Just as he did last season, Mario Addison leads the Bills in sacks with five.

Not bad for a 34-year-old, but a number far lower than Addison feels he should have.

"My body feels good, but I left a lot of meat on the bone this year," Addison said. "I've missed legit like eight sacks this year. Easy sacks. I don't know what it is and why I missed eight sacks, but I did. But other than that, I feel good."

That feeling is because of changes Addison has made in his diet over the past year.

He hasn't had a sip of alcohol in 10 months.

Snacks, bread and now pork have been eliminated.

That has helped Addison drop about seven pounds, enough to feel quicker on the field.

Then there is the decreased workload he is seeing this season, dropping from playing 61% of the Bills defensive snaps in 2020 to now just 49% of them. It is a plan collectively discussed between Addison, General Manager Brandon Beane, as well as the Bills coaching staff last offseason.

In part it was to keep Addison more fresh in his mid-30s.

It also was to open the door for younger players such as 1st round pick Greg Rousseau to get in the mix immediately.

"I wanted to give the young guys a chance to start," Addison said. "They're early in their careers and they've been doing good. They've been doing real good. Everything the coaches ask of them. And I think they're ready. So I didn't mind taking a step back and coming in on 3rd down, which I like to do that anyway. Coming in on 3rd down and pass rush. So for me it was a win-win."

One young player that hasn't taken snaps from Addison is 2nd round pick Boogie Basham, who has been inactive for nine of the Bills' 16 games his rookie season. Basham admitted it has been a challenge not seeing the field regularly, but credits Addison as someone he has leaned on to get through the tough times.

"It was a natural connection," Addison said. "Everything he's going through I can relate to... I've seen Boogie sometimes just trying to stay in it mentally. So that's my job to make sure he stayed in it mentally and don't hit the rookie wall. But I always told rookie, and the other ends, young guys in general, be patient. Your time is coming. But when your time is coming, you got to produce. Produce, learn, grow. At the end of the day if you produce you give the coach something to fight with and they'll fight for you to be up."

Addison making sacrifices began last offseason when he restructured his contract to help free up cap space that helped re-sign players such as Matt Milano, Daryl Williams and Jon Feliciano.

But while there was a team-first element to the move, it also was likely in Addison's best interests as well.

"Let's say I didn't rework the deal, maybe Beane would have cut me," Addison said. "Who knows? They could have done that. They could have cut me. Instead I take the $2 million pay cut. When I did that, man-to-man I asked Beane about deleting my final year on my contract, which he did it for me." 

That now makes Addison a free agent after this season.

He isn't closing the door on a potential return, but once again looks at his situation with the Bills realistically.

"It's possible that I could be here another year, but they're leaning towards the younger guys, in all honesty," Addison said. "They're leaning towards the young guys. They want to develop those guys and they're the future. That's why I did my best to contribute the way I did to the young guys to prepare them."

And Addison is prepared to continue to play here or elsewhere, aiming for two more seasons before retiring to focus on his family as his son would be entering high school.

"Like I said, my body feels good," Addison said. "I made all the necessary changes to be able to still play at a high level at age 34. There's a lot of teams out there that need veteran leadership and a guy that still can pass rush and me I offer both."

But for now, he offers both for the Bills, who give him the best chance to achieve the only thing left on his list: a Super Bowl.

"I wanted to play with these guys at least one more year," Addison said. "So that's why I ended up taking a pay cut because we have a great team. A great team. All we have to do is play together and play Bills football and the sky's the limit. Only ones that can beat this team is us."