series, we covered the perimeter — DJ Moore’s arrival and the three-way fight behind him on the Buffalo Bills roster. Now we cross to the other side of the ball, where the stakes are higher, and the starting point is uglier. Buffalo finished 27th in pass rush win rate last season, and the front seven Jim Leonhard inherited barely resembles the one that ended the 2025 season in Denver. Joey Bosa, A.J. Epenesa, Matt Milano, and Shaq Thompson are all gone and unsigned.
What replaced them is a rebuilt 3-4 front full of new faces, returning bodies, and — for our purposes here — some of the most consequential camp battles on the entire roster. Today we start with the 3-man DL.
Two locks, an open starting job, and a backup nose tackle fight with real consequences
- Starters: Ed Oliver (DT/DE), Deone Walker (NT)
- Third starter battle: TJ Sanders vs. Landon Jackson vs. Zane Durant
- Backup NT battle: Phidarian Mathis vs. DeWayne Carter
- Depth/PS hopefuls: Tommy Akingbesote, Zion Logue, Kody Huisman
Oliver and Walker are locked in — if the football gods allow it
Ed Oliver played three games in 2025. Three. A biceps tear, an ankle issue, and a knee injury limited him to that — and here’s the part that should make you disappointed about the injuries rather than the player: he recorded a sack in every single one of those appearances before landing on IR. When the scheme changed, and everybody assumed his $24 million cap hit made him a goner, the front office restructured instead — converting his base salary to a signing bonus and dropping his 2026 cap number to $13.6 million. That tells you everything about how Leonhard views him as a starting IDL in this 3-4 front.
Deone Walker is the best story on this defense. A fourth-round rookie in 2025 who stepped in immediately, became the one mainstay through every injury the position suffered, and was named first-team on ESPN’s All-Rookie team. A 6’7″, 330-plus-pound nose tackle entering year two in a friendly scheme built around his skills. This guy can become the X-Factor in this defense, unlocking everybody else around him.
The third starting job is wide open — and it’s the battle I care about most on this line
A 3-4 front puts three linemen on the field, and the last of those three spots belongs to nobody yet. TJ Sanders enters camp ahead. Buffalo traded up to No. 41 in the 2025 draft to get him, his rookie year was wiped out by a knee injury that put him on IR in October, and this is effectively his second rookie camp — with the pedigree, the youth, and a real hope inside the building that he grows into, at least, an above-average starter. But he’d better not get comfortable.
Landon Jackson is coming for that job from an angle nobody planned. The 2025 third-rounder was drafted as an edge in McDermott’s scheme, has gotten bigger, and moves inside to a 4i-technique in this front — and honestly, he might be a better fit at his new position than the one he was drafted to play. And then there’s Zane Durant, the fifth-round rookie out of Penn State who is close to an Ed Oliver clone: undersized, explosive, and built to give this defense the same athletic disruption Oliver provides. He’s the immediate backup at that spot on paper, but nothing stops him from playing well enough to turn this into a genuine three-man fight.
Make no mistake — at least two of them will rotate and will matter. But whoever wins the starting job becomes a key piece of what Leonhard wants this front to be.
Mathis vs. Carter: the quietest battle on the roster, and one of the most important
DeWayne Carter gets his last chance to show why Buffalo spent a third-round pick on him two years ago. An Achilles tear wiped out his entire 2025 season, and he returns to a new coordinator, a new scheme, and a veteran standing in his path. Phidarian Mathis re-signed on a one-year, $1.2 million deal — cheap, experienced, and built like a two-gapping nose or defensive end. Right now, I think Mathis wins this job. He’s been healthier and has done his job in limited opportunities. Carter wasn’t impressive during last year’s preseason, before his injury, and draft pedigree doesn’t survive contact with a healthy veteran who has produced so far. Carter must show he’s ready.
But this isn’t just about one roster spot: if the winner plays well enough, it frees Deone Walker to take snaps as a defensive end too, instead of living exclusively at nose tackle. That’s scheme flexibility hiding inside a backup battle.
Practice Squad hopefuls and final thoughts
Akingbesote, Logue, and Huisman are fighting for practice squad looks. It’s highly unlikely they impress enough to take away someone else’s job in the final 53. My projection: Oliver, Walker, Sanders, Jackson, and Durant make the 53, plus one of Mathis or Carter — six interior linemen, same as I’ve been saying since May.
Positional battle interest level: High. An open starting job on the defensive line of a brand-new scheme, with three young players who all have a legitimate case. Add the backup NT battle and some former high draft picks trying to prove their worth — it doesn’t get much better than that in July.
Catch up on all this and more with the latest edition of Leading the Charge!
