The Bills added depth to their defensive line room. Defensive end Michael Hoecht signed a three-year deal with Buffalo.
Hoecht has spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Rams. He was drafted with the No. 10 pick in the second round of the 2020 CFL draft and signed with the Rams as an undrafted free agent in the same year.
"Couldn't be more excited to be here," Hoecht said after signing. "I feel like I belong here. It almost happened last year, and I'm just so thankful that it finally happened. I'm here and immersing myself in the culture...the first word out of everybody's mouth (was) culture. I could tell that's something that they really take to heart here..this is a special place."
Most recently in his 2024 season with the Rams, Hoecht posted 3.0 sacks and 56 total tackles. He racked up 0.5 sack and 7 tackles during the Rams 2024 playoff run. Hoecht lined up all over for the Rams last year - edge rusher, linebacker, slot corner and more. He's excited to bring that creativity to Buffalo this season.
"I thought of myself as the point guard of the defense, meaning I'm responsible for the distribution things," Hoecht said of his role. "I'm responsible for getting people lined up in the right way in good disguises...I'm 267 pounds, a bigger body. So, offensive lines have to account for me in protections. And so, there was a lot of creative things that we did last year in Los Angeles. I got to wear a lot of hats. I think that's just something I can build upon here because I've done just about everything that you can do on a defense at this point."
Hoecht's played his entire four-year career with the Rams. His best statistical season came in 2023 when he posted 81 total tackles and 6.0 sacks along with 1 forced fumble. The defensive end credits his skillset to learning from some of the best in Los Angeles like Aaron Donald, Von Miller, Leonard Floyd, and even practicing against Joey Bosa.
"Bosa, we would have joint practices with him out in LA and just watching him on the other side of the ball, I've always just had a ton of respect for him," Hoecht said. "And (Greg) Rousseau, (A.J.) Epenesa and our whole room here, Ed Oliver, I think we have a really, really good diverse rush group here."
The do-it-all defensive player has 13.5 total sacks and 180 total tackles with 2 forced fumbles and 4 pass deflections throughout his career. Hoecht is known for his motor on the field and says it's something that comes naturally.
"I think I'm just a high energy guy," Hoecht shared. "It's how I play on the field. It's how I am in the locker room. It's how I am with friends and family. I don't necessarily have that off switch."
Being in the facility for just a few hours on Friday and getting his first taste of being a Bufalo Bill, Hoecht can't wait to be back for practices.
"This has obviously been the biggest day of my life," Hoecht said. "This has been the coolest experience in the world to come to an organization like this. I think I tried to sleep on the plane here, but the whole time I was just watching Bills Mafia highlight tapes and trying to pull up as much Bills lore as I possibly could."
The newest Bill is from Toronto and is excited to be a lot closer to home.
"Everybody is born and raised Toronto," Hoect said. "They're all Canucks. They all live there now, aunts, uncles, brother, everybody's up there. They're gonna be coming to all the games. This is obviously a lot closer for them to come to. So they're very, very excited."
