The Buffalo Bills picked Penn State defensive tackle Zane Durant in the fith round at No. 181 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. They acquired the selection in their trade back with the Lions in the fifth round.
This is the seventh piece in my rookie profile series, which is providing a detailed look into my pre-draft thoughts on all the Bills’ 2026 draft selections minus punter Tommy Doman Jr., whom I did not evaluate before the draft.
Be sure to check back during the week (and maybe into next week) for
the other rookie profiles in this series.
Previous Rookie Profiles
Zane Durant rookie profile
NFL comparison: Renell Wren / Sharrif Floyd
Big Board rank: No. 214 overall (selected: No. 181 overall)
Positional rank: DT21 (selected: DT14)
Round grade: 5
My pre-draft scouting report on Durant:
Zane Durant is an adequately sized, well-built interior defensive lineman who primarily wins as a one-gap penetrator. He plays with good balance and a naturally low center of gravity, which helps him hold up better than expected despite lacking ideal mass. His game is driven by burst and acceleration through a chosen gap, and he shows the ability to convert that initial quickness into power when he times it correctly.
As a pass rusher, Durant is largely a one-track player who leans heavily on his first-step quickness and ability to shoot gaps. His hand usage is limited, and his overall pass-rush plan lacks variety, with few counters once his initial move is stalled. Against the run, he can anchor at times thanks to his pad level and strength, though his upfield style will also take him out of position on occasion. He isn’t a natural disengager, but his athleticism and change-of-direction ability make him effective on stunts and in movement-based fronts.
Overall, Durant projects as a rotational, scheme-dependent interior defender whose value is tied to his penetration ability and athletic disruption. He has the traits to contribute along the defensive line, but his impact will hinge on how he’s deployed and whether he can continue to develop his hands and expand his rush approach.
Zane Durant relevant stats at Penn State
Career pressure rate in college: 7.8%
Final season pressure rate: 7.8%
Career run stop rate in college: 7.6%
Final season run stop rate: 6.2%
At defensive tackle for prospects, 10% is the magical threshold when it comes to pressure rate. Frankly, too, in the NFL, an interior rusher who’s generating a pressure on 10% or more of his pass-rush opportunities is playing effective football. With that context, you can see Durant’s pass-rush productivity falls noticeably short.
The same figures are true for run-stop rate.
Zane Durant combine numbers
Height: 6’2 (25th percentile among DTs)
Weight: 290 (13th)
Arm Length: 31 7/8” (10th)
Hand Size: 10 5/8” (88th)
10-Yard Split: 1.66 (93rd)
40-Yard Dash: 4.75 (98th)
Vertical Jump: 33 1/2” (91st)
Broad Jump: 112” (85th)
Final thoughts on Bills fifth-round pick of DT Zane Durant
Strictly based on my pre-draft evaluations and grades, which of course are meant to be viewed from a league-wide perspective and not tailored to specific teams, I thought the Durant selection was a reach, albeit not a major one, as I did have a fifth-round grade on him.
He has a John Franklin-Myers-esque body type and explosiveness, which is precisely the type of player I believe the Bills were hoping to find in Durant in the fifth round — an explosive linear interior rusher who can play in the 280s at five technique — aligned on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackles — to control multiple gaps at times but simply win with sheer aggressive, deceptive power through speed-to-power conversion, and electric first-step quicks when given the green-light.
Franklin-Myers was a fourth-round pick in 2018 and became an integral, dirty-work type three-down piece of those Broncos defenses with Vance Joseph, Jim Leonhard and Co. the past two seasons. Sure, late in Round 5, you’re taking a flier and player comparisons are hardly ever completely perfect. Yet if the Bills get even 80% of Franklin-Myers out of this Durant selection, it’d represent a massive return-on-investment.
