Buffalo Bills 2026 Draft Class Review: Did They Get Better?

The 2026 NFL Draft has come and gone, and I have taken the past two weeks to reflect on the Bills’ draft picks since my initial reactions during the draft. When you look at the draft class as a whole, the Buffalo Bills are in a much better place from a roster construction standpoint than they were heading into the draft.

I can understand the arguments about decisions to move up or down in the draft, the prioritization of positions over others, and the selection of specific players while others were available. I am not saying all ten of the picks made will be NFL starters, let alone make the Bills’ 53-man roster come September. I am saying that the organization made a strong effort to address the team's needs that were evident heading into this offseason, and a few themes emerged about how the organization feels about the team and current roster.

Buffalo Bills 2026 NFL Draft Class

Roster Depth

There will be better depth at positions regardless of the resources allocated in free agency and previous draft classes. Beane referred to this at his press conference, noting the cornerback position as their biggest need. This is with their highly paid CB1 and 2025 first-round pick returning alongside their free agent NCB signing this offseason. We are not going to see another postseason with fringe roster players getting targeted in coverage, costing the team a game.

A lot of critics called top pick, T.J. Parker, “redundant” or that he would not see the field because of Bradley Chubb and Greg Rousseau being ahead of him on the depth chart. Their next pick is currently slotted as their CB3. Brandon Beane just addressed two expensive positions where they lacked depth with his top two draft picks instead of in free agency. It’s an interesting approach, and not something I have seen before. You often hear about cost control with rookie contracts, but this is a new way to apply it, and it makes sense.

Buffalo needed to improve at positions on the roster, but it was hard to say there were a lot of starting roles up for grabs. We also do not know what the new defense will look like with the returning players from last year’s squad who weren’t key contributors. This leads to the next question that I believe was answered during the draft. What does the organization, and more importantly, Jim Leonhard, think about the roster he inherited on defense?

Player Confidence

To me, the selections showed confidence from the new coaching staff in some returning players, four in particular: Terrel Bernard, Keon Coleman, Deone Walker, and Dorian Williams.

Defensive tackle, linebacker, and wide receiver were all addressed in the 4th round and later. Bernard and Williams appear to be penciled in as the starting ILBs, Walker will be the starting DT, and Coleman will have an offensive role that better suits his skill set than being forced into the position he was in last season, which did not go well.

I was pleased to see this because it allowed the team to draft the best player available at premium positions with their early picks, rather than reaching for a player at a position based on a presumed need.

There also seems to be a sense that Joshua Palmer‍ ‍will rebound from his disappointing first season in Buffalo, DeWayne Carter and Javon Solomon will be better fits in Jim Leonhard’s defense than they were under the previous staffs, and that second-year players Landon Jackson and T.J. Sanders will be able to transition to new roles in a 3-4 system. Time will tell, but there is confidence amongst the staff in the players they inherited.

Position Competition

Training camp is going to be fun to watch with the new defensive scheme being implemented and the roster turnover that we haven’t seen in quite some time. I know I mentioned Bernard and Williams being penciled in as the starting ILBs, but I believe there are five starting spots up for grabs, possibly six, with the ILB spots being two of them. Can Kaleb Elarms-Orr take one of them?

Christian Benford, Cole Bishop, Bradley Chubb, Ed Oliver, and Greg Rousseau are locks to start, in my opinion. I don’t know if you can say the same about Dee Alford or Maxwell Hairston at this point. Davison Igbinosun is going to come in and compete for the CB2 spot, and we don’t know what the NCB position will look like in this defense at this point. I believe the plan is for them to start, as it is for Bernard and Williams, but they will need to earn it. The battle for the starting safety spot next to Bishop will be fun to watch as well. I assume C.J. Gardner-Johnson, but Jalon Kilgore is a very talented player, and the Bills have said the plan is for him to be a safety for this team.

The selection of Jude Bowry is interesting because it makes you wonder whether this is a competition for the LG spot or a move to get a player into the pipeline to replace Dion Dawkins in a year or two. The same can be said for Ar’maj Reed-Adams. Are you someone who can compete this year, or are you a potential replacement for O'Cyrus Torrence next season? The competition will be healthy for the group and can’t hurt, but it’s also interesting to see these selections being made when they were.

Tommy Doman Jr will get a fair shake at the Punter position even though Mitch Wishnowsky had a very strong 2025 season for the Bills. I hope he is able to beat him out and bring stability to the position, and save a few bucks against the cap at the same time.

If Skyler Bell is able to replicate what he did at UConn, he should be able to slide into the WR4 role in training camp and push Joshua Palmer for the WR3 role. This was a great pick to bring more competition and a different skill set to the position group.

Overall, I feel the draft was a success, and I think that’s how you have to view the event versus singling out one round or one selection when forming an opinion. In the end, we won’t know how this worked out for a few years anyway. Go Bills!.