Arguably Buffalo’s best defender, the All-Pro linebacker looks to rebound after a devastating leg injury
The Buffalo Bills have two of the league’s top linebackers. One of those players stepped up in a huge way last season, coming essentially out of nowhere to post a monster season. The other player, though, has long been a cornerstone to the team’s defense.
However, on a fateful afternoon in London — or morning here in the United States — that veteran’s season came to an abrupt end. With it came an end to Buffalo’s early season defensive dominance, as well. While the Bills eventually were able to scheme out a solid defense, it took plenty of trial and error to achieve something that seemed to come so naturally in the season’s first month.
Can that veteran linebacker return to All-Pro form less than a calendar year removed from serious injury? In today’s installment of our “91 players in 91 days” series, we’ll discuss that point.
Matt Milano
- Number: 58
- Position: LB
- Height/Weight: 6’, 223 pounds
- Age: 30 (31 on 7/24/2025, according to the team website… Wikipedia has his birthday listed as 7/28, but I’ll side with the team on this one!)
- Experience/Draft: 8; selected in the fifth round (No. 163 overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft by Buffalo
- College: Boston College
- Acquired: Fifth-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Milano enters the final year of the original four-year extension he signed prior to the 2021 season. He signed a separate two-year extension prior to last season, however, so he’s under contract through 2026. For the 2024 season, he carries the third-highest cap hit on the team, clocking in at $12.437 million. He has a massive dead-cap figure attached to his deal should the Bills decide to release or trade him ($29.31 million).
2023 Recap: Milano was off to a great start last year, notching 27 tackles, two interceptions, two pass breakups, and a forced fumble through the team’s first four games. He made three tackles in the first quarter alone of the Bills’ matchup in London with the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, on just the 11th play from scrimmage, Milano suffered a tibial plateau fracture, as well as ligament damage in his knee. He was carted off the field and didn’t appear in another game for the Bills last season.
Positional outlook: Milano is set to start next to Terrel Bernard, with the obvious caveat being that Milano must be healthy enough to do so. Nicholas Morrow, Dorian Williams, Baylon Spector, Joe Andreessen, Edefuan Ulofoshio, Deion Jones, and Shayne Simon are the other off-ball linebackers currently in camp.
2024 Offseason: Milano has been practicing in full for most of the offseason and training camp.
2024 Season outlook: Barring any setbacks, Milano is obviously going to start for the Bills once again this season. With the team dealing with other injuries at linebacker (Ulofoshio and Morrow have been hampered by ribs and groin injuries, respectively), there is some uncertainty here in terms of who steps in if Milano is hurt. According to the team’s first preseason depth chart, it’s going to be Williams, a second-year man who struggled somewhat in his rookie season.
The hope is that we won’t have to worry about Milano’s backups since he’ll be able to play from the start. However, banking on Milano being available for every game is likely a fool’s errand given that he’s only gone through one professional season — his rookie year in 2017 — without missing a game due to injury. Given his style of play and his relative lack of size for the linebacker position, it’s not necessarily surprising that he’s hurt a bit, but it definitely does put Buffalo in a bind in that they need to make sure they have a solid backup just in case.
When Milano is on the field, Buffalo’s defense is one of the best in the league. When he isn’t, their defense is merely excellent. Here’s hoping that No. 58 is available more often than not this season.