Bills ‘not closing the door’ on potentially re-signing Olympic gold medalist DT

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane said that the team would be open to ultimately re-signing Gable Steveson.

Kyle Silagyi | Aug 29, 2024

Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

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The Buffalo Bills’ initial practice squad of the 2024 campaign didn’t feature a bevy of significant surprises, but one notable omission was that of defensive tackle Gable Steveson, whom many had penciled in as a potential practice squad lock.

The team signed Steveson in late May despite his never playing organized football at any level; in fact, he had never laced up a pair of cleats until his mid-May tryout at One Bills Drive. The 24-year-old instead grew up competing in individual sports, ultimately establishing himself as one of the most decorated amateur wrestlers of his generation; he finished his collegiate stint at the University of Minnesota with an 85-2 record, even winning an Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott has long been outspoken about his passion for amateur wrestling, feeling as though there’s a natural crossover between the traits necessary for success on both the mat and gridiron. The team signed Steveson as a developmental project, hoping that it could transform one of the most dominant amateur wrestlers in recent memory into an equally impactful interior defender.

He showed promise throughout training camp and preseason, flashing as a pass-rusher throughout the three-game ramp-up stretch while expectedly struggling against the run. He looked like a player worth keeping around for a bit and continuing to develop, with many expecting Buffalo to target him for its practice squad after it released him as part of its Tuesday trim down to 53 players; this ultimately wasn’t the case, as Steveson was left off the initial practice squad in favor of veteran defender Eli Ankou and undrafted free agent Branson Deen.

Despite the gold medalist’s omission, general manager Brandon Beane was impressed with what he saw from him throughout the summer, and he’s open to one day bringing him back.

“Got better. Like, a lot better,” Beane said. “You’re talking about a guy who had never put a helmet on before late May or early June, whenever that was. Never played organized football, never really did team sports, talking to him. Guy just worked his tail off. Smart. I would say, learning the nuances of the game, we talk about instincts and all that, a lot of times when you find guys who took up the game later and didn’t grow up around it, maybe their instincts are a little further behind. I thought his were pretty good to this point, better than I would’ve expected.

Shawn Dowd/Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / USA TODAY NETWORK

“He’s an undersized guy. Physics says you wouldn’t put him in there, but the wrestler background, the mentality, and it wasn’t too big for him. Did some really good things. I’m hopeful that he will stick with this. We wouldn’t close the door on bringing him back here at some point, he made that kind of impression.”

Beane mentions Steveson’s size as a major factor in the team’s decision to keep him off the practice squad, a justifiable thought given that the athlete is just 265 pounds; defensive tackles are generally supposed to take up space in the middle of the field, something that a 265-pound defender comparatively isn’t doing. Buffalo ultimately opted to keep Ankou thanks to his scheme experience and Deen due to his general football experience; that said, an ultimate reunion is not out of the question.

“Definitely not closing the door,” Beane reiterated. “We talk about these fun stories—Joe Andreessen, Frank Gore Jr., you go on and on about different stories—that’s another one that probably got lost a little bit in the shuffle of some of these other ones. To do what he did in the short runway that he had, I was impressed.”

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