The risk is worth the reward. That’s clearly how the Buffalo Bills feel about Joey Bosa.
The team officially announced signing Bosa, who comes with a lengthy injury history that has derailed the career of someone who was once one of the top pass rushers in the NFL. There is little risk in Bosa’s one-year, $12.6 million contract and likely little concern about what’s left in the soon-to-be 30-year-old’s tank.
The looming question is whether Bosa can stay healthy.
Bosa, the No. 3 overall pick in 2016, has 72 career sacks and has gone to five Pro Bowls, including last year as an alternate. But he hasn’t played a full season since 2019 and hasn’t registered double-digit sacks since 2021.
“I think I have a lot to prove to people, but mostly just myself,” Bosa said. “If I can prove to myself the player that I am. I know I’ve had some good moments over the last few years, but it’s about putting it together throughout a whole season and being available for my team.”
Last season Bosa said he felt better than he ever had before. But a glute injury forced him to miss three games and it lingered for most of the year, saying he played at 60-70% healthy until the end of the season.
Bosa missed four games as a rookie (and still won Defensive Rookie of the Year) with a hamstring injury. He missed nine games with a left foot injury in 2018, four games with two separate concussions in 2020, 12 games with a core muscle injury in 2022 and nine games in 2023 with three different lower-body injuries.
But one of the reasons Bosa chose the Bills was to play in a fluid rotation that already includes Greg Rousseau, A.J. Epenesa and the recently-signed Michael Hoecht. In Bosa’s first six seasons, he played in 76.1% of the snaps in games he played, but the number dropped to 51.5% over the last three years.
Bosa played a career-low 49.6% of the snaps last season. But only three defensive ends — Greg Rousseau, Trent Murphy and Jerry Hughes (three times) — have played more than 60% of the snaps under coach Sean McDermott, with Rousseau setting a high of 66.6% last season.
While 35-45 plays doesn’t seem like a big number, it would put Bosa around 55% of the plays. Epenesa, the team’s No. 2 defensive end, averaged 38.3 snaps per game and Von Miller played 21.4.
“I’m feeling really healthy now,” Bosa said. “And I don’t know the exact plan, but I plan to be a starter here. … It’s a long season and you don’t want to be playing 70 plays every game. If you can hit that sweet spot of 35-40-45 plays and play all of them at a really high level and come Week 17, you’re still ready to go.”
Bosa expressed all of the typical sentiments a new acquisition does — he loved the culture, loved the atmosphere of the city and wanted to win. But his responses to questions also took a tone of urgency.
Nine years into his career, Bosa has grossed $142.894 million in career earnings. But Bosa also knows the clock is ticking on his career. And his window as an impact player is closing fast.
“Sometimes you just get bad luck or you made a bad decision,” Bosa said. “‘You shouldn’t have done this or you shouldn’t have done that.’ I’m locked in this year. I just want to do everything I can possibly to stay healthy and to contribute to this team and winning. I’m running out of time. It’s going fast. I just don’t have that many moments left. All that’s going to be on my mind this year is football.”