State of the Bills roster: Buffalo has decisions to make at defensive tackle

Stop me when you’ve read this before, but the Bills will be looking for upgrades along the defensive front this spring

The Buffalo Bills have invested heavily in their interior defensive line over the last few seasons. The Bills were seventh among all NFL teams in cap dollars allocated to the defensive line last season, and only one team — the Indianapolis Colts — has more cap dollars allocated to the defensive line for 2025 than the Bills.

Granted, the numbers cited above include defensive ends in addition to interior defensive linemen, but Buffalo counts two of their top 10 players in terms of 2025 salary cap hit as defensive tackles. Of the players under contract next season, it includes a top-10 pick, a third-round pick, and a veteran slated to make over $9 million.

Given that information, it would be safe to assume that the Bills aren’t in the market for upgrades on the defensive line. Well, anyone who watched the team this past season knows that isn’t true, as their defensive line continued to play inconsistently while failing to generate pressure with just a four-man rush. Buffalo has pieces, but it seems that they’re missing the piece to push the unit over the top.

Is this the year that the Bills finally find their missing piece? In our discussion of the state of the Buffalo Bills’ defensive tackles, we’ll try to answer that question.

Eli Ankou

• Contract Status for 2025: Unsigned; UFA
• Age: 30 (31 on 6/8/2025)
• Playing Time: 2 games, 34 defensive snaps (3.08% of team total)
• Key Statistics: 5 tackles

One of the more-traveled Bills’ players this past season was Ankou, who was on and off the team’s practice squad almost as often as middle schoolers break up with — and then reconcile with — their crushes. Ankou’s on-again, off-again tenure with the club was chronicled in an interview with Sal Capaccio during the playoffs. He was not offered a reserve/future contract at the end of Buffalo’s season, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we see him back with the team at some point over the next few months.

DeWayne Carter

• Contract Status for 2025: Signed; second year of four-year rookie contract worth $5,586.962 overall ($1,269,764 cap hit; $662,433 dead-cap hit if released; .46% of total team cap)
• Age: 24 (25 on 12/10/2025)
• Playing Time: 11 games (3 starts), 315 defensive snaps (28.53% of team total), 23 special teams snaps (5.16% of team total)
• Key Statistics: 14 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 3 QB hits, 1 pass breakup

Carter’s rookie year was extremely inconsistent. After making zero statistical impact over the team’s first three games, in which Carter played 55 defensive snaps, he played quite well over the next month of the season.

Carter had nine tackles, four tackles for loss, and a pass breakup in Weeks 4-7. He even started a pair of games in place of an injured Ed Oliver. However, Carter injured...