Player
Greg Rousseau
EDGE · Bills
QB hits are the best single-game proxy for pass rush impact because they can't be negated by quick throws or intentional grounding — Rousseau's steady climb there shows real development even as his sack total oscillates.
His sack total has barely moved — but the TFL and QB-hit numbers say he's gotten dramatically better.
TrendRousseau regular-season production by year
| Year | Sacks | Half Sacks | QB Hits | TFL | Tackles | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 43 | 1 |
| 2022 | 7 | 2 | 14 | 10 | 33 | 1 |
| 2023 | 4 | 2 | 18 | 13 | 39 | 1 |
| 2024 | 7 | 2 | 24 | 16 | 48 | 3 |
| 2025 | 5 | 4 | 23 | 6 | 45 | 1 |
QB hits per season
| Season | QB Hits |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 |
| 2022 | 14 |
| 2023 | 18 |
| 2024 | 24 |
| 2025 | 23 |
Sacks tell you he's a 4-7 guy. Pressure tells you he's something else. QB hits have climbed every year — 10, 14, 18, 24, 23 — and his TFL count hit 16 in 2024, double his rookie total. The conversion rate from pressure to sack hasn't kept up, but the disruption is real.
Why it matters. QB hits are the best single-game proxy for pass rush impact because they can't be negated by quick throws or intentional grounding — Rousseau's steady climb there shows real development even as his sack total oscillates.
89 career QB hits — more than every 2021 first-round EDGE except Micah Parsons.
Rare2021 first-round EDGE class — career production (regular season)
| Player | Sacks | QB Hits | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micah Parsons | 59 | 139 | 76 |
| Greg Rousseau | 27 | 89 | 53 |
| Odafe Oweh | 28 | 79 | 34 |
| Jaelan Phillips | 24 | 68 | 32 |
| Kwity Paye | 28 | 50 | 37 |
| Azeez Ojulari | 19 | 38 | 22 |
Of the six first-round EDGEs from 2021, Rousseau is 2nd in QB hits (89) and 2nd in TFL (53), behind only Parsons in both. The story of his career is: the pressure stats put him in EDGE-1 territory; the sack stats put him in EDGE-3 territory. Buffalo has paid him as the former — $80M extension in 2024.
Why it matters. The 2021 EDGE class is a natural peer group — same draft capital, same experience, same era of pass-rush coaching — and Rousseau's standing in it shows his pressure volume is a real asset, not a Bills system artifact.
Bills 2024: Rousseau leads a six-man rotation, but Von Miller — not him — was the team's top sacker.
SplitBills sack leaders by season
| Player | 2024 Sacks | 2025 Sacks |
|---|---|---|
| Greg Rousseau | 8 | 7 |
| Von Miller | 6 | — |
| A.J. Epenesa | 6 | 3 |
| Joey Bosa | — | 5 |
| Ed Oliver | 3 | 3 |
| DaQuan Jones | 3 | 3 |
Buffalo's pass rush is genuinely distributed — six different players had 3+ sacks in 2024 or 2025, and the leader each year was different (Von Miller led 2024 at 6; Rousseau leads 2025 at 7). Rousseau is the constant across both years; everyone else rotated in and out. The Bills don't need one Garrett; they've built a system where the edge pressure comes from everywhere.
Why it matters. Distributed pass rushes are harder to scheme against because opponents can't double one player — understanding that Buffalo's system enables Rousseau rather than being propped up by him is key to valuing his contract correctly.
The Week 1 of 2024 debut: 3 sacks, 3 TFL, 2 QB hits — career game.
MilestoneTop single-game outings, career (regular season)
| Season | Week | Opp | Sacks | QB Hits | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | vs ARI | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 2025 | 16 | vs CLE | 2.5 | 7 | 2 |
| 2021 | 2 | vs MIA | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| 2022 | 14 | vs NYJ | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2023 | 4 | vs MIA | 2 | 2 | 2 |
His 2024 Week 1 vs Arizona is the only career 3-sack game (3 sacks, 3 TFL, 2 hits) — and it set the tone for the season that finally got him paid. The 2025 Week 16 vs Cleveland game is the pressure-without-finish version: 7 QB hits in a single game (only 2.5 sacks, including a half-sack).
Why it matters. These two games show the two versions of Rousseau — the finisher who converts pressure to sacks, and the disruptor who dominates without the box-score credit.
His best statistical year was the contract year — and 2025 looks like reversion.
AnomalyRousseau 2024 vs 2025 splits (regular season)
| Stat | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Sacks | 7 | 5 |
| Half Sacks | 2 | 4 |
| QB Hits | 24 | 23 |
| TFL | 16 | 6 |
| Tackles | 48 | 45 |
| FF | 3 | 1 |
The contract-year TFL number (16) collapsed to 6 the next season — same QB-hit volume, dramatically less run defense. He's still on pace for 7 combined sacks (5 full + 4 halves), but the all-around impact dipped sharply after the extension. Whether that's an offense-script issue, opponent-quality issue, or just regression is one of the open Bills questions heading into the playoffs.
Why it matters. TFL measures run-stopping impact separately from pass rush — its collapse from 16 to 6 while QB hits held steady suggests either Rousseau was deliberately shadowed away from the run game or he deprioritized it post-contract.
89 career QB hits, but only ranked 27th in combined 2024-25 sacks — pressure that doesn't convert.
ComparisonNFL sack leaders 2024-25 combined — where Rousseau sits
| Rank | Player | Total Sacks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Myles Garrett | 37.0 |
| 2 | Nik Bonitto | 27.5 |
| 3 | Danielle Hunter | 27.0 |
| 4 | Brian Burns | 25.0 |
| 5 | Micah Parsons | 24.5 |
| 27 | Greg Rousseau | 15.0 |
His 15 sacks across 2024-25 (12 full + 6 half-sacks) rank 27th in the NFL — paid like a top-10 EDGE on a 4-year, $80M deal but producing well outside that tier by sack count. The QB-hit story (47 in two years, comparable to Danielle Hunter's 45) suggests he generates the disruption; he just doesn't finish it — which is the most coachable version of the gap.
Why it matters. Sacks are how teams pay pass rushers, but QB hits show who's actually winning matchups — Rousseau's gap between the two is unusually wide and explains both why Buffalo paid him and why fans debate whether they overpaid.
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