Bills land DE Joey Bosa on 1-year, $12.6M deal: Sources

The Buffalo Bills and edge rusher Joey Bosa agreed to terms on a one-year, $12.6 million deal, league sources told The Athletic on Tuesday, edging out the San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins for his services.

Bosa’s brother, Nick Bosa, plays for the 49ers, and the two grew up in the Miami area, where their father John Bosa played for the Dolphins. Joey Bosa steps in for Von Miller, whom the Bills released on Sunday.

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Bosa, who turns 30 in July, was the No. 8 edge rusher and No. 34 overall on The Athletic’s NFL free agency top 150. He was released by the Chargers on March 5, saving the team $25.36 million in salary cap space.

Selected with the No. 3 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, Bosa made an immediate impact on the Chargers defense with a 10 1/2-sack season that earned him Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. He went on to post double-digit sack seasons in four of his first six seasons in the league, making four Pro Bowls over that span. The performance allowed him to reset the edge rusher market with a five-year contract extension in 2020.

While still able to play at a Pro Bowl level in spurts, making his most recent one in 2024, Bosa’s body has begun to break down on him. Over the past three seasons, he missed a combined 23 games and started only 18. In 2024, Bosa played just 50 percent of possible snaps, the lowest of his career thus far. Despite the injuries, he still produced five sacks and 13 quarterback hits across 14 games and nine starts.

Bosa’s 72 sacks are the second-most in franchise history behind only Leslie O’Neal.

How he fits

Bosa enters the equation for the Bills as the bigger splash at edge rusher they so desperately needed this offseason. As the Bills’ 2024 season unfolded, it became painfully obvious that the team needed more from their pass rush. A.J. Epenesa wasn’t cutting it as a starter, and they could only rely on Von Miller for 15 to 30 snaps per game, limiting his overall impact on the game. The Bills released Miller this offseason, and Bosa instantly becomes a starting piece for the franchise in 2025 and one they hope can put their pass-rushing group over the top.

Bosa has had a great career with the Chargers since entering the league in 2016, with a reputation as one of the most feared pass rushers in the NFL at one time. All the injuries have taken their toll on him, which led to not only his release but the Bills being able to get him at a manageable price point, given his past production. If they can get a full season out of Bosa without injuries, the one-year investment will be worth the modest price tag for his position.

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2025 impact

Bosa will very likely take the place of Epenesa as one of the team’s two starting defensive ends, and he’ll pair with the newly extended Greg Rousseau as the top two pass rushers. There will still be a role for Epenesa as a rotational rusher, especially because the Bills will likely be extremely cognizant of Bosa’s injury history in how they deploy him. But the Bills had a bit of a disjointed pass rush last year by role alone. Epenesa was the starting right defensive end, but mostly only played on first and second downs. When it became an obvious passing situation, Epenesa would usually get subbed off the field for Miller, who would then force Rousseau from left defensive end to the right side.

As much as Bosa conceivably helps the Bills, where the Bills line him up will likely be a work in progress to see how he and Rousseau can best fit together. He has shown the ability to rush from the right side throughout his career, though over the last five seasons, Bosa has rushed from the left side the vast majority of the time. According to Pro Football Focus, the last time Bosa had a near-even split in a single season between the left and right side was back in 2019.

What makes it interesting is that Rousseau is a more gifted pass-rusher when lined up on the left side because that’s what he’s played the majority of his football career. The Bills began to use him on the right side more and more over the last two years, and he’s had his moments on that side, but he’s still at his best when rushing from the left. Bosa’s 11.5 percent pressure rate in 2024 is good, but Rousseau (14.4 percent in 2024) is likely the better pass rusher at this stage of their respective careers. That logic could push Bosa to be their base right defensive end, though they made an exception for Miller last year to push Rousseau to the right side, and we’ll have to see if they do the same for Bosa.

Cap update

The $12.6 million price tag from the Bills will eat a decent chunk into their available funds, though they still have some restructures they can dip into to create more space. The Bills have used void years in the past to lessen the first-year cap hit, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if they did so on Bosa’s deal for some temporary relief in 2025. If so, the move doesn’t preclude them from more spending, and they’ll certainly need to address cornerback at some point, though they may have to opt for more modest ideas as free agency begins to wind down.

Outlook

With what Bosa is at this stage of his career, this isn’t a swing-for-the-fences type of move. They tried that by signing Miller in free agency in 2022 and got some temporary satisfaction, though the signing was largely a miss due to Miller’s torn ACL suffered in that same season. Bosa can be that extra piece of the pass rush they can depend upon in big situations. While Miller’s role was almost exclusively on passing downs in 2024, Bosa provides a three-down skill set that will help their overall room without having to upend the entire unit once the defense forces a third down.

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With how close they were to getting to the Super Bowl last year, and with most of their starting lineup returning, they needed to get better in just a handful of spots. Defensive end was one of them, and provided that Bosa can stay healthy, he’ll be a significant improvement to what they had last season from the Epenesa, Miller and Dawuane Smoot combination. There is certainly risk involved with an investment in an oft-injured player who has slowly declined. But if all goes well, it could be one of those solid improvements to their lineup to help Rousseau and the Bills’ defensive line get just enough heat on opponents to get them into the Super Bowl next season.

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(Photo: Kirby Lee / USA Today)

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