ORCHARD PARK — DeWayne Carter stood in the middle of practice unwrapping the tape on his wrists like a ball of yarn.
The white tape went from his forearm all the way to his palm and wrapped around his thumb. Once he got to the end of the tape, he wiggled free a black composite brace. Carter insists he doesn’t need the brace and only uses it when he doesn’t feel like taping his wrists completely.
Carter’s right wrist has been a source of frustration and disappointment, while also serving as a motivating tool heading into his second season with the Buffalo Bills. After playing just seven snaps in his rookie debut last season, Carter gradually found a role.
In a blowout loss to the Ravens in Week 4, Carter recorded his first tackle for a loss. Then he had three more in the next four games. His confidence started simmering to the surface and then it was yanked away when he tore a wrist ligament in a Week 7 win over the Titans.
Carter missed the next five games, but he wasn’t the same player. The Bills signed veterans Quinton Jefferson and Jordan Phillips when Carter went on injured reserve and he couldn’t regain his spot.
At first, Carter was a healthy scratch in Week 16 against the Patriots. After playing the final two regular season games, Carter was back in street clothes for Buffalo’s entire playoff run.
And after spending most of his offseason working out in Orchard Park, Carter spent the spring watching the Bills sign veteran Larry Ogunjobi, and then he watched them draft two defensive tackles in the first four rounds.
So the question has become where the 2024 third-round pick fits into the rotation. But Carter isn’t as concerned as everyone else.
“You’ve got to show up to work every day, put your best stuff on tape, work your butt off and everything will take care of itself,” Carter told GNN Sports. “I can’t really worry about, ‘Oh, I’ve got to do this or I need this.’ It’s just about getting better each and every single day and then the chips fall wherever.”
Carter is adamant that he didn’t rush back from reconstructive surgery. In fact, he could have returned a week sooner than he did.
But Carter also had to regain strength in his wrist after not being able to move it after the injury. A hard cast was placed on the wrist after his procedure and still wasn’t able to use it, forcing him to do menial tasks like brushing his teeth or holding his phone with his left hand.
Four weeks after he was activated from injured reserve, Carter finally started to feel healthy again. He logged 34 snaps against the Jets in Week 17 and then 57 in the regular-season finale against the Patriots while the starters rested.
But there were also mental obstacles to overcome. And those took longer to heal than his wrist did.
“It’s one thing knowing that I’m healthy, knowing I’m healed, knowing I’m strong enough to do it,” Carter said. “It’s another thing to go out there and do it and trust it. Like knowing that I could fall and that I wouldn’t break my wrist. A lot of it was mental and once I got over that mental block, I think I was ready to go again.”
But the Bills weren’t ready and they opted to use their veterans in the postseason. Carter was already dealing with the frustration of missing a game due to injury for the first time in his life, only to be followed by the coaching staff sitting him for perceived better options.
Carter was a blossoming star when he was a high school sophomore in Pickerington, Ohio. And then he was a significant contributor for five seasons at Duke. But he had to watch the Bills get to the doorstep of the Super Bowl and fall while he couldn’t do anything about it.
“It sucks,” Carter said. “I’m a competitor. I want to be on the field every snap if I can be. And that’s just my mindset. But I don’t take anything personal. … At the end of the day, I’m going to be a team guy and I want to win.”
Although the defensive tackle room emptied after the season with the Bills not re-signing Austin Johnson, Jefferson and Phillips. But it’s been repopulated and is just as full as it was last season.
Carter played all but three snaps at 3-technique last season — aligned on the outside shoulder of the guard — but there is now a logjam. Ed Oliver is the starter, while second-round pick T.J. Sanders and fourth-round pick Deone Walker (even at 6-foot-7, 330 pounds) are both penetrators.
The Bills also stated plans for Ogunjobi to play 3-technique after his six-game suspension ends. But the Bills also don’t have an obvious backup at 1-technique — outside shoulder of the center — for veteran DaQuan Jones.
“I always liked DeWayne’s versatility coming out (of Duke),” general manager Brandon Beane said. “I think DeWayne gives you the versatility based on how your roster is fitting. Maybe he starts out playing more (1-technique), but if we have a couple injuries, I think we could move him over.”
While the Bills might line up the 1-technique as a 3-technique on passing downs, the responsibilities remain the same. Carter played 318 snaps at 1-technique in college and has been telling people since the pre-draft process that he’s comfortable playing both spots.
“It’s really the same spot,” Bills senior defensive assistant Ryan Nielsen said. “You’re just moving guys around. It’s just some fundamentals that are a little bit different.”