Dorian Williams

Year-2 breakout: 23 tackles as a rookie, 60 in 2024 as Buffalo's lead linebacker.

Williams arrived as a 3rd-round pick in 2023 and played a rotational role — 23 tackles in limited snaps. The 2024 leap to 60 tackles, 5 TFLs, and a forced fumble was his full-time starter season, and he led all Bills linebackers in tackles that year.

2025 has him at 29 tackles through 16 games played — a volume dip as Buffalo added bodies (Milano, Thompson) to the LB room.

Why it matters. Williams went from rotational rookie to the Bills' top tackler in one year — a jump that validated the 3rd-round investment and gave Buffalo a homegrown MIKE on a cheap contract.

Williams out-tackled Terrel Bernard in 2024 — the rookie-contract MIKE beating the established starter.

In 2024, Williams led all Bills linebackers with 60 tackles, edging Bernard (50) — notable because Bernard was the team's established MIKE going into the season. Both had identical 5 TFLs, but Williams had the edge in raw volume.

In 2025, the hierarchy flipped: Bernard (46), Milano (41), and Thompson (39) all outpaced Williams (29), reflecting both new roster additions and Williams' missed snaps across the season.

Why it matters. A 2nd-year LB leading a veteran like Bernard in team tackles is unusual and shows McDermott handed Williams the primary run-stopping role faster than expected.

83% of his career TFLs came in one season — 5 of 6 in 2024.

Williams' TFL count is almost entirely owned by his Year-2 starting season. 5 of his 6 career TFLs (83%) came in 2024, with zero in 2023 and one so far in 2025.

The 2025 TFL drop (1 vs 5) alongside continued tackle volume and more QB hits (3 in 2025 vs 2 in 2024) suggests his role has shifted from penetration-focused to more zone-cleanup and delayed blitz — same snaps, different assignment.

Why it matters. TFL concentration this extreme signals a single-season role shift: Williams was used as an aggressive downhill blitzer in 2024 in a way he wasn't before or since.

Only LB in the NFL with 60+ tackles and 0 pass defenses in 2024.

Among the 48 linebackers with 50+ tackles in 2024, every single one had at least 1 pass defense — except Dorian Williams (60 tackles, 0 PDs).

That's not a small sample quirk: Williams appeared in 111 plays across the 2024 season and generated zero coverage events. His value is pure run-stop and downhill fill — the kind of specialist role that's increasingly rare in a league that wants LBs to cover slot receivers and running backs.

In 2025, Williams has already matched his career PD total (2) — suggesting the Bills are deliberately expanding his coverage rep.

Why it matters. In an era of coverage-heavy linebacker play, Williams is a pure run-first profile — his 2024 season stands alone among high-tackle LBs for having zero coverage disruption.

0 career interceptions — 112 career tackles, but no turnover impact on the back end.

Across 3 NFL seasons and 112 career tackles, Williams has 0 career interceptions and just 3 career pass defenses (all in 2023 and 2025 — none in his 60-tackle 2024 season).

His full career line: 112 tackles, 6 TFLs, 7 QB hits, 3 PDs, 1 FF. The QB hits show he does get after the passer occasionally, but the coverage contribution is nearly invisible.

The 2025 bump to 2 PDs could be early evidence of expansion — or just noise in a small sample.

Why it matters. Williams is one of the purest tackle-accumulator profiles in the league: high volume, low coverage footprint, and no turnovers over three seasons.

Led Bills LBs in tackles in 2024 — then fell to 4th in 2025 as the room got crowded.

Williams led Buffalo's linebackers in 2024 with 60 tackles — ahead of Bernard (50), Spector (19), and Von Miller (18). In 2025, the Bills added Matt Milano (returning from injury) and Shaq Thompson, pushing Williams to 4th among BUF LBs with 29 tackles.

The volume drop doesn't necessarily mean a quality decline — his QB hits are up (3 vs 2) and he's logging PDs for the first time (2 in 2025 vs 0 in 2024). But snap share is clearly being distributed more broadly.

Why it matters. Williams' role compression in 2025 tells a roster story: the Bills upgraded at linebacker, and a player who was the clear lead in 2024 is now fighting for snaps against three more experienced options.