Bills HC ‘confident’ in rookie DT set to make NFL debut just days after joining team

Buffalo Bills defensive tackle Zion Logue looks set to make his NFL debut less than one week after signing with his new team.

Kyle Silagyi | Oct 4, 2024

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What’s been an already whirlwind week for Zion Logue has just grown a bit more stressful.

The Buffalo Bills signed the 6-foot-6 defensive tackle on Tuesday after he spent the first four weeks of the 2024 campaign on the Atlanta Falcons practice squad. The stout defender, whom the Falcons initially selected in the sixth round of the 2024 NFL Draft, was immediately tasked with learning a new defensive playbook and scheme, but there didn’t appear to be any pressing demand to get him acclimated abruptly; he was instead viewed as a developmental signing, a potentially high-upside rookie who could contribute later this season as opposed to in the interim.

This idea was thrown out the window when the injury bug crept into Buffalo’s defensive tackle room. Veteran defender Austin Johnson suffered an oblique injury in the Bills’ Week 4 loss to the Baltimore Ravens before vaunted interior rusher Ed Oliver picked up a hamstring injury during Thursday’s practice; both players have been ruled out for the team’s Week 5 matchup with the Houston Texans, leaving Logue, veteran DaQuan Jones, and rookie DeWayne Carter as the only defensive tackles on Buffalo’s active roster.

The Bills have ways they can attempt to mitigate the losses (namely by elevating Eli Ankou from the practice squad and giving edge rusher Dawuane Smoot more reps on the inside), but from a pure numbers perspective, it looks as though Logue is going to have to suit up for Buffalo less than one week after joining the club. This is a tall task for any player, the challenge only amplified when the individual in question is a rookie who has never played in a regular season game.

McDermott is aware of the uniqueness and difficulty of the situation, something the team will manage in the lead-up to the contest.

“We’ll do the best we can with it, take a positive approach and mindset,” McDermott said. “That’s where it starts, the right attitude, for Zion and us. We have to be aware of it going into and then throughout the game, not just with him, but the other players that are in there, as well. It’s always going to be the sum of the parts, we have to take that approach. There’s no blinking right now. We’re going into a hostile environment, and we’ve got to stay together on this.”

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Logue is coming off a five-year stint at the University of Georgia in which recorded 52 tackles and five tackles for loss. He appeared in 50 games throughout his time in Athens, winning two National Championships as he totaled 30 run stops and 26 quarterback pressures, per Pro Football Focus. He played on 82 defensive snaps for the Falcons in his debut preseason, being credited with two tackles over three games. He recorded one run stop and didn’t tally any pressures, per PFF.

General manager Brandon Beane has had Logue in his sights for some time, per McDermott, something that makes him and his coaching staff confident in the rookie’s ability as he works through this hyper-condensed timeline and prepares for Week 5.

“For me, I didn’t put my eyes on him,” McDermott said. “This is something Brandon’s had his eyes on for some time, Brandon and our personnel staff. Full trust in that. To this point, you’re saying, ‘Hey, you can see why.’ That’s the short road, the long road is, where does this go, and how does the game look, and everything. From what we’ve seen, confident in the young man. He’s been a pleasure to work with. That’s all we know right now. That’s the exciting part, and like I said, we stay together on this and we move forward.”

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