Game film is king in talent evaluation. Though statistics and highlight reels are flashy and not purposeless, general managers and executives across the NFL must watch film in order to properly gauge a player’s true ability; there’s context in tape that’s not available through other means, and it’s that context that, more often than not, is determinant of a player’s ultimate success.
There are some occasions, however, where the eye test is just as useful as film.
Gregory Rousseau is one of the rare examples of this phenomenon. The prospect didn’t have poor tape coming out of Miami, it was just stale—he sat out of the COVID-impacted 2020 collegiate season, giving prognosticators a year to pick through his 2019 film with a fine tooth comb. He notched a gaudy 15.5 sacks in his freshman season, but several pundits came away from his film with questions about his ability as a pass rush generator, noting that a significant portion of his sacks were of the “clean-up” variety.
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Rousseau, however, certainly looked the part of an elite NFL pass rusher. Coming out of college as a 6-foot-7, 266-pound prospect with a bundle of elite traits and an otherworldly wingspan, the makings of a difference-maker were there, regardless of the problems uncovered in his tape. The possibility was too much for the Buffalo Bills to pass on at the end of the first night of the 2021 NFL Draft, as they selected him with the 30th overall pick.
He’s made the gamble pay off thus far. Rousseau immediately established himself as one of the team’s better run defenders, a pedestal he hasn’t since vacated. He’s totaled 94 run stops throughout his three-year career, per PFF, including a team-high 41 stops in his rookie season. He’s also shown occasional flashes as a pass rusher, recording 17 sacks as a professional. He’s coming off what was perhaps his most productive pass-rushing season, registering a career-high 62 total quarterback pressures in 2023, per PFF.
An already stout player who is only ascending, Rousseau could reasonably be identified as one of Buffalo’s current pillars. Bleacher Report’s David Kenyon seemingly agrees with this sentiment, circling the 24-year-old as the Bills’ “most promising building block” in a recent article for the outlet.
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“Tight end Dalton Kincaid deserves a mention, but Greg Rousseau is a rising player at a premium position,” Kenyon wrote. “The edge-rusher has collected 17 sacks with 67 pressures through three seasons on the Bills. Buffalo recently picked up Rousseau’s fifth-year option, tying him to the organization into the 2025 season. Based on his current trajectory, Rousseau will deserve an extension in the near future.”
The Bills, as Kenyon wrote, recently picked up Rousseau’s fifth-year option, but that wouldn’t necessarily stop the team from giving him a contract extension in the coming months should they so desire. It may ultimately behoove the team; though he’s still generally a bit inconsistent, his game has only become more well-rounded throughout his professional career, and it may only be a matter of time before he takes a step into the upper-echelon of pass rushers.
The Buffalo faithful shouldn’t necessarily worry about the feasibility of an extension, as the Bills freed up significant long-term financial flexibility with their offseason maneuvers. Besides, it seems as though the Rousseau family has taken a liking to Western New York; Jonathan Rousseau, Greg’s brother, recently committed to the University at Buffalo to play collegiate football.
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