For as long as head coach Sean McDermott has been with the Buffalo Bills, the most important position on the entire defense has arguably been the nose tackle, or one-tech defensive lineman. That’s the person who occupies multiple gaps, keeping the linebackers clean and his fellow defensive linemen in one-gap situations.
Have the Bills always had a great player at that spot? No, they have not. Just look at the Star Lotulelei years for evidence of that. However, the team struck gold when they signed a veteran to replace Lotulelei a few years ago. Buffalo’s defense functioned at a much higher level with this 2022 free agent signee on the field than it did with him off of it.