Lance Lysowski: Bills need to use offseason to build a championship-caliber defense
"The Bills' focus this offseason needs to revolve around the defense. The positional needs didn't change with Sean McDermott's firing," Lance Lysowski writes.
For the first time since he was a fresh-out-of-college linebackers coach at William & Mary, Joe Brady is spending most of his time in defensive meetings.
The new leader of the Buffalo Bills wants to learn every nuance of the 3-4 scheme that his defensive coordinator, Jim Leonhard, has started to build since Brady became the youngest head coach in the NFL.
By no means is the Bills' offense satisfied with its results and production in 2025. Brady knows that teams around the league are going to study video in the coming months to try to figure out how to stop Josh Allen and James Cook. While Brady meets with his defensive coaches, the staff on offense watches video to analyze and provide unfiltered feedback on where improvement must be made.
Buffalo Bills defender Greg Rousseau had seven sacks in 2025. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
The collaborative process Brady explained to reporters Tuesday at his first NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis gave everyone outside of One Bills Drive a glimpse at the way he's balancing his duties as their play-caller on offense with overseeing the entire operation as a CEO. And the insight he provided should have been music to the ears of a fan base that too often saw the team's defense fall apart in the biggest moments of games.
Though we won't know until August what the Bills' defense under Leonhard will look like, Brady explained there's a "clear vision" of the personnel and mentality that will be part of their DNA. Fixing the defense is a priority. This week in Indianapolis sets the stage for a pivotal offseason that will determine whether the roster will have the pieces it needs for the plan to translate to success on the field.
"There’s a versatility with it and there’s some guys that might have been used in some roles in the past that, 'Hey, we think that they can do some other things,'" Brady said. "But a lot of it is projections right now, too. You’ve got to go do it. So, that’s where we’re at right now is figuring out what some of the base defense looks like and moving some of the guys in some of those roles and skill sets, but that's also what’s exciting."
Wholesale changes are not coming to the roster. Leonhard chose the Bills over other job openings because the video showed him that the cupboard has talented players who can fill specific roles in his defense. Christian Benford and Maxwell Hairston are at cornerback. Cole Bishop had an outstanding Year 2 at safety. Greg Rousseau is an edge rusher with the potential to produce double-digit sacks. Some players' roles and positions are going to change, though.
Taron Johnson, a nickel corner, is an option to move to safety, in part because Bishop's skill set gives the Bills the option to play someone who's strength is lining up near the line of scrimmage. Rousseau is going to move around the defense because Leonhard and Brady want their best pass rusher to be in more one-on-one situations.
Javon Solomon, a pass rusher entering his third season, is a better fit for a 3-4 scheme, said general manager and president of football operations Brandon Beane. Nose tackle looked like a glaring need, but Brady suggested Tuesday that Leonhard identified several rostered players who can excel at that position.
Make no mistake, though: the Bills' focus this offseason needs to revolve around the defense. The positional needs didn't change with Sean McDermott's firing. Inside linebacker, edge rusher and safety were going to be near the top of Beane's shopping list no matter who led Buffalo in 2026, but the players Leonhard values in his defense are going to be different than McDermott. A.J. Epenesa, Joey Bosa, Matt Milano, Shaq Thompson, Tre'Davious White and Jordan Poyer are among the team's free agents.
Leonhard did not come across as stubborn last month when he met with Beane and the Bills' scouting staff. The new play-caller clarified while he interviewed for the job that he is going to build his defense around the players who are available to him, and he has a vision for how to use each one. The comment helped separate Leonhard from other candidates.
"One of the great things that I think was relieving to our personnel staff was when he sat with Joe for an hour and 15 or an hour and a half was, ‘Listen guys, we want good football players,' " Beane recalled Tuesday at the combine. "We don’t want to force a square peg into a round hole. ... At the end of the day, these guys have a good vision, a good plan, and those discussions aren’t final."
You can't blame Bills fans for wanting a game-changing wide receiver. Allen hasn't had a true No. 1 since Stefon Diggs got traded to the Houston Texans. But does it make sense for Buffalo to use the 26th pick in the first round on someone who may need a few years of development? Washington's Denzel Boston, for example, has a skill set that some are comparing to Keon Coleman. The class of wide receivers in this draft is deep, with talented players who will be available in the second round.
Focus on the defense early in the draft and through free agency. Look at how the past two Super Bowls were won. The Seattle Seahawks and Philadelphia Eagles had exceptional defenses with physical, relentless pass rushers and play-makers at every level. The Bills have building blocks in Rousseau, Benford, Hairston, Deone Walker and Ed Oliver, among others, but free agency and the draft should be centered around stockpiling more weapons for Leonhard to use on defense. The draft will be especially important if the team uses its little cap space on retaining center Connor McGovern or left guard David Edwards.
The Bills' offense scored 30 points in their overtime loss to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Divisional Round. The offense has not prevented Buffalo from reaching the penultimate game. McDermott's defense could not get a stop in the biggest moments. He had one player with double-digit sacks (Leonard Floyd, 2023) in his nine seasons as a head coach. Leonhard, on the other hand, is coming from Denver, where the Broncos set a franchise record in 2025 with 68 sacks. They routinely made quarterbacks uncomfortable and did not rely on creative coverage looks to get stops in key situations.
In round one, the Bills should target an edge rusher, inside linebacker or safety. The defense needs an infusion of youth, speed and athleticism. There are other ways to acquire a wide receiver who can elevate the ceiling of the offense. Beane wasn't being coy Tuesday when he told reporters that he and the team's other decision-makers are still undecided about their plan for the coming weeks.
Even a 15-minute interview with a prospect at the combine has led to big-picture discussions among Brady, Beane and Leonhard. A player who may not have been viewed as a fit before a meeting can suddenly become intriguing when they impress everyone in the Bills' meeting room.
"To use their words, trying to find as many position-less players as you can," Beane said of his defensive coaches. "… The thing I’m really excited about is (they said ) find us good football players and we’ll figure out the best spot for them."