ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — DeWayne Carter knew the day was coming, but it still felt different walking into Highmark Stadium after the Bills selected him in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

"Unreal. It’s unreal," he said. "The NFL is obviously the highest league in the world. Just getting to be here and seeing my name on a jersey for the first time. Seeing the locker, it was mine, but it wasn’t really mine. I don’t know, like I just keep saying, it’s so surreal to me."

What You Need To Know

  •  The Bills selected Duke DT DeWayne Carter in the 3rd round of the NFL Draft

  •  Carter's father and uncle both played major college football

  • The 6'2, 300 lb. lineman was the first three-time captain in Duke football history

Carter’s football bloodlines are strong. His father played at Ohio State and his uncle at Notre Dame.

His family has been there every step of the way — especially his dad, loudly pushing him to be his best since he was 6 years old.

"I grew up playing soccer. You saw baseball and everything else," Carter said. "He didn’t know anything about soccer, but he knew about hustle and compete. So that’s what he said for 60 minutes every time I was out on the soccer field. It’s just been consistent. Once I got into football, that’s when it really took off."

The defensive tackle was the first ever three-time captain at Duke University.  

Leadership comes naturally.

"It means the world to me because I think my teammates viewed me as the ultimate teammate at the end of the day,” Carter said. “And that’s what I set out to do every day, is be the best teammate I can be and just be an overall good person. Not only that, but being a good person but not being a pushover, right? So, being the standard.”

The 6’2”, 300-pounder set a high standard in school with 12 sacks over his career and first team All-ACC honors, along with the Jim Tatum Award for the conference's top scholar-athlete in his final season.

"You’ve got to do anything to find yourself an edge," Carter said. "And for me in college, that’s a big thing for me, trying to know what’s coming before it actually happens." 

The Bills expect Carter to be plug-and-play, joining the defensive line rotation right away. His skills, smarts and ability to lead should help him dive right in.