Michael Hoecht
Buffalo BillsModel Score
How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →
Draft & College
STM Take
$21M Bills contract as a Brown FCS 2020 UDFA puts Hoecht in the rare Ivy-League-pathway outlier-positive market value class. The Brown FCS UDFA origin plus the multi-position flexibility establish the structural specialty value. The 2025 PED suspension plus the 2026 cap hit creates contract-value risk. The 2026 question is whether Hoecht crosses into tier 6-7 territory or whether the structural late-bloomer ceiling caps below the expected outcome.
Hoecht came out of Brown (FCS) as a 2020 undrafted free agent signed by the Los Angeles Rams. He spent five years with the Rams as a positional flex player before signing a three-year, $21M deal with the Buffalo Bills in 2025 free agency. He served a 6-game PED suspension to start the 2025 season.
Strengths
- $21M Bills contract as a Brown FCS 2020 UDFA puts him in the rare Ivy-League-pathway outlier-positive market value class.
- Brown FCS UDFA origin plus six years of NFL development plus the multi-position flexibility establishes real specialty value.
Concerns
- 2025 6-game PED suspension puts continued availability question on every 2026 projection.
- $7M 2026 cap hit creates moderate contract-value risk given the PED suspension context.
What to watch: Whether Hoecht crosses into tier 7 (top 55) in 2026 with the Bills, the threshold for closing the gap between $21M contract and STTM ranking.