Despite Dawuane Smoot signing a one-year, $2.5MM deal during the summer, the veteran defensive end worked his way into the Bills’ starting lineup. The AFC East leaders have turned to the former Jaguars regular as a first-stringer in each of the past four games.
Buffalo’s edge-rushing depth will take a hit, however, with Sean McDermott indicating (via The Athletic’s Joe Buscaglia) Smoot is headed to IR with a wrist injury. The veteran EDGE needs surgery, and while McDermott said the team hopes this is not a season-ending issue, no return timeline exists right now.
The Bills dropped A.J. Epenesa back to a place as a rotational rusher, doing so even after giving the former second-round pick a two-year, $12MM deal. This brought a Smoot move into the starting lineup. While Buscaglia indicates Epenesa’s run-game work leaves a bit to be desired, Pro Football Focus had graded the Iowa alum as better in that department compared to Smoot, who served as a starter during Von Miller‘s suspension.
Miller has not started for the Bills since his 2022 ACL tear, but the future Hall of Famer has more closely resembled his pre-injury version this season after a concerning 2023 showing. Back from a four-game ban, Miller carries three sacks into Week 10. Epenesa and Gregory Rousseau have four and 4.5, respectively. Smoot has 1.5 this season and has long been a rotational player, though he frequently supplied Jacksonville’s pass rush with support during Josh Hines-Allen‘s run.
Smoot, 29, totaled between five and six sacks in each season from 2019-22. A late-season Achilles tear in 2022 hurt his 2023 market, leading to a one-year, $3.5MM Jags deal just before last season. Smoot only notched one sack in 12 games as a backup, and the Bills brought him in as a depth piece in May. Only Smoot has managed a healthy workload as of late. He played between 47% and 68% of Buffalo’s defensive snaps from Weeks 4-8, notching three tackles for loss in that span.
With this injury occurring two days before the trade deadline, it will be interesting if the Bills — who have seen their defense hurt by key injuries in each of the past four seasons — add at least a depth player. Miller is now 35 and has two ACL tears on his medical sheet. The team is carrying six D-ends on its 53-man roster, however, with offseason pickup Casey Toohill and fifth-round rookie Javon Solomon residing behind the Miller-Epenesa duo on the depth chart. With one of those two set to start moving forward, the Bills will need to assess whether their current EDGE group is sufficient.