DeWayne

Carter

The Bills’ 2024 third-round pick practiced in full all week so he appears to have strong odds of returning for Week 13. The Bills’ defense is on the upswing with LB Matt Milano (triceps) also nearing a return.

Head coach Sean McDermott said “there’s a good chance” Carter’s injury lands him on injured reserve. The rookie defensive tackle has appeared in all seven games for the Bills this season, totaling nine tackles and three TFLs while also breaking up one pass. If Carter lands on IR, he would need to miss at least four games before being eligible to return.

The son of the former Ohio State WR of the same name, Carter (6’2/303) chose to attend Duke over more reputable football schools like Michigan and Notre Dame. He took two years to get his bearings before starting 38 games over his final three years while racking up 114 pressures and 23.0 TFL. He had his most productive season in 2022, generating 52 pressures, 11.0 TFL, three forced fumbles, and 5.5 sacks while earning the eighth-highest PFF defensive grade among all FBS defensive linemen. Expectations were high heading into 2023, but Carter’s productivity dropped to 3.5 TFL and 1.0 sacks despite playing a similar amount of reps. The First Team All-ACC performer showed encouraging speed at the Combine with a 1.72s 10-yard split (83rd%), 4.99s 40-yard dash (84th%), and 32” vert (89th%). A 7.95s 3-Cone and 24 bench reps tempered his overall athletic profile a bit, but he still recorded a solid 7.67 RAS. Even though he has the hand strength to ragdoll opponents at the point of attack, he can sometimes get preoccupied with pushing his opponent as far into the backfield as possible but failing to disengage to make the play. The first three-time team captain in program history, Carter is a high-character player who profiles as an interior passing down specialist for Buffalo.