Matt Milano

BIOGRAPHY

Matthew Vincent Milano was born on July 28, 1994, in Huntington, New York. He is an outside linebacker in the National Football League.

 He studied at Boston College and he is a linebacker for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League. In his early years, Milano attended Dr. Philips High School in Orlando, Florida,  where he started playing football. He earned Orlando Sentinel and Brighthouse Sports Network Central Florida Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior. He also earned 8A all-state first-team honors and All-Metro Conference honors and Florida Athletic Coaches Association District 10 All-District honors in 2012. He served as team captain and registered 100 tackles, including 18 tackles for loss and three sacks as a senior and also earned 8A all-state third-team honors as a junior.

As a freshman in  2013, Milano appeared in 13 games, finishing the season with five tackles, including four solo tackles. He made collegiate debut in the team’s season-opening home win over Villanova on Aug. 31, 2013. In 2014, as a sophomore, he saw action in 12 games,  registering 18 tackles, including 15 solo tackles, and three tackles for a loss of 19 yards. He played in 293 plays, including 200 on special teams and was a member of the BC defense that ranked second in the nation, allowing just 94.5 rushing yards per game. He registered a career-high five tackles, including four solo stops and first career sack for a loss of three yards, in the win against No. 9 Southern California on September 13, 2014. In his junior season in 2015, Milano played in all 12 games, starting 11 at strongside linebacker. He selected to the Pro Football Focus honorable mention All-America team and earned a place on the Coaches and Phil Steele All-ACC Third Teams and claimed ACSMA All-ACC Honorable Mention honors. He totaled 60 tackles, which tied for fifth most on the team, including 48 solo stops and led the team with 6.5 sacks and 17.5 tackles for a loss. He also had three pass break-ups, two forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery and had two blocked kicks. His 17.5 TFLs were tied for 21st nationally, while his 81 TFL yards were tied for 25th nationally and he ranked 18th nationally with 1.46 TFL per game and was tied for seventh nationally in blocked kicks with 2. In ACC rankings, he was tied for sixth with 17.5 TLFs. 

In his senior year in 2016, Milano was voted All-ACC honorable mention by the league head coaches and conference media. He earned Pro Football Focus All-ACC First Team accolades and was named BC’s William J. Flynn MVP recipient. He started all 13 games of the 2016 season. He was fourth on the Eagles with 58 total tackles, including 41 unassisted, he tied for third on the team with 11 tackles for a loss of 62 yards and he was second on the team with 6.5 sacks for a loss of 53 yards. He also recorded one interception, two pass breakups, one quarterback hurries and the third blocked punt of career. Milano was part of the defense that ranked on eight top-10 lists, including ninth in total defense with 314.2 yards per game, second in sacks with 3.62 sacks per game and 10th in turnovers gained with 27. At the end of the season, Milano decided to enter the 2017 NFL Draft.

Milano was selected in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills and on May 11, 2017, the Buffalo Bills signed Milano to a four-year contract. On October 8, 2017, Milano earned his first career start and recorded four combined tackles against the Cincinnati Bengals. On October 22, 2017, he had an impressive performance in his second consecutive start, making five combined tackles, two tackles for a loss, a pass deflection, and recorded his first career interception against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Week 8, Milano collected four combined tackles and scored his first career touchdown against the  Oakland Raiders. On December 10, 2017, Milano was named the starting weakside linebacker over Humber and recorded a season-high 11 combined tackles against the Indianapolis Colts. Milano finished his rookie season with 49 combined tackles where 32 were solo, two pass deflections, one interception, and a fumble recovery in 16 games and five starts. Pro Football Focus gave Milano an overall grade of 72.2 for 2017. It ranked 41st among all qualifying linebackers and third among all rookie linebackers, behind Reuben Foster with 90.7 and Zach Cunningham with 80.6.