Coming into the 2022 Buffalo Bills season, everyone knew the team would be good. They knew about the greatness of Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, Von Miller, Jordan Poyer, and the potential of Gabriel Davis and Gregory Rousseau. And things like Ken Dorsey’s play-calling, Devin Singletary’s running, Isaiah McKenzie in the slot, and the rookie cornerbacks stepping up weren’t guaranteed, but these things weren’t exactly shocking. There are a few Bills surprises, though, as we pass the halfway point of the 2022 NFL season. The biggest of these is the breakout Matt Milano NFL season. Bills fans already know he’s quietly been one of the best linebackers in the game the last few years, but now, he’s become possibly the best all-around LB in the game. And it shows up when he’s on the field and, unfortunately for the Bills, also when he’s on the shelf.

LB Matt Milano is the biggest Bills surprise of the 2022 season

Linebacker Matt Milano is in his sixth season with the Bills. The team drafted him in the fifth round (No. 163 overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft out of Boston College.

During his Bills tenure, he’s played in 77 games and started 61 of them. His career totals thus far are 396 tackles, 50 tackles for a loss, 9.0 sacks, 31 passes defended, two forced fumbles, and seven interceptions.

And those numbers help illustrate what kind of player Matt Milano is. They’re solid, but they also don’t jump off the page at you. He’s 6 feet tall, 223 pounds, and has good (not great) speed. Unlike some more physically impressive linebackers, he doesn’t leap off the TV screen when watching him.

All that said, this Bills season, Milano has become the lynchpin of the No. 1-ranked Buffalo defense.

Milano is what used to be derisively described as a coverage linebacker. That is what you’d call a player who isn’t a big thumper or a sideline-to-sideline destroyer. However, in the modern NFL, with the proliferation of the tight end as a superstar pass-catcher, a coverage linebacker is one of the most valuable things a defense can have.

In this breakout Matt Milano season, he’s faced off with some of the best TEs in the league. Here’s how these pass-catchers have fared against the Bills LB:

  • Tyler Higbee: 11 targets, five catches, 39 yards, zero touchdowns
  • Austin Hooper: five targets, one catch, 19 yards, zero touchdowns
  • Mike Gesicki: one target, one catch, six yards, zero touchdowns
  • Mark Andrews: five targets, two catches, 15 yards, zero touchdowns
  • Pat Freiermuth: two targets, two catches, 12 yards, zero touchdowns
  • Travis Kelce: 10 targets, eight catches, 108 yards, zero touchdowns
  • Robert Tonyan: six targets, five catches, 35 yards, zero touchdowns

That all adds up to 24 catches on 40 targets for 134 yards and no touchdowns for opposing tight ends when Milano is on the field.

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And Milano isn’t just taking away TEs from the other team either. He may not be flying to the ball and meeting running backs facemask-to-facemask in the hole like his LB partner and team-leading tackler (63) Tremaine Edwards. But the former Boston College Eagle is an incredible solo tacker in the open field. In fact, 31 of his 37 tackles this season are solo, and many of those have stopped big runs when he was the last thing between the ball carrier and lots of green grass.

In the two biggest wins of the Bills season — the Week 4 win over the Baltimore Ravens and Week 6 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs — Milano had another job as well. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier had Milano spy Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes.

With Milano floating right behind the defensive line on late-down passing plays, Mahomes stayed in the pocket and ultimately threw a game-ending interception. And the LB also made several incredible one-on-one tackles vs. Jackson that prevented chunk plays.

On top of all he does on the field, the problem with Milano is that he’s not always healthy. The LB missed 10 games in his first six seasons, and in Week 9 vs. the New York Jets, he missed his first of the Bills' 2022 NFL season with an oblique injury.

What happened with Milano on the sideline? The Jets ran for 174 yards, with Zach Wilson, Michael Carter, James Robinson, and Ty Johnson all breaking runs for 12 yards or more. It was a big reason the Bills lost the game.

These are the reasons why, of all the Bills' surprises this season, their budding star linebacker is the biggest. This Matt Milano season may not be something that the casual fan even notices, but shrewd Bills fans know that without Milano, the Bills defense isn’t the best in the league like it is right now.