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Bills' Quarter-Century Team: Sean McDermott's secondary bolsters back end

Originally posted on Buffalo Bills on SI
By Colin Richey | Last updated Jul 21, 2025 8:02 AM ET

The Buffalo Bills have played 25 years of football this century. Following 17 seasons of a seemingly endless playoff drought, the franchise was saved, and now Buffalo is regarded as one of the best teams in the league.

While the franchise had historically faced struggles on offense before breaking the drought, Buffalo's defense had a reputation for being strong, highlighted by the success of the players on the quarter century team. The defense consists of four defensive linemen, three off-ball linebackers, three corners and two safeties. Punter, punt returner, and long snapper will also be listed in this half of the exercise.

DE: Aaron Schobel (2001-09), Mario Williams (2012-15)

Second in franchise history with 78 sacks, Schobel played his entire nine year career in Buffalo. He earned a second-team All Pro nod in 2006 for his season-high 14 sacks.

Williams made the most of his four years in Buffalo, recording 43 sacks, earning a first and second-team All Pro selection, and getting two Pro Bowl nods.

Jerry Hughes nearly made the cut with the 53 sacks he accumulated during nine years in Buffalo, but I went with peak over longevity here due to the dominance of 'Super Mario'.

DT: Kyle Williams (2006-18), Marcell Dareus (2011-17)

The defensive player to appear in the most games for the Bills this century, Williams is an easy choice for the team. In addition to his six Pro Bowls and second-team All Pro selection in 2010, Williams was a leader in the locker room and community. He tallied 48.5 sacks in his 183 games with the Bills.

A seven-year career in Buffalo peaked in the mid 2010s, with Dareus earning a first-team All Pro selection in 2014, and his second of two career Pro Bowls for his 10 sack season.

LB: Matt Milano (2017- ), Takeo Spikes (2003-06), London Fletcher (2002-06)

Milano and Spikes have both earned first-team All Pros, but also battled injuries during the peaks of their careers.

Milano has played 94 games for Buffalo, accumulating 504 total tackles, 10 interceptions, and 10.5 sacks. When healthy, he's been one of the best coverage linebackers in the league throughout his career. However, he's only appeared in a combined nine games over the past two seasons.

The first two seasons in Buffalo for Spikes saw him start all 32 games and make the Pro Bowl both years, but his last two seasons saw a combined 14 starts. His tenure with the Bills included 311 tackles, seven interceptions, and seven sacks.

Lining up next to Spikes in the early 2000s was the tackling machine that is Fletcher. Across five seasons in Buffalo, his lowest season total for tackles was 133, with a high of 158 in 2005. In addition to his 730 tackles, Fletcher added five INTs and 14.5 sacks during his time in Buffalo.

Lorenzo Alexander and Tremaine Edmunds were also considered, with the former being named second-team All Pro during his breakout 2016 season, and the latter surpassing 100 tackles in each of his five seasons with the Bills.

CB: Tre'Davious White (2017- ), Nate Clements (2001-06), Taron Johnson (2018- )

White was one of the best CBs in the NFL, if not the best, before injuries derailed his most recent seasons in Buffalo. At his peak, he was runner-up for Defensive Rookie of the Year, and earned first and second-team All Pro selections in 2019 and 2020. His 18 interceptions, 73 passes defended, and energy on the field and in the locker room make him one of the most iconic players of the Sean McDermott era.

Clements has the most interceptions for Buffalo this century with 23, and his 87 passes defended rank second during that span. A six-year starter for the Bills, Clements earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2004 and reached a lofty 102 total tackles in 2003.

Johnson has been one of the best slot corners in the NFL for his entire career, with enough run stopping ability to allow Buffalo to stay in a base-nickel defense. He earned a second-team All Pro selection in 2023, the same year the Associated Press began recognizing 'slot corner' as a unique position on the voting ballots.

S: Micah Hyde (2017-24), Jordan Poyer (2017-23)

Hyde earned two second-team All Pro nods while Poyer was named to one first-team All Pro team. Both safeties made one Pro Bowl in their careers. While they didn't always get the national recognition or accolades they deserved, the duo always seemed to work better together than individually.

Arguably the best safety tandem in the NFL for a seven-year stretch, Hyde and Poyer were the backbone of Sean McDermott's defense, and played a major role in building the current culture of the Buffalo Bills.

I really wanted to find a way to fit Jairus Byrd into the lineup, but he'll go down as the ultimate quarter century team snub.

P: Brian Moorman (2001-13)

The best punter in franchise history, Moorman earned two second-team All Pro selections and two Pro Bowl nods for his consistency throughout the first half of the century. His 84 yard punt in 2002 is the longest in team history, and his over 40,000 career punt yards is (by far) a franchise record.

PR: Roscoe Parrish (2005-11)

Parrish led the league in yards per punt return twice, and holds the franchise records for most punt returns, punt return yards, and punt return touchdowns (tied with Leodis McKelvin and Keith Moody).

LS: Reid Ferguson (2017- )

The current longest-tenured Buffalo Bill had competition to make the team, with Garrison Sanborn also spending eight years in Buffalo. How do you compare long snappers that were both consistent players and have equal tenure? Ferguson was a team captain three times, so he gets the nod. An arbitrary tie-breaker, but a tie-breaker nonetheless.