There was a problem saving your notification. Column: Star Lotulelei’s opt-out creates significant hole in Bills’ defense Lotulelei and his wife have four children.The rules of the NFL’s opt-out option also helped ease the burden of what couldn’t have been an easy decision. He would still be in his starting spot for a reason. #Bills veteran DT Star Lotulelei will be taking a voluntary opt-out for this season, source says. He was still recruited by BYU, but also A regular starter in 2011, Lotulelei was an All-Pac-12 Conference performer and won the Morris Trophy as the league's best defensive lineman. He started all 13 games, and registered 44 tackles, 1.5 sacks, one pass breakup, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery. Column: Star Lotulelei’s opt-out creates significant hole in Bills’ defense Lotulelei took the 2009 season off to preserve another year of college eligibility. Bills starting DT Star Lotulelei opts out of 2020 season Updated Jul 28, 2020 The Bills will be without starting defensive tackle Star Lotulelei this season, according to the NFL Network. His entire seven-year NFL career, including five seasons with the Carolina Panthers, has been mostly defined by modest numbers that don’t align with his being a first-round draft pick or cashing the kind of checks first-rounders cash.But you’d be wrong to assume the Bills won’t feel Lotulelei’s absence.If you go by the plans new defensive line coach Eric Washington had for bringing a much-needed boost to the Bills’ ability to generate sacks, Lotulelei’s loss leaves a fairly significant hole on the side of the ball that factors heavily into all those giddy expectations for this season.In June, Washington, speaking during an exclusive Zoom call with The Buffalo News, said the success of the system he would employ began with the nose tackle’s performance.“I hear people characterize the nose tackle as ‘he eat-up blocks, he does this, he grabs this guy,’ ” Washington said. “That takes a certain amount of conditioning and discipline ... and then there's some technique things that we have to make sure are extremely sharp so we can react in a timely way to really put ourselves in the best position. I'm a past president of the Pro Football Writers of America.Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.The Bills will be without starting defensive tackle Star Lotulelei this season, according to the NFL Network.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. Pass-rush contribution aside, Lotulelei is a solid run-stuffer.
So those will push into 2021 and ‘22. The former first-rounder has $4.5 million fully guaranteed this season as well as $2.5 million fully guaranteed the following year. He reportedly "looked strong in all the position drills," and registered 38 repetitions in the 225-pound bench press,Lotulelei was drafted in the first round, 14th overall by the On May 22, 2013, Lotulelei signed a four-year $9.60 million deal.Lotulelei picked up from his strong rookie performance in his debut against the Lotulelei's 2015 preseason was cut short by a stress reaction in his surgically repaired right foot and it further caused him to miss the first 2 games of the NFL season during which the Panthers were able to produce victories over the On April 26, 2016, the Panthers picked up the fifth-year option of Lotulelei's contract.On September 10, 2017, in the season opening 23–3 victory over the On March 13, 2018, Lotulelei agreed to a five-year deal worth $50 million with the Lotulelei was used mostly as a run-stopping/0-tech tackle in his first season with the Bills. So, I go to that position first, despite what people's opinions may be about the athletic ability or the rush prowess of that position.”Washington coached Lotulelei in Carolina and was counting their history and Washington’s understanding that Lotulelei “sees improved production as a necessity” to result in his most impactful season in Buffalo.Now, as with so much in this Covid-19 world, that optimism needs some pulling back.If the nose tackle’s play is as central to the allowing the Bills to vastly improve upon the 44 sacks they had in 2019 as Washington believes, a viable alternative to Lotulelei must be found. His 9.0 tackles for loss tied sophomore linebacker Lotulelei returned to the University of Utah for his senior year, and started in all 12 games at nose tackle. Washington sees plenty of positive qualities in Butler, but says “he’s still developing.”Harrison Phillips also falls into that category.