The Bills made clear that they wanted to improve their pass rush in this year’s NFL draft, choosing defensive end Gregory Rousseau in the first round, and defensive Carlos Basham in the second round. Bills defensive line coach Eric Washington is excited about the possibilities that presents.
“I’m really excited for that,” Washington told the Buffalo News. “So far, the interaction I’ve had with Greg and Carlos has been really productive. The first thing that excites you about both players is their character. With the limited time we’ve been working together, they’ve made a relatively smooth transition from being in college, then going through the predraft process to coming here blending in and trying to learn what we’re asking them to do. I see them doing their absolute best, asking good questions and just really being astute in observing what’s going on around them. We’ve gotten off to a really good start with them. I look forward to continuing to work with them.”
The 6-foot-6, 266-pound Rousseau is impressive physically, but Washington said Rousseau is particularly impressive mentally.
“It’s well documented. Greg really impressed me during our pre-draft interview,” Washington said. “When you’re trying to get to know a player through that format, and I’m talking about a Zoom format, there’s some limitations with that. It’s certainly different than sitting down and having a conversation with someone one-on-one. But through that format, Greg was really impressive. He is definitely a conceptual thinker. You can give him concepts, examples, descriptions of things and he can fill in the blanks for you pretty quickly, without having all of the visuals that obviously are aids for people trying to learn. The other thing is the maturity level. Greg was really focused on and preparing himself for what he thought pro football was going to consist of. He had no delusions of what it was going to do for him. All of the feedback and his commentary revolved around coming in and working and learning. And he understood with the position he’s in there comes a lot of responsibility and expectations. He seemed to be very comfortable with that.”
Washington sounds confident that big things are coming from those two rookies.