30 most important Bills players of 2026: No. 7 Greg Rousseau
· Yahoo Sports
As the Buffalo Bills prepare for the 2026 NFL season, Bills Wire will take a look at the most important contributors on their roster. The team has some cornerstone players who will be returning for another shot at bringing a Lombardi Trophy to Buffalo, and they'll have help from some new additions as well.
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Leading up to the season, we will be counting down the top-30 most important players on the roster. We'll recap their 2025 season, look ahead to what they'll offer in 2026, and tackle the most pressing questions surrounding them this coming year.
Next on the countdown is Greg Rousseau.
Background
Position: Outside linebacker, EDGE
Age at start of season: 26
Experience: sixth year
2026 cap hit: $11,790,000
2025 recap
Rousseau has started 89 games for the Bills since being a first-round pick in 2021 (11 playoff games). He recorded 18 more starts in 2025, including two in the playoffs. He had another good year at defensive end, recording seven sacks, six TFL, two passes defended, a forced fumble, and 46 combined tackles. He received an 86.4 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranked eighth in the NFL among 116 edge defenders, and also received the second-best run-defense grade in the NFL (83.0).
2026 outlook
Rousseau will now be playing as an outside linebacker in new defensive coordinator Jim Leaonhard's 3-4 system, returning as an important starter once again for the Bills as they go through changes. According to GM Brandon Beane, while Rousseau may be capable of dropping into coverage more or sliding to the inside, he'll mostly be used in his areas of strength, which are getting after the passer and setting the edge.
Beane, in April, had this to say while speaking on Rousseau's role in the new defense:
“Yeah, I think he’ll be on the outside ‘backer. You’re not gonna see him dropping [into coverage] as much as you would some other guys. But he can still do it enough — he might do it one time a game. Could he go play the 4i? Yeah, he could. I don’t know if you’re getting his value there, to be honest. It doesn’t mean he couldn’t do it. I think he’s versatile enough. Like anything, if we needed him to go do it, if these guys are like, ‘man, you’re the best guy,’ Greg would. But we see him in the outside ‘backer group, not that 3-4, 5-tech, 4i type stuff.”
Biggest question: Will he have an increase of sacks?
Despite being a centerpiece of the Bills defense as the defensive end over the last few years, Rousseau hasn't had a ten-sack regular season yet in his career. He's had eight twice, and had seven this past year, but there's reason to believe that number could increase going forward. He's expected to be able to put more focus on attacking the quarterback in Leonhard's 3-4 scheme as opposed to his role Sean McDermott's defense.
Rousseau alluded to this point in June, saying, "Playing the 6-tech [under McDermott], being in a light box versus the run and having to really focus on the run, we didn't really worry about the pass... but now I feel like we're a tad bit more aggressive now. And I'm excited to get those numbers."
30 most important Bills of 2026
Check back as we continue the countdown on our list of the 30 most important Bills ahead of the 2026 season.
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: 30 most important Bills players of 2026: No. 7 Greg Rousseau