When the Buffalo Bills hired new head coach Rex Ryan, that meant they would also be changing their defensive scheme that has been successful the past couple of seasons. That meant Mario Williams, one of the best defensive players in the NFL, would have to change positions. For the Bills to have a successful year, their new defense will have to play at a high level, so this year’s training camp will be crucial for that group, but more importantly, Williams.

Williams will have a very intriguing training camp and preseason in the next couple of weeks. In all likeliness, Williams will be moving back to outside linebacker now that Ryan is implementing a 3-4 defense. Williams played one year at outside linebacker when he was with the Houston Texans, but recently he has flourished playing defensive end again in the 4-3 system.

So the main question this training camp for the Bills will be if Williams can transition to outside linebacker and still put up the same production he did with the Bills these past couple of seasons.

Looking back at the 2011 season when Williams first played outside linebacker for the Texans, the sample size is small. Williams only played in five games that year, but he had five sacks in those games. Even though Williams doesn’t have a lot of experience playing outside linebacker, it seemed at the time that he was still able to get after the quarterback.

But that was four seasons ago. Williams will probably have to lose some weight and learn new techniques now that he will be spending most of his time standing up instead of having a hand on the ground.

The Bills will no doubt get creative though with Williams and try to put him in a position to succeed and continue to have the same success he has had these past few seasons. Ryan runs a creative defensive scheme, so it won’t be out of the ordinary to see Williams standing up and even lining up with his hand on the ground at different times. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Williams have a similar role that Julius Peppers has with the Green Bay Packers. Peppers plays multiple positions in the Green Bay scheme and Williams could see a similar role.

One area of concern for the Bills could be putting Williams in coverage. That is an area of concern they will have to game plan for and figure out ways to not put Williams in coverage. It’s a main area that Williams and the Bills will concentrate on this upcoming training camp.

Williams should be able to draw on that small experience with the Texans to help him transition back to outside linebacker for the Bills’ new scheme. It is interesting that the Bills would hire a coach who would bring in a new defensive scheme when their old one had so much success in the past. Nonetheless, Ryan is a defensive genius who will put his players in position to succeed and that includes Williams. The dominant pass rusher will still be a defensive force, but it just might take a couple of games to get his timing down.