Michael Hoecht is excited to prove he'll be worth the wait for the Buffalo Bills

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WKBW) — Newly added Buffalo Bills defensive lineman Michael Hoecht has already won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams. But now he wants to do it for a team much closer to home.

“This place was just too attractive to turn down and it seemed like it was going to be too much fun,” Hoecht said in a sit-down interview with 7 Sports. “It’s close to home, it’s a really good team, Josh just won the MVP, like this is where you want to be right now.”

Hoecht is no Buffalo Joe Andreessen, but he was born in Oakville, Ontario, and still has most of his family and friends right across the border. So now, instead of a six-hour flight, his biggest supporters will need to hop in the car and drive an hour and a half to Orchard Park.

“This now feels to me really special that I get to involve all the people in my life from the journey, and we can just bring everybody down,” Hoecht added. “If you see a giant pod of 50 people wearing No. 55 jerseys, you know who they’re there for.”

Those supporters won’t be there for the start of the season. Hoecht is suspended for the first six weeks of the 2025 season for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy. The Bills knew about the suspension before they signed him to a three-year deal right at the beginning of free agency in March.

“It’s going to suck….it’s a bad situation and it’s very much my fault,” Hoecht said. “It’s using that time to get as healthy, as fast, be as mentally prepared, watch all the games, study all the practices, and make sure I’m doing my part so that when I come back we’re ready to roll and can put it behind me.”

Hoecht is a player the Bills looked at for a while, due in part to his versatility. While with the Rams, Hoecht was asked to play several positions, and he believes he can do the same in Buffalo.

“We looked at him for multiple years as far as Michael goes,” Bills defensive coordinator Bobby Babich said. “So then you try to envision in your mind a roll or a piece that he can perform because his role in LA was unique.”

“I guess I never really thought of myself as versatile until I got into the NFL and was playing every position,” Hoecht said. “Versatility I really think is about understanding the playbook. And that’s not just knowing the playbook, you really have to understand it to do different spots.”

There’s no sugarcoating things, the suspension isn’t great. But the newest Bill is excited to prove he’ll be worth the wait and help the team win games when it matters the most.

“It would definitely mean everything, especially with the new stadium there we can just win it, burn it to the ground, and start over in the new stadium next year.”

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