Buffalo’s rookie defensive end looks to break into the rotation early
The Buffalo Bills are constantly tinkering with their defensive line. In an effort to find the perfect combination of pass rushers to finally bring home a Super Bowl trophy, general manager Brandon Beane has poured countless resources into the front four.
The defensive end grouping, in particular, is a unit that Beane has tried to perfect in multiple different ways. He and head coach Sean McDermott have tried the thicker-bodied edge setters, but of late, they’ve tried to go with smaller, bendier types. It doesn’t mean that they’ve abandoned the bigger defensive ends, but it does show that they’ve changed their thinking in terms of which types of players they want to roster.
In today’s edition of “90 players in 90 days,” we discuss one of the team’s newest additions along the defensive line. He isn’t a small, bendy type, but he isn’t really a big, stout anchor, either. He’s an intriguing athlete looking to break into the defensive line rotation as a rookie.
Name: Landon Jackson
Number: 94
Position: DE/EDGE
Height/Weight: 6’6”, 264 pounds
Age: 22 (23 on 1/2/2026)
Experience/Draft: R; selected by Buffalo in the third round (No. 72 overall) of the 2025 NFL Draft
College: Arkansas
Acquired: Third-round draft choice
Financial situation (per Spotrac): Jackson signed his four-year rookie deal, which is worth $6,618,982 overall. For the first year of the contract, Jackson’s cap hit will be $1,203,451 unless he doesn’t make the roster. Buffalo would carry a dead-cap charge of $1,453,804 if they were to release him.
2024 Recap: Jackson followed up a stellar 2023 season, in which he was named First-Team All-SEC, with another strong year. He totaled 49 tackles, 6.5 sacks, 10 tackles for loss, three pass knockdowns, one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery on his way to a Second-Team All-SEC nod. He appeared in 12 games for the Razorbacks.
At the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine, Jackson displayed plus athleticism, running the 40-yard dash in 4.68 seconds, and leaping 40.5” in the vertical jump, and 10’9” in the broad jump. At his Pro Day, he ran the three-cone drill in 7.13 seconds and completed the 20-yard shuttle in 4.55 seconds. He did not bench press at either the combine or his pro day.
Jackson suffered a neck injury on November 30 against Missouri, which led to him being carted off the field. After a visit to the hospital that was described as “precautionary,” he was released, but he did not participate in Arkansas’ bowl game.
Positional outlook: Jackson is the only player on the Buffalo roster listed as an “EDGE,” but he projects pretty clearly as a defensive end in Buffalo’s system. That puts him in competition with Joey Bosa, Greg Rousseau, A.J. Epenesa, Javon Solomon, Paris Shand, Michael Hoecht, and Hayden Harris for time in the rotation.
2025 Offseason: Jackson participated in minicamp, but he landed on the active/physically unable to perform list just yesterday.
2025 Season outlook: Unless Jackson does something incredibly dumb, the Bills aren’t going to cut ties with a rookie third-round pick before he plays a game with the team, so Jackson will be on the 53-man roster. Assuming that Bosa, Rousseau, and Epenesa will be ahead of him on the depth chart for Week 1, that means that Jackson will likely compete with Solomon for snaps in the six weeks that Hoecht will be absent thanks to a PED suspension.
Jackson isn’t the bendy pass rusher that Solomon is, but he possesses a high motor and a solid anchor in the run game. He isn’t likely to be someone who tallies a ton of sacks early on — if ever — in his career, but he fits the rotational model that the Bills like to use along the defensive line. He’s someone who will likely see 10-15 snaps a game early on, and if he can show out in those snaps, he’ll give himself a chance at staying active on game days when Hoecht returns from his suspension.
With Buffalo looking likely to keep six defensive ends on the roster — Bosa, Rousseau, Epenesa, Jackson, Solomon, and Hoecht — someone will have to be a healthy scratch provided that everyone is healthy later in the season. With Bosa and Epenesa’s injury histories, that’s a big ask, but the Bills have to plan as if they’ll have everyone available at some point. I could see Jackson grabbing some bench when all six are healthy, but don’t be surprised if he contributes enough on defense to push Solomon to the bench role, either.
Jackson might be wearing Aaron Schoebel’s number, but I believe a more realistic comparison is Ryan Denney, the big-bodied edge-setter on those drought-era defensive lines. I can’t see Jackson being a 10-sack guy, but I can see him being a valuable contributor to the defense.
The question is how soon he’ll be able to contribute. Given the fact that he’s on active-PUP right now, it’s not crazy to wonder just how ready he’ll be in the early going. He’s a sound long-term investment, but just how capable he’ll be to contribute right away remains to be seen.