The Buffalo Bills defense has undergone a major transition this offseason. Gone is the read-and-react scheme of former head coach Sean McDermott. Enter instead a more attacking defense coordinated by former safety Jim Leonhard. Can a personnel grouping that was drafted to fit one system morph into something entirely different in just one season?
That kind of thing can take time, but it also happens quite often. The old adage goes that “NFL” stands for “Not For Long,” and while McDermott actually outran
that notion for nearly a decade, the truth is that most teams turn over their staff and their systems quite frequently. It’s not crazy to think that the Bills have players who can actually thrive in an entirely different defense despite what they were originally drafted to do.
In today’s installment of “91 players in 91 days,” we discuss a player who could shine in this new defense.
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Name: Dorian Williams
Number: 42
Position: ILB
Height/Weight: 6’1” 228 lbs.
Age: 25 (26 on 6/8/2027)
Experience/Draft: 4; selected by Buffalo in the third round (No. 91 overall) of the 2023 NFL Draft
College: Tulane
Acquired: Third-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Williams enters the final year of his four-year rookie contract. He stands to count $3,902,692 against the cap this season if he’s on the 53-man roster. Buffalo will carry a dead cap charge of $258,692 if he’s released.
2025 Recap: Just one season after filling in as a starter for Matt Milano for much of the season, it was back to a reserve role for Williams. And yet, with the Bills looking to match heavy personnel more often with a third linebacker, Williams played a larger role than he had in his 2023 rookie season. He also filled in as a starter for both Milano and Terrel Bernard when those players were injured. In all, Williams played in 16 games and made 11 starts; he missed Buffalo’s loss to the New England Patriots due to a knee injury. Not only was he one of Buffalo’s core special teamers, playing 63% of the snaps there and notching 15 tackles, tied for 31st in the NFL, but he also ended up playing on 47% of Buffalo’s defensive snaps. Williams made 63 total tackles, which was fifth on the club. He had three QB hits, one tackle for loss, one fumble recovery, and two pass breakups in the regular season. In the playoffs, he made three tackles across two games, but he suffered a neck injury on the first play of Buffalo’s 33-30 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos while making the tackle on the game’s opening kickoff, so he essentially played in one game plus one snap.
Positional outlook: Williams is one of six healthy players listed at inside linebacker on the team’s current roster. Terrel Bernard, Joe Andreessen, Keonta Jenkins, Jimmy Ciarlo, and Theron Gaines are the others. Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles is an inside linebacker, but he’s on injured reserve. Rookie Kaleb Elarms-Orr is listed at linebacker, but he functions as an ILB in Buffalo’s defense.
2026 Offseason: Williams has recovered from bilateral knee fractures that he suffered during minicamp, and he’s been running mainly with the first team this summer. He started Buffalo’s preseason opener against the Carolina Panthers and was second on the team with three tackles. He played as the weakside player to Terrel Bernard’s MIKE, and he also served as the MIKE with Keonta Jenkins slotting in at WLB.
2026 Season outlook: I don’t think there’s any doubt that Williams will be on the team, and I also expect that he’s going to play a lot this season both on defense and special teams. Over the last two seasons, he’s done nothing but improve—and really, that’s all he’s done throughout his whole professional career. Early on, he was a heat-seeking missile in the run game, but a poor pass defender. While he still has room to grow in coverage, he was much more consistent in that phase of the game last season.
During his breakout 2024 campaign, Pro Football Reference listed Williams as having allowed 73% of the passes thrown his way (43-of-59) to be completed for 390 yards and three touchdowns. Opposing quarterbacks had a 107.3 QB rating when Williams was the closest defender in coverage. Last season, the QB rating was still high (102.1) and he allowed two touchdowns, but he allowed just 52.6% of passes thrown his way to be completed (10-of-19) for 96 yards.
Williams is going to need to fend off a challenge from Elarms-Orr in order to stay in the lineup, but in the early going at least, I think he has the advantage. Elarms-Orr has had strong practices, but there are areas of his game where he still needs to improve. Pass coverage, in particular, is one where KEO has the natural athleticism to shine, but he has to refine his technique in a way that only time on task will allow. New defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard will likely find ways to use all three of his top linebackers depending on situation, but Williams is someone who should definitely play a big part in this season.
Will a strong 2026 lead to a new contract with Buffalo? That’s hard to say. Whether it’s on defense or on special teams, though, expect Dorian Williams to contribute to success this season.
