Can the 2024 fifth-round pick carve out a larger role this season?
The Buffalo Bills run a nickel defense as their primary personnel grouping, meaning that there is both an increased focus on linebackers and a decreased focus on the position grouping at the same time. Sure, that sounds contradictory, but it means that Buffalo may not need as many linebackers as some teams, but if their linebackers aren’t good, it’s incredibly easy to notice.
Just because the Bills are only playing two linebackers at a time for most of their defensive snaps doesn’t mean that the team can skimp on quality depth. In the defensive system Buffalo runs, the linebackers have myriad responsibilities, and they have to cover a whole lot of ground.
In today’s installment of our “90 players in 90 days” series, we discuss a young linebacker vying for a larger role on the team this season.
Name: Edefuan Ulofoshio
Number: 48
Position: LB
Height/Weight: 6’1”, 239 pounds
Age: 25 (26 on 1/23/2026)
Experience/Draft: 2; selected by Buffalo in Round 5 (No. 160 overall) of the 2024 NFL Draft
College: Washington
Acquired: Fifth-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Ulofoshio enters the second year of his four-year rookie contract, which is worth $4,334,024 overall. For the 2025 season, Ulofoshio’s cap hit is $1,038,506 if he makes the 53-man roster, and the Bills will carry a dead-cap charge of $235,518 if he’s released.
2024 Recap: Ulofoshio made the 53-man roster as a rookie after a solid, if unspectacular, preseason performance. In three exhibition games, he totaled seven tackles, including one tackle for loss.
In the regular season, while he was on the 53-man roster, Ulofoshio was often the inactive linebacker on game days, as the Bills essentially used the 2024 season as a “redshirt” year. He made his NFL debut in Week 9 against the Miami Dolphins, playing exclusively on special teams.
He was inactive again until the final three games of the regular season, when he again played almost exclusively on special teams. I say “almost” because, in Buffalo’s 24-21 loss to the New England Patriots in what was a meaningless season finale, Ulofoshio started on defense and played every snap. In that game, he made five tackles, including one for a loss, and broke up a pass. He had one other tackle in the regular season, which came in Buffalo’s Week 17 win over the New York Jets.
While Ulofoshio was active for all three of Buffalo’s playoff contests, he only played on special teams and did not register a tackle.
Positional outlook: The Bills have just seven linebackers on the 90-man roster at the moment. Aside from Ulofoshio, Matt Milano, Terrel Bernard, Shaq Thompson, Joe Andreessen, Baylon Spector, and Dorian Williams are the others.
2025 Offseason: Ulofoshio is healthy and participating in offseason work.
2025 Season outlook: Buffalo’s linebacker situation is interesting, as they have a clear top three in Bernard, Milano, and Williams, and then an interesting mix of players vying for spots in the reserve ranks. Will Buffalo run it back with the same six players they rostered last season, or can Thompson, the veteran former Carolina Panthers player coming off two injury-plagued seasons, step in to provide extra depth?
For a team that generally plays only two linebackers at a time, it’s hard to imagine the Bills keeping all seven players here, so at least one player has to go. I believe Andreessen is safe as the fourth linebacker/top special teams player, so it’s really a three-way race for one or two spots.
I’d be wary of keeping just five linebackers given the injury history of some of the participants involved. In any case, the Bills will likely keep five linebackers active on game day, so from a player’s perspective, you want to be in the top five so that you can earn the uniform on Sundays.
If I had to decide the roster, I’d be taking a long look at Thompson in hopes that he can replace one of the two reserve linebackers that Buffalo drafted. That player I’d like to replace isn’t Ulofoshio, though — it’s Spector.
For me, Ulofoshio is one of the last guys on the 53-man roster, and he’ll be fighting for the chance to be active on game days this season. I like his athleticism and his motor, and as we’ve seen with other recent additions at linebacker, with a year or two in the system, there is potential for big-time growth. Hopefully, Ulofoshio is the latest drafted Buffalo linebacker to take a step forward this season.