Who was the Bills next best edge rusher after Bruce?

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

17 hours ago, colin said:

schobel for sure.  he got hurt late in his career, his feet i think.  if he played on an actually talented team, and especially if he were around today because of how d's play now, he'd have had some really gnarly stats

Schobel might get more love if he didn’t just disappear from Bills lore upon retirement. It’s almost as if he hated playing football. 

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

14 hours ago, Beast said:

Bennett in his early years. After he hurt his shoulder, not so much.

TBH Bennett never had the impact I thought he would … I remember the night they broke into prime time programming to announce the trade … we were on cloud nine.  I don’t think he really achieved his full potential outside of that magical game against the Elway led Broncos 

[Beast]

9 minutes ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

TBH Bennett never had the impact I thought he would … I remember the night they broke into prime time programming to announce the trade … we were on cloud nine.  I don’t think he really achieved his full potential outside of that magical game against the Elway led Broncos 

His first two years were amazing. In his second season he was a first team all-pro. Then, he hurt his shoulder and never got back to that elite level.

[BuffaloBillsGospel2014]

I'm going Super Mario Williams, he was just dominant from the get go.

Mario Williams had 43 sacks 4 seasons

 

Aaron Schoebel had 78 sacks in 9 seasons

 

Phil Hansen had 61.5 sacks in 11 seasons

 

Bryce Paup had 33 sacks in 3 seasons

[AlCowlingsTaxiService]

7 hours ago, Beast said:

His first two years were amazing. In his second season he was a first team all-pro. Then, he hurt his shoulder and never got back to that elite level.

I might have underestimated the start to his career. I guess I expected him to be even more of a stud than #78, and he never quite achieved that level of play 

[NoName]

We haven't had a great pash rusher since the Bruce left.  Mario was really good.  Phil Hansen was good, Aaron Schobel was good.  Von was really good before he got injured.  Jerry Hughes was good to really good.  

 

I wouldn't count Paup because he played with Bruce (pause) and not after Bruce left. 

[BillsPride12]

8 hours ago, Beast said:

His first two years were amazing. In his second season he was a first team all-pro. Then, he hurt his shoulder and never got back to that elite level.

 

1 hour ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

I might have underestimated the start to his career. I guess I expected him to be even more of a stud than #78, and he never quite achieved that level of play 

Bennett was still a really damn good player in the NFL but the problem was he never lived up to the level he played at in college and that was probably due to the injury.

His college years were before my time but from my understanding he was expected to be the next Lawrence Taylor going into the NFL so those expectations were always going to be hard to live up to.  But he was absolutely a dominant player for awhile.  Didn't he have some insane stat line against the Eagles in 88 with something like 16 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 forced fumbles.  

He also held down the fort in 1991 when Bruce was out most of the season, he was the AFC Defensive Player of the year that season

[MJS]

Aaron Schobel did it for a long time at a high level. Mario Williams had the best stretch of elite play (2012- 2014). Phil Hanson made an impact and is probably the 3rd guy in consideration.

 

I'd put them in that order.

[MJS]

9 hours ago, AlCowlingsTaxiService said:

TBH Bennett never had the impact I thought he would … I remember the night they broke into prime time programming to announce the trade … we were on cloud nine.  I don’t think he really achieved his full potential outside of that magical game against the Elway led Broncos 

Ok. He was pretty dang good, though. He is probably a top 15 to 20 Bills player of all time regardless of position. He was a fumble causing machine and made impact plays routinely.

[Lofton80]

Ben Williams was a very good player. Paup was magic the one year he dominated. Bennett was dominant.

[msw2112]

14 hours ago, FireChans said:

How folks continue to have this take is wild.

 

The Bills made Mario Williams the highest paid defender in the NFL.

 

His first three years here, he had 38 sacks and two AP nods.

 

For context, Jerry Hughes in his 9 year stretch with the Bills has only 53 sacks.

 

I hate it to break it to you, but Mario Williams is far closer to the best FA the Bills have ever signed than he is to the worst. 

 

As you correctly stated, when Mario Williams was signed, he was the highest paid defensive player in the NFL, but he was also the highest paid player in the HISTORY OF THE NFL.  He averaged just under 11 sacks per season with the Bills.  That's a very productive player, no question.  Opinions are subjective, but in my opinion, 11 sacks per season for the highest paid defensive player in NFL history is not that dominant or special.

 

Bryce Paup also averaged 11 sacks per season while with the Bills.  He had one outstanding season with 17.5 sacks (Mario's best was 14.5).  Paup was well-paid, but was not the highest paid defensive player in the history of the NFL.

 

Thus, I don't think it's wild to say that Mario Williams was not great RELATIVE TO HIS CONTRACT.  You may disagree, but it's not a "wild" or outlandish take.

 

Was he the best and most talented defensive lineman on the Bills during the drought?  No question.  Was he a great value, relative to his contract?  In my opinion, no.  His sack numbers were good, but not staggering, and he did not lead the team to a single playoff appearance.

Edited February 28 by msw2112

[Prospector]

On 2/27/2025 at 4:37 AM, Andrew Son said:

Had to be Chris Kelsay

You beat me to it

[LABILLBACKER]

58 minutes ago, Prospector said:

You beat me to it

The legend of the lunch pail lives forever. 

[thenorthremembers]

Depends on what the criteria is.   If its strictly based on output and impact on the games its Mario Williams.   If its both that and longevity in a Bills uniform its Schobel.   For me its Mario Williams.   

[BillsSbSoon]

Personally I thought schobel was overrated. Probably between Paup and Mario. If we had that 2014 defense this year with Josh we probably would’ve won the Super Bowl 

[harmonkillebrew]

Best year or best career? or best three years?

 

Schobel gets my vote. But Paup had that one magical season.

[Alphadawg7]

Myles Garrett.

[Kirby Jackson]

17 hours ago, msw2112 said:

 

As you correctly stated, when Mario Williams was signed, he was the highest paid defensive player in the NFL, but he was also the highest paid player in the HISTORY OF THE NFL.  He averaged just under 11 sacks per season with the Bills.  That's a very productive player, no question.  Opinions are subjective, but in my opinion, 11 sacks per season for the highest paid defensive player in NFL history is not that dominant or special.

 

Bryce Paup also averaged 11 sacks per season while with the Bills.  He had one outstanding season with 17.5 sacks (Mario's best was 14.5).  Paup was well-paid, but was not the highest paid defensive player in the history of the NFL.

 

Thus, I don't think it's wild to say that Mario Williams was not great RELATIVE TO HIS CONTRACT.  You may disagree, but it's not a "wild" or outlandish take.

 

Was he the best and most talented defensive lineman on the Bills during the drought?  No question.  Was he a great value, relative to his contract?  In my opinion, no.  His sack numbers were good, but not staggering, and he did not lead the team to a single playoff appearance.

Bryce Paup had a 17.5 sack season, 6 sack and 9.5 in a Bills uniform. Don’t you think he benefitted from playing opposite Bruce?!? He was a great player for a year but teams adjusted. Mario didn’t have that. He was the superior player.

[GunnerBill]

18 hours ago, msw2112 said:

 

As you correctly stated, when Mario Williams was signed, he was the highest paid defensive player in the NFL, but he was also the highest paid player in the HISTORY OF THE NFL.  He averaged just under 11 sacks per season with the Bills.  That's a very productive player, no question.  Opinions are subjective, but in my opinion, 11 sacks per season for the highest paid defensive player in NFL history is not that dominant or special.

 

Bryce Paup also averaged 11 sacks per season while with the Bills.  He had one outstanding season with 17.5 sacks (Mario's best was 14.5).  Paup was well-paid, but was not the highest paid defensive player in the history of the NFL.

 

Thus, I don't think it's wild to say that Mario Williams was not great RELATIVE TO HIS CONTRACT.  You may disagree, but it's not a "wild" or outlandish take.

 

Was he the best and most talented defensive lineman on the Bills during the drought?  No question.  Was he a great value, relative to his contract?  In my opinion, no.  His sack numbers were good, but not staggering, and he did not lead the team to a single playoff appearance.

 

Correction - highest paid defensive player in NFL history at the point of signing.

 

Mario's first 3 years in Buffalo the only guys who outsacked him were Justin Houston (then of the Chiefs) and JJ Watt. 

 

His 4th year where a) he was miscast in Rex's scheme and b) in his age 20 season I think some of the pop had gone drags his average performance across his time down. But for those 3 years the Bills had one of the most dominant rushers in the NFL on their team. 

[Billzgobowlin]

On 2/27/2025 at 7:37 AM, Andrew Son said:

Had to be Chris Kelsay

He did have a high motor

11 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

Myles Garrett.