ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. \u2014 With MVP Josh Allen showing he can effectively run an offense with a share-the-wealth approach in his first season minus receiver Stefon Diggs, the Buffalo Bills used the NFL draft to replenish a defense that\u2019s too often fallen short in the playoffs.<\/p>\n
General manager Brandon Beane spent Buffalo’s first five selections and six of nine overall to address the five-time defending AFC East champions\u2019 short- and long-term needs at cornerback and along the defensive line.<\/p>\n
The top-end newcomers have the potential to immediately improve the unit after Beane cut edge rusher Von Miller, chose not to re-sign cornerback Rasul Douglas, and gave up on cornerback Kaiir Elam by trading the 2022 first-round pick to Dallas last month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did feel we needed to get younger in some areas on defense,\u201d Beane said. \u201cSometimes you have transition, age at certain positions, positions that don\u2019t work out. … But, yeah, I think it\u2019s exciting where we\u2019re at of what we\u2019ve added.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buffalo opened the draft by taking Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston at No. 30. Over the next three rounds, Beane traded up to land defensive tackles \u2014 South Carolina\u2019s T.J. Sanders at No. 41 and Kentucky\u2019s Deone Walker at No. 109 \u2014 while also adding Arkansas edge rusher Landon Jackson (No. 72).<\/p>\n
Add in the additions of free agent edge rushers Joey Bosa and Michael Hoecht and tackle Larry Ogunjobi, and this represents a major shift from the aging defense that allowed 30 or more points four times last season \u2014 including a 32-29 loss to Kansas City in the AFC championship game in January. <\/p>\n
Buffalo has just seven holdovers \u2014 including cornerbacks Tre\u2019Davious White and Dane Jackson, who rejoined the team this year \u2014 from the defense that was trampled by Kansas City in a 38-24 loss in the AFC championship game after the 2020 season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston, the Buffalo Bills’ first-round draft pick, 30th overall, speaks during an NFL football news conference in Orchard Park, N.Y., Friday, April 25, 2025. Credit: AP\/Adrian Kraus<\/p>\n
Beane began overhauling the roster 13 months ago when he parted ways with six captains, including trading Diggs to Houston, to get Buffalo’s payroll in order.<\/p>\n
With a few exceptions, starting with Allen, the Bills are a transformed team from 2019, when they began a six-year run of playoff appearances.<\/p>\n
The draft picks join an emerging core after the Bills signed five players, including Allen, to contract extensions of four or more years this offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s the job of GM, is to make sure that you want to compete today, but you\u2019re also having plans for more and how you\u2019re going to do that,\u201d Beane told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston, the Buffalo Bills’ first-round draft pick, 30th overall, poses with his new jersey during an NFL football news conference in Orchard Park, N.Y., Friday, April 25, 2025. Credit: AP\/Adrian Kraus<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s understanding that some guys are going to graduate, injuries happen, you have to move on,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s making sure you have a plan each step of the way, how you attack free agency and how to attack the draft.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deep on D-line<\/p>\n
With three draft picks, Buffalo\u2019s roster now features 13 defensive linemen, seven tackles and six ends. The Bills prefer to rotate their defensive linemen to keep players fresh during games, and they carried 11 linemen on the roster last season.<\/p>\n
The depth won\u2019t be an issue initially, with Ogunjobi and Hoecht expected to miss the first six games while serving NFL suspensions for violating the league’s performance-enhancing drug policy.<\/p>\n
SEC strong<\/p>\n
Buffalo\u2019s first four players are from the Southeastern Conference, including Kentucky teammates Hairston and Walker.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you not respect the SEC and their track record? Every year, every draft, a lot of premium players. It\u2019s not the only league, but it\u2019s a pretty loaded division,\u201d Beane said.<\/p>\n
Sanders, the second-round pick out of South Carolina, grew up playing basketball and didn\u2019t pick up football until his junior year of high school. He stuck with football when South Carolina offered him a scholarship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like if I couldn\u2019t play in the SEC, I couldn\u2019t play in any league,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cSo I wanted to go to the SEC and really prove myself, prove that I belong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trades<\/p>\n
This was the third out of eight drafts in which Beane didn’t trade his first-round pick. Buffalo also stayed put in 2021 to select DE Greg Rousseau at No. 30 and in 2019 with the Bills staying at No. 9 to draft Ed Oliver.<\/p>\n
Beane made two trades this year, jumping from No. 56 to 41 in a deal with Chicago to select Sanders. Buffalo acquired Chicago\u2019s 72nd and 240th selections while sending the Bears Nos. 62 and 109.<\/p>\n
The Bills re-acquired the 109th pick to select Walker, in a deal that sent Nos. 132 and 169 to Chicago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. \u2014 With MVP Josh Allen showing he can effectively run an offense with a share-the-wealth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,7,6,15,2309],"class_list":{"0":"post-2714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-bills","8":"tag-bills","9":"tag-buffalo","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-buffalobills","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-nfl-draft","15":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114406864056212460","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}