The Buffalo Bills are facing several important roster decisions as the NFL’s cutdown date approaches this Sunday. Each team must finalize its 53-man roster by 6 p.m. ET that day.
Since the Bills have one of the best rosters in the NFL, they are likely to lose a few players who would have made an impact on several other teams. One of those players could be defensive lineman DeWayne Carter.
Bills On SI’s Randy Gurzi came up with his 53-man roster prediction on Tuesday and has Carter not making the active roster. Gurzi had six defensive linemen making the roster: Ed Oliver, Deone Walker, T.J. Sanders, Greg Gaines, Zane Durant and Landon Jackson.
“This might be the most concerning group on the depth chart and even the addition of Greg Gaines did little to improve things this weekend,” Gurzi wrote. “Don’t be surprised if the Bills keep a close eye on nose tackles who hit the waiver wire.”
Carter is Coming Off a Torn Achilles
The Bills drafted Carter in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Duke. He appeared in 11 games, starting three, in 2024 but did not see the field in 2025. He tore his Achilles late in the season and missed the entire year.
“Your initial thoughts are doomsday,” Carter told Channel 2 Sports in early August about last season’s torn Achilles. “Everything’s over. Your life’s over. No way, this can’t happen to me. You put in all of this work to get to the moment. We had just made the roster. We were going into Week 1.”
Carter has played in both preseason games so far this season, and he might need a big performance in Week 3’s preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night to make the 53-man roster.
New Coaching Change Could Help and Hurt Carter
One piece of good news for Carter is that Jim Leonhard seems to like what he’s seen from him over the last few days.
“After the first three or four days, I think he’s had a big rise,” Jim Leonhard said on Monday, via Lance Lysowski. “Huge game. Huge game. Physical at the point of attack. Played hard. Running to the football. It was really fun to watch him play …”
Since the Bills got a new coaching staff and a new defensive coordinator this season, it could be both a positive and a negative for Carter making the roster.
The Bills’ new coaching staff has no ties to Carter, which could make it easier to cut him since they didn’t bring him in two years ago. However, a new coaching staff also represents a fresh start for some players, and Carter could be taking advantage of that opportunity.
It will be interesting to see how the Bills handle their roster cuts over the next few days, and if Buffalo releases Carter, another team could sign him to its 53-man roster.
Bills Predicted to Cut Ties with Former Third-Rounder After Coming Back From Season-Ending Achilles Tear