Can Ed Oliver, DaQuan Jones and Poona Ford take Buffalo Bills DT rotation to new heights in 2023?

what should we expect from Ed Oliver DaQuan Jones Puna Ford and the Buffalo Bills defensive tackles in 2023 there's plenty to get into and I'm breaking that down today on lockdown bills are locked on bills your team every day foreign [Music] o author of go bills and Buffalo's run also the co-host of the lockdown NFL scouting podcast and I'm your host of locked on bills I want to thank you for making lockdown bills your first listen every day and a big welcome and shout out to our everydayers you know who you are those of you who never miss a single episode I appreciate you all being here very very much I'd also like to invite you to subscribe or follow for free on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts we're part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day today's episode is brought to you by LinkedIn jobs LinkedIn jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster post your job for free at linkedin.com lockdown NFL that's linkedin.com lockdown NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply well folks excited to talk defensive tackles with you today on the podcast we're working our way through our positional previews if you will entering training camp we've got four more to do this week defensive tackles linebackers corners and safeties and so today we will talk all about these defensive tackles we'll start by reflecting on 2022. talk about the Personnel changes year over year and what does that tell us about the future I've got my biggest questions now and in the future and then of course my expectations for the Bill's defensive tackles in 2023. but let's start with a little reflection on 2022 and we'll begin this conversation with Ed Oliver who it was his fourth season played and started 13 games was on the field for 60 percent of the defensive snaps at two and a half tackles or excuse me two and a half sacks nine tackles for loss 31 pressures and of course the bills signed him to a big contract extension this off season 17 million dollars a season for the next four years so a very healthy extension for Ed Oliver we'll talk a bit more about that later on but when I think about Ed Oliver in 2022 I'm reminded a lot of injuries ankle injury week one high ankle sprain caused him to miss three games then he had a calf injury then he had a pectoral injury later on in the season and that limited him because it felt like coming out of 2021 Ed Oliver was developing into the player we hoped he would develop into as a top 10 pick and the conversation coming out of 2021 was do the Bills pick up at Oliver's fifth year option and the answer was a very easy yes for just about anybody who you would ask and then the injuries plagued him in 2022 didn't quite have the impact we were hoping for especially you felt it later in the season when you're looking for guys to step up as the units banged up you lose Von Miller and that Oliver didn't necessarily do that but his trajectory coming out of 2021 was really good and we've certainly seen a lot of high-level flashes from Ed Oliver and the way that I would kind of sum him up is that Ed Oliver is not an elite player or consistently dominant player but he is a consistently good player that is sometimes dominant what we're looking for is more consistent dominance out of Ed Oliver and hopefully he can be healthy and live up to that contract moving forward DaQuan Jones 16 games 16 starts on the field for 61 percent of the defensive snaps two sacks three tackles for loss 30 pressures and folks DaQuan Jones is one of my favorite stories of 2022. he was terrific he meant a lot to the bills defense provided the unit with very stable one Tech play for the first time in a while and we saw the impact no wonder Tremaine Edmonds and Matt Milano had their best year together there's no question they played Five Seasons together Milano and Edmonds and there's no doubt in my mind that collectively last year was their best season well why was that well they finally had an absolutely uh good one technique nose tackle those guys are so important and DaQuan Jones has been a very good reliable player throughout his career and you felt his absence when he wasn't available for the Cincinnati game in the playoffs and he's just a player that I'm So Satisfied with he's been really durable throughout his career only missed four games since 2015. that's a long time folks love having him love having him around his impact as a pass rusher was more than I thought it would be last year he had 33 pressures uh which were a career high by a good bit and so I'm excited for Daquan Jones in his second season in Buffalo in 2023 but he was outstanding in 2022. Yeah Tim settle was part of this mix 15 games played two starts on the field for 38 percent of snaps at one sack four tackles for loss and one pressure and Tim settles a player that when I look back on 2022 it's a very different conversation than taekwon DaQuan Jones where I was very satisfied with DaQuan Jones but Tim saddle is a player that I was hopeful to get a lot more from we talked a lot about how in Washington as a depth player he didn't get a ton of opportunity but the flashes were exciting but then in Buffalo he gets more opportunity but that didn't necessarily translate to more impact very modest contributions last year both as a run Defender and as a pass rusher and then you get to Jordan Phillips who played in 12 games started one on the field for 43 percent of snaps had one and a half sacks three tackles for loss and 19 pressures and for Jordan Phillips I thought he played really well against the Rams in week one but then everything after that felt very inconsistent and injuries were a problem for him and they bent a problem for him over the last three years he's entering his age 31 season missed seven games in 2020 missed eight games in 2021 he missed five games in 2022 and probably should have missed more he tried to play Hurt and I'm concerned about the trajectory here uh a guy that is a big body dude that has some athleticism but injuries have just really derailed him since that big breakout season with the bills where I think he had nine and a half sacks he got the big deal from Arizona was hurt for two seasons gets cut comes back to Buffalo and and has more injuries and so what can you count on from Jordan Phillips um we'll talk more about that in the next segment but when I think back on Phillips in 2022 he saw some flashes but him trying to play injured so much uh really took away from his ability to make an impact and so I guess that's kind of the group right that was the core four if you will at Oliver DaQuan Jones Jordan Phillips and Tim settle the bright spot to me was DaQuan Jones you know I thought he really came in and played good football but then you look at the other three Oliver settle in Phillips and all three battled injuries all season long which led to consistency problems and so you're hopeful for a more healthy situation in 2023 and certainly the arrival of Puna Ford uh helps because you have more depth but um you need you need these guys to be healthy and collectively play better along with DaQuan Jones and if that happens you can see this unit being much more consistently impactful and I guess the same kind of extends to the edge group right I mean you're bringing back so much you're bringing back everything you're not losing anything from last year a defensive tackle or defensive end you basically just added some players to the mix and Leonard Floyd in Puna Ford you know you got some other guys like a Shane Ray or a Cameron Clyde that you can bring up but I look at this defensive line situation collectively and I see everybody's back and for the most part everybody should help be healthy minus Von Miller to start the year and then you just add Leonard Floyd and Puna Ford into the mix and you I mean I get excited about that I think that's a really really formidable group all right we got a bunch more to get into but first I need to tell you about LinkedIn these days every new potential hire can feel like a high stakes wager for your small business you want to be 100 certain that you have access to the best qualified candidates available that's why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs LinkedIn jobs helps you find the right people for your team faster and for free and folks it's so easy to create a free job post over at LinkedIn jobs so once you do that you add your job in the purple hashtag hiring frame to your LinkedIn profile to spread the word that you're hiring and then simple tools like screening questions make it easy to focus on candidates with just the right skills and experience so you can quickly prioritize who you'd like to interview and hire that's why small businesses rank Linked In jobs number one in delivering quality higher versus leading competitors LinkedIn jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to faster post your job for free at linkedin.com lockdown NFL that's linkedin.com lockdown NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply all right folks let's talk about the new makeup of this position group like we mentioned everyone's back so 2022 DaQuan Jones at Oliver Jordan Phillips Tim settle all of that's back in 2023 plus Pune afford and then you have these depth players that I think are more competing for practice squad roles in Ely anku Cortez Prout and Kendall Vickers and DJ Dale which is when you got those four guys competing for like two practice squad spots I think that's a pretty good group of guys competing for that but we won't spend a whole lot of time uh really focusing on that group of players but when I look at the Personnel turnover and what's different here's what stands out to me and what it could tell us about the direction of the group well first of all the bills didn't have to bring back Jordan Phillips but they did and there's a reasonable amount of guaranteed money on that deal um he's coming off of shoulder surgery which is like a five to six month recovery should be good to go for the start of the season but again the question remains can he stay healthy but they brought him back they chose to bring him back and I think that says something they also restructured Tim settle um and he's on the hook this season for a decent amount of money I think his cap hits like over 4 million but they did restructure his deal and reduced his cap hit by six hundred thousand dollars and so that um increased his guaranteed money but you know we'll see how this all plays out but you know Tim settle is a player that they're giving another season too and you know he comes back on a restructured cap situation and of course the notable addition here is Puna Ford and when I think about that Edition and I've talked all about it I'm very excited about Puna Ford I think he's a very solid uh agap Defender that has some versatility but you know when I think about defensive tackle it's another spot on this roster we kind of been through this where the bills had some attrition in terms of injuries in 2022 and then getting more depth was then a priority in the off season and I look at wide receiver you know we talked about this Crowder and kumaro go down you bring in sure field you bring in uh Deontay Hardy you draft another receiver and Justin shorter at Edge rusher same type of thing Leonard Floyd you had some injuries throughout that position group safety was much injured last year and you brought in some players as well and defensive tackle is another example of where you had injuries and you brought in a meaningful player to give yourself a little bit more of a hedge against some injuries but Pune Ford Stout run Defender offers versatility in terms of alignment and diversity with the fronts and I'm excited for his his arrival because I think just like I mentioned with Leonard Floyd on Friday the arrival of that player and that skill set leans further into some of the predicted schematic changes that I'm I'm guessing will happen with the bills on defense and for point of forward you know I think a lot about the diversity of their fronts and how Puna Fords come from a situation in Seattle where they were pretty multiple up front he played anywhere from the nose out to some 4i and even some five tech alignments and the bills can tap into that to an extent and feel like they can run a lot more uh variety with their their fronts so what are my biggest questions now and in the future with the bills defensive tackles number one is getting the most out of that Oliver 17 million dollars a season and that seems like a lot of money but that's right now 12th in the NFL among defensive tackles um you just saw Quinn and Williams get a new deal from the Jets that pays him 24 million dollars a season which is number two behind of course Aaron Donald who's just in another planet in terms of pay uh but Ed Oliver signed a healthy contract extension and he's being paid for future production and when you pay a player 17 million dollars a season that's an indicator from the team that there's plenty of belief in and Oliver for where he's headed as a football player and like I mentioned there's some sticker shock with the deal but I think in reality it's pretty fair um 12th highest paid defensive tackle right now there's some guys that are going to jump him he'll probably be around 15 and I think that's pretty fair I think Ed Oliver's around the 12th to 15th best defensive tackle in the NFL but it's still a healthy commitment and with this deal comes expectations right and I don't think that um it's one that people will be dismissive of I think Brandon Bean's going to be judged critically uh based on what type of production they get from Ed Oliver in relationship to the contract that they gave him so number one is clearly to me and Oliver number two I want to focus on DaQuan Jones and his future Beyond this year I think he's going to come in and have a season just like he had last year and I know that DaQuan Jones loves playing in Buffalo uh somewhat close to his hometown uh he's really embracing this time with the bills and I think he wants to be in Buffalo for a while and I hope that's the case you know I know he's an older player 31 years old right now but his role is typically one that ages gracefully uh in terms of the NFL right defensive tackles kind of have some longevity to him and if he's interested in continuing playing you know I'm hopeful that the bills can lock him up Beyond this season and I want to Parlay that right into Puna Ford and you know certainly I have questions about how the bills can get the most out of him and what his role is and you know what type of market share He commands on this defensive uh tackle rotation but I wonder if the bills are facing a choice uh Beyond this year of keeping either DaQuan Jones or Puna Ford because I don't think you're gonna get Puna Ford back for another very small deal right sign like one year just a little over two million dollars with the bills I think poon affords a player that deserves a contract a lot more like what DaQuan Jones is getting at about seven million dollars a season and so I don't know that you could pay both of them that Beyond this year and so maybe there's a choice to make between DaQuan Jones and Puna Ford in terms of the long term and I think you use this year to maybe find out and gather that information um but you know on one hand you can say well we really like DaQuan Jones you know but on the other hand poona Ford's a younger player that's you know I think in the same caliber of um performance as DaQuan Jones and DaQuan Jones is 31 Puna Ford is 27. and then I also get into void years right now on uh on DaQuan Jones deal the bills are on the hook for 1.8 million dollars in dead cap in 2024 for him right and so um would you like to use that towards the money you have to pay him and actually pay a player that's going to be on your team as a Poise as opposed to a void here I think that's a compelling case for Daquan Jones but then also when you think about void Years Tim settle is a guy that uh the bills are on the hook for in 2024 a 1.4 million dollar void year and so is that something where you're hopeful that Tim settles a player that you can bring back because right now you're scheduled to pay him 1.4 million dollars and that count against your cap to not be on your team so we'll see what happens with these guys if you do extend them that money counts towards their deal as opposed to still having account against the cap and not actually having the player but the void year conversation extends Beyond just Tim settle and DaQuan Jones there's other guys I mean Tyler matakevich is 667 000 that's not huge but Micah Hyde 3.4 million dollar void year in 2024 and he's got two more void years after 2024 and 25 and 26 at 1.4 million Leonard Floyd's a big void year in 2024 the bills are on the hook for 4.4 million dollars and then in 25 and 26 another million and a half in each season so the bills had some void years uh to look at coming up where you have to ask yourself questions like look at a guy like Leonard Floyd and let's say that you can get him back in 2024 for 10 million dollars well you're already 4.4 million dollars committed to him just like Micah Hyde like let's say you can get Mike a hide back in 2024 for around six or seven million dollars well you're already paying them 3.4 so to me these are indicators that you would like to get something done in terms of an extension so I'm really con really interested in this long-term outlook for the defensive tackle position and how the void years play into that but also while I'm bringing up void years of course I wanted to uh be mindful of Leonard Floyd and Micah Hyde and even Tyler medicavich who are are pretty glaring players um through that lens as well so that long-term forecast is interesting to me and I'm certainly aware of the Void years all right folks we've got my expectations for the unit coming up here after a quick break in addition to a couple more questions that I have about the position group stick with me need a quick break I'll be right back all right folks I got a couple more questions that I want to get into for the Bill's defensive tackles now and in the future and then of course my expectations for the unit in 2023. the next question that I want to get into is what can the bills realistically get out of Tim settle in Jordan Phillips we've talked about Oliver Jones Ford I think that's your top three at defensive tackle I I feel pretty good about what those players can be in 2023 the ones I don't know as much about is Tim settle and Jordan Phillips and if you keep all five and that's a huge if right because the bills typically roster for defensive tackles not five well you got a math problem here because you can't keep all five of them if you're only going to keep four so question number one between Tim settle and Jordan Phillips is do they both make the team and if they do one of them is probably going to be an inactive player every single week so that's a little bit of a camp battle that we're probably not talking about and what's most important here both are pretty versatile in terms of being able to play the one and the three I think Jordan Phillips has appealed to play even wider out if you wanted to get him in some four and four eye alignments you know he's certainly the more proven player Tim settle has more upside I guess but Jordan Phillips has injury issues there's questions about both players and the bills need to kind of sort that out and figure out which one is active on game days and how they deploy them because you'd like to get more out of those players than you did in 2022. and then my last question is the long-term element I know we kind of got into this just a couple of minutes ago but the one of the big talking points this off season was and and of course before the Ed Oliver extension was that the bills didn't have any defensive tackles signed Beyond 2023. well now they had at Oliver that he's locked up but that's still it and so how do they remake the room next off-season well I had Oliver's part of it but then is it Oliver and then either DaQuan Jones and Puna Ford right one of those two then you have a modest veteran Edition and then perhaps a somewhat early draft pick you know top three round draft pick and that's your four defensive tackles you know do you do you want to do something with those void years and bring back Tim saddle I don't know I'll be interested to find out but the makeup of the room Beyond this year we have some more clarity with the anong over extension but there's still a lot for Brandon Bean to sort out so what are my expectations for the Bill's defensive tackles in 2023 number one and it goes back to Ed Oliver is be right about Ed Oliver be right about that contract you know he was going to be part of the mix no matter what right he was going to play in that fifth year option for was like 10.7 million dollars and you want to be on the right side of this decision not only to extend him but to make the choice to extend him before the season because part of the appeal of Ed Oliver on the fifth year option was that you get Contract year at Oliver and you either take that and say yes we love where this player is headed and you feel really good about paying him lots of money or he walks in free agency and you position yourself to do the Tremaine Edmonds thing and get a compensatory pick back but you extended him early and so not only do you want to get the impact that you would have hoped to have gotten in a contract year but also the incentive in doing the contract early is that you anticipate it being less right do the deal now because it's going to be more if he goes out and has a great season and as the market just continues to go up which it is we just saw the defensive tackle Market get a huge boom with these huge deals that have went out to Quinn and Williams and Jeffrey Simmons and Dexter Lawrence of course that Oliver's part of that conversation Javon Hargrave got a huge deal Duron Payne got a huge deal so many of the events of tackles got paid this offseason and we're still waiting on Christian Wilkins Chris Jones is due for some money DJ readers do do for some money you know so this is going to continue to go up and so that was good foresight by Brandon Bean but you still want to be right about the guy that you committed to and you could look real real smart in fact Oliver goes out there and has the season obviously you're anticipating him having base in the contract you're going to be able to you know fire up a cigar and feel real good about what she gave that Oliver so be right about the decision not only to pay him but to pay him when you chose to pay him get out in front of potentially what it could have been a much more expensive contract in the off season so be right about that Oliver number two is I really am excited to see the possibilities of DaQuan Jones and puneiford and even sometimes on the field together but those guys are so important to this football team in 2023 because of what they're going to mean to whoever starts at middle linebacker and of course linebacker conversation is coming tomorrow but whether it's Tyrell Dodson Dorian Williams Terrell Bernard you've got a very unproven player stepping into that role and one of the things that we've talked about with Tremaine Edmonds and his um development in Buffalo is that it was certainly impacted and not in a positive way by not having stable one-tech play with any consistency next to Ed Oliver and then you finally got it last year in DaQuan Jones and you saw how good Tremaine Edmonds played well that needs to continue next year and it's even more important next year when I see next year I mean 2023 because of the inexperienced player that's going to be playing next to Matt Milano and in Matt Milano and whoever starts which I think will be Bernard probably Bernard you're going to have a very small pair of linebackers you need to and and the and that's okay to have small linebackers in today's NFL but the concern with smaller linebackers is playing through contact in the way that you reduce the amount of contact that they have to face is first of all their own processing ability to you know read and react and get into the play but also the defensive line absorbing blocks and making sure that those guys can run free so Ford Jones huge huge role for them this year to give whoever's playing middle linebacker or real chance to play their best football and then lastly in terms of expectations I want to feel really good about whoever that defensive tackle for is whether it's Jordan Phillips or Tim settle more impact more consistency defensive tackle four is still going to play 25 percent of snaps maybe more and so whoever that guy is going to be show us the flashes make some plays don't make me look at the Bill's personnel and be like oh God you've got Basham and settle and Phillips and epineessa out there because there are going to be snaps where that type of stuff happens and you want to tap into your rotation well let's make it worthwhile to play this fourth defensive tackle so need more from Tim settle and or Jordan Phillips in 2023. all right folks we did it we had a defensive tackle conversation I like to just kind of call these my big thought dump for the position group entering training camp which is very very quickly approaching next week I think the players report early in the week and they practice like on Wednesday so time is ticking away here on the uh on the off season so the way that I'm gonna attack this week is tomorrow will be linebacker Wednesday will be herd mentality Thursday cornerbacks Friday safeties and then or Camp mode got a couple things lined up for early next week to um have some good conversations before the players actually report but then it's going to be this very fluid new cycle of information uh and things to react to so buckle up folks 2023 season is essentially here we got a lot to cover here on the podcast obviously a year of of high expectations I know last year that was high expectations nothing's changed folks nothing has changed except for the whole world was predicting the bills to win the Super Bowl last year and this year they're not and to me good because I think the roster's better and the team is better positioned to go on a deep playoff run this year more so than they were last year with not having a first year offensive coordinator and an objectively better roster like it just is so I'm excited I'm excited for it buckle up join me for the journey here on lockdown bills hit that subscribe button would love it if you took a second to rate review and share the podcast have a great rest of your day go bills look forward to catching up with you again tomorrow thank you