DeWayne Carter entered the season with plenty of doubt hanging over him, but two games in, the Bills defensive tackle has started answering it with real production.
Carter was a player many believed might not even survive the final roster cut after a summer clouded by Buffalo’s defensive scheme change and the depth the team already had at defensive tackle. His return from the Achilles injury he suffered before the 2025 season only added to the uncertainty.
Still, he made the initial 53-man roster, and Phidarian Mathis serving a 3-game suspension for violating the league's substance's of abuse policy may have helped create the opening. Carter has taken advantage of it.
According to Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News, Carter ranks second among defensive tackles in ESPN's run stop win rate metric. Lysowski noted that Carter has been credited with 11 wins in 21 snaps against the run, a strong mark for a player who is not even the Bills’ top defensive tackle.
Bills defensive tackle DeWayne Carter ranks second among NFL DT in ESPN's run stop win rate metric.
Carter credited with 11 wins in 21 snaps.
- Lance Lysowski (@LLysowski) September 22, 2026
That work has shown up in Buffalo’s run defense, which has been solid through the first two games. The Bills allowed 124 rushing yards against the Houston Texans in Week 1, then held the Detroit Lions to 66 yards despite facing Jahmyr Gibbs, one of the league’s top backs. Carter has played a major role in that early success, especially after missing all of last season and barely getting on the field as a rookie because of a wrist injury.
He also handled a bigger load in Week 2 when Ed Oliver was a last-minute inactive because of a hip injury suffered during warmups. Even with that increased role, Carter’s season is still in its early stages, and he has more to prove if he wants to establish himself as a piece of this defense moving forward.
Deone Walker is the star in the middle of the trenches, but Carter’s impact against the run has been hard to miss. That matters for Buffalo after last season’s run defense fell apart and helped cost the team games.
The next test comes Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, who bring a struggling offense and young running back Omarion Hampton to town. Another strong showing would only add to Carter’s growing profile.
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