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The Buffalo Bills, doubling down on their defensive line, selected Wake Forest EDGE Carlos Basham Jr. with the 61st pick overall Friday night. Considering the room right now consists of elder statesmen in Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison along with a bunch of unproven talent, it makes sense that the Bills want to have a youth movement in the coming years.
With the addition of A.J. Epenesa last year and Gregory Rousseau in the first round, the Bills aren’t waiting to see if guys can develop. They need proven talent that can press the quarterback consistently and become disruptors on the line of scrimmage. Fortunately, Basham comes with little to no injury concerns heading into the NFL. Below is Basham’s publicly known injury history.
Injury History
High School
2014 — Junior year: Sore knee, side not specified, unknown if he missed time in high school due to this injury.
College
2016 — Freshman year: Redshirted, did not appear in any games, or suffer any publicly known injuries.
2017 — Redshirt Freshman year: Appeared in 13 games, no publicly known injuries. Accumulated 24 total tackles, two tackles-for-loss.
2018 — Redshirt Sophomore year: Appeared in 12 games, missed the Syracuse game due to injury, details unknown regarding the specifics of the injury. Still racked up 64 total tackles, 11 tackles-for-loss, 4.5 sacks.
2019 — Redshirt Junior year: Appeared in 13 games, did not appear to suffer any publicly known injuries. Dominated on the field with 64 total tackles, 18 tackles-for-loss, 11 sacks.
2020 — Redshirt Senior year: Appeared in seven total games, missed one game due to COVID-19, missed the bowl game to train for the NFL Draft. Finished up his collegiate career with 28 total tackles, 5.5 tackles-for-loss, and five sacks.
Bills Injury Impact
Basham is about as healthy as a football player can be heading into the NFL. The 2018 injury appears minor as he was ACC Defensive player of the week prior to the Syracuse game. He then quickly returned the following week without any drop-off in play.
Besides the COVID-19 diagnosis and skipping the bowl game, Basham has no known injury concerns. As mentioned before, Brandon Beane continues to identify talent and traits at the position, limiting injury risk with this pick. From the looks of it, Basham and the defensive line are poised to scare quarterbacks for the next several years.