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What’s better than having DaQuan Jones return? How about another DaQuan Jones, but by a different name!
Injuries are a part of life in the NFL, and the Buffalo Bills are no stranger to that saying. Over the past few years, the team seems to lose at least one key player per year, and often at exceptionally inopportune times.
Every team thinks it’s added the requisite depth in the offseason necessary to withstand injuries each year. General manager Brandon Beane does a great job adding players every spring and summer, but sometimes, the best laid plans of personnel people and executives go awry.
In Buffalo’s defense, one of the most important — and unheralded — positions is the one-tech defensive tackle. That’s the person around whom the team build the defensive line, as he’s the guy eating multiple blockers and freeing up his teammates. Without a solid one-tech, the rest of the defensive personnel can’t adequately do their jobs.
In today’s installment of our “91 players in 91 days” series, we discuss one of the major players at the nose for the Bills.
Austin Johnson
- Number: 98
- Position: DT
- Height/Weight: 6’4”, 314 pounds
- Age: 30 (31 on 5/8/2025)
- Experience/Draft: 8; selected by the Tennessee Titans in the second round (No. 43 overall) of the 2016 NFL Draft
- College: Penn State
- Acquired: Signed with Bills on 3/28/2024
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Johnson signed a one-year contract worth $3.5 million overall. The deal includes two void years designed to space out the cap hit. For the 2024 season, he carries a cap hit of $2,276,666. If he’s released, Buffalo will carry a dead-cap charge of $4.71 million.
2023 Recap: Johnson played for the Los Angeles Chargers last season, his second year with the club. He started all 17 of the Chargers’ games, and he was a force up the middle. He totaled 46 tackles, two tackles for loss, and one quarterback hit; adding two pass knockdowns, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery. He appeared on 56% of Los Angeles’ defensive snaps. All this came just one year after he missed half the season due to a knee injury, so it’s safe to say that Johnson bounced back well.
Positional outlook: Johnson is one of eight defensive tackles vying for space on the final roster. Johnson, DaQuan Jones, and Eli Ankou are the one-techs, while Ed Oliver, DeShawn Williams, DeWayne Carter, Branson Deen, and Gable Steveson are the three-techs.
2024 Offseason: Johnson participated in offseason work all spring and summer. He’s healthy at the beginning of camp, as well.
2024 Season outlook: If you look at the career resumes for Austin Johnson and DaQuan Jones, they are strikingly similar. Both players started out with the Titans. Both players are best served as space eaters. Both players are darn near the same size. And, for Buffalo this season, both players will serve as the anchors of the defensive line. Bills fans were elated when Jones re-signed with the club, and they should be equally excited that someone who has nearly the same skillset and is a few years younger inked a deal to rotate in with him.
Johnson might have played on a bad Chargers defense last season, but don’t let that discourage you. He fits Buffalo to a T, and he’ll be a great complement to Jones once the season begins. I have no doubt that he’ll be one of the defensive tackles on the 53-man roster come September, and I fully expect him to play around 40% of the offensive snaps, if not a little more.