One of the hallmarks of a great defense in the NFL is having a player who the opposing offense has to game plan for, a player who is so disruptive that you have to account for him every snap he’s on the field.

For the Buffalo Bills, Greg Rousseau has the talent to be that player, perhaps even in a way his aging teammate, Von Miller, once was in his heyday with the Broncos. But defensive coordinator Bobby Babich will not put that type of pressure on the 24-year-old edge rusher.

“We need Greg Rousseau to be the best version of himself. That’s it,” Babich said Monday before practice at St. John Fisher University. “I’ll never put an expectation on players. I think the thing you’ve got to do is you’ve got to find out what the player wants. There’s no heightened expectation, there’s a maturation process in this league and as long as we go out here and we put in the work, we’ll be in good shape.”

Sign up for the Bills Blast newsletter Delivered straight to your inbox, additional Bills analysis, insight, stats, quotes and team history from Sal Maiorana

What the Bills need from Greg Rousseau in his fourth season

In theory, that’s fine, but Rousseau is a 2021 first-round pick who, while he has played well in his first three seasons, has certainly not been the dominant pass rusher the Bills were hoping he would become. He has 17 career sacks, nothing to sniff at, but for such a magnificent athlete who stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 266 pounds, at times it has felt like the Bills should have gotten more from Rousseau.

That was particularly true in 2023 when Miller was a shell of himself and played less than 300 snaps, with many of those going to Rousseau, but a foot injury hampered him and he made only five sacks.

“Coach Babich took the words out of my mouth - I got to be the best me I can be,” Rousseau said. “I know I can get 10 sacks, I know what I can do in this league. I already had eight sacks (in 2022), I had opportunities to get more last year, so coach Babich is speaking the truth.”

Leonard Floyd led the Bills with 10.5 sacks last season, but he’s now with the 49ers. Rousseau and Miller, plus AJ Epenesa who re-signed with Buffalo as a free agent, are the top three edge rushers, but of that threesome, Rousseau is the one who needs to emerge as a force.

Defensive tackle Ed Oliver knows all about the responsibilities that first-round picks must shoulder. The Bills selected him No. 9 overall in 2019 and it took a few seasons before Oliver truly began to live up to his draft status. He thinks Rousseau is in the same situation.

“Just like anything, Greg came into the league and was 20 or 21 years old. What would you really expect from a 21-year-old?” Oliver said. “Just getting more mature and learning how to be a pro. It was the same thing with me learning how to be a pro. And he’s picked it up a little bit faster than me, so that’s good.”

Rousseau has been a good run defender which he correctly said is, “Really important. Taking pride in the run game, it’s a man-whupping-man game, so being able to stop the run and help us get to those second- and third-and-longs is obviously the best.”

The bar will be set high for Rousseau in 2024

Yes, but more than anything, the Bills drafted him out of the University of Miami for his pass rushing skills, and while there have been times when he’s been a menacing pass rusher, it hasn’t happened enough to make the opposing offense point to him each time it comes to the line.

“Just stay healthy and just be me,” Rousseau reiterated when asked how he hopes to improve his sack and QB pressure totals. “That’s it, because the way I played in 2022 before I hurt my ankle, the way I played last year before I hurt my foot, I know what type of player I am already. All I gotta do is stay healthy, stay on top of details, and keep coming out here to work every day.

“I already have a worker mentality, so that won’t change. When you go trying to stretch and go over and beyond, that’s when you find yourself not doing as good. That’s when you find yourself in trouble because you’re trying to compensate, trying to be this guy or trying to be this guy. Just be the best you can be.”

Babich declined to share what goals he and Rousseau have discussed, but suffice it to say, they are setting the bar higher in 2024.

“Me and Greg have had plenty of conversations about what he wants out of his career, and in turn to help this team win,” Babich said. “We expect every player that’s on the field, we expect them to be a reason we win. We’re not winning just with them, we’re winning because of them and that’s what we want from every player on our defense.”

“He wants to be the elite of the elite, so he’s willing to put in the work. One of those things that you look for in players is their ability to listen, to comprehend what you’re saying and for us to meet and agree on what we’re saying. We pinpointed a couple things in the spring for him, and he’s a focused individual, man. I would say Greg, right now, looks like a man on a mission.”

Buffalo Bills news

Be sure to return to democratandchronicle.com for daily updates throughout the Buffalo Bills training camp. You can also sign up for Bills Blast, Sal Maiorana's newsletter which will follow the Bills action all season long. Here are stories from camp:

Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for four decades including 35 years as the full-time beat writer for the D&C, and he has written numerous books about the history of the team. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana. https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Greg Rousseau needs to be elite pass rusher for Buffalo Bills in 2024