
Buffalo Bills draft big board 2.0: Who could be a priority for a first-round selection?
The Bills will still have solid options from their draft position.


The NFL Draft is under four weeks away, and the intrigue on the Bills’ top selection is building. With all of their free agency moves now on their roster, it’s time to recalibrate and see what their board could look like.
Based on their current roster, there are some primary needs at wide receiver, edge rusher, defensive tackle and cornerback, and some secondary needs at safety, interior offensive line, running back and linebacker. How might their priority list look?
The Bills pick at No. 30, so with a month to go, here is an educated guess at their draft board of the top 30 players who carry first-round value and who the team could be interested in selecting.
1a. Abdul Carter, EDGE, Penn State
It would be a difficult choice for the Bills between Carter and Hunter, two players at two — well, three — primary positions of need. Fortunately for them, they won’t have to make that decision.3. Mason Graham, DT, Michigan
A lock for the top 10, Graham requires the Bills to make a massive move up the board if they want to add him. Considering the position he plays and his ability, he’d be a slam dunk pick if the Bills were in range.4. Jalon Walker, Edge, Georgia
A chess-piece type of defender, Walker seems to have untapped potential as an edge rusher while also being able to play outside linebacker. The Bills haven’t had anyone like this under Sean McDermott, but that doesn’t mean they’d be against it. The Bills often veer toward versatility.5. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State
They likely will be long gone by the time the Bills pick and aren’t at positions of immediate 2025 need. But if all of Buffalo’s other options are gone, you take the best player and figure the rest out. The case can be made for either Jeanty and Warren. Running back James Cook is a free agent after 2025. Meanwhile, the Bills could cut tight end Dawson Knox to save almost $10 million in cap space in 2026. Warren’s game is closer to Knox’s than to Dalton Kincaid’s game. If you’re wondering about Colston Loveland, he’s too similar to Kincaid, which likely pushes him out of serious consideration.7. Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
Johnson has the prototypical size (nearly 6-foot-2, 194 pounds) and a game that could help in zone and man coverage. When combined with top cornerback Christian Benford, Johnson would allow the Bills to play more man coverage if they desired. Drafting Johnson also would give them the insurance of having a new potential No. 1 cornerback if they can’t re-sign Benford after 2025. If Buffalo is within range of a logical trade-up, this would definitely be an option for the Bills.8. Mykel Williams, Edge, Georgia
While it would take an unexpected fall down the board for the Bills to land Williams, he’s a fantastic fit for what the team usually covets in an edge rusher. If the Bills could land him, he would be the long-term starter opposite Greg Rousseau in 2026 and beyond.9. Jahdae Barron, CB, Texas
Barron isn’t the usual type of height-weight-length combination at boundary cornerback that the Bills invest premium offseason resources into, but Barron isn’t a typical case. His game is extremely translatable to the team’s zone-heavy scheme with his instincts and tackling ability. The Bills have been willing to make an exception on prototype if the player’s abilities and potential fit with the team warrant it, and Barron’s skills do just that.10. Derrick Harmon, DT, Oregon
Although the one-technique defensive tackle job is one that usually remains an early down run-stuffing role, Harmon brings some instant passing-down capabilities to make him more valuable than some of the others at his position. He’d be a great option at No. 30 or in a minor move up the board.11. Matthew Golden, WR, Texas
Most of the top wide receivers are an inexact fit for the Bills’ receiver room, but Golden is the exception to the rule. He’s a speedy separator who can instantly improve their top four and, eventually, take over as the long-term starting Z receiver. However, his draft stock is clearly rising and he might be long gone before the Bills are on the clock.12. Donovan Ezeiruaku, Edge, Boston College
Ezeiruaku is a highly productive and explosive edge rusher. Although he weighed in at 248 pounds, the Bills have made multiple investments into edge rushers around that weight range. The highly valued trait has been above-average arm length, which Ezeiruaku has. If he’s on the board at No. 30, he would likely be in consideration for the Bills as a potential long-term running mate to Rousseau.13. Shavon Revel Jr., CB, East Carolina
Revel is the wildcard of this big board, and it’s totally dependent on how the Bills feel about his recovery from a torn ACL in September. If they feel good about it, he’s very much in play at No. 30 as an on-paper home run fit for what they usually value at the position. But if they’re uncomfortable with it, he could be well down this list for first-round consideration, and perhaps off the first-round board completely.14. Trey Amos, CB, Mississippi
Although he’s slightly smaller than Revel, Amos has a similar ability to flip between zone and man coverage schemes without the injury concerns. Amos has solid ball skills and is a willing tackler who can hold his own on the edge. He could be an instant starter for the Bills in 2025.15. Mike Green, Edge, Marshall
Green is an explosive edge rusher who put up a 17-sack season in 2024 but has a couple of things that could stand in the way of this pairing. Green’s 32-inch arm length is well below the usual threshold the Bills look for at the position. More seriously, the Bills have to feel good about the character evaluation, as there have been two allegations of sexual assault against Green, both of which he’s denied. If the Bills aren’t comfortable, he could be off the board entirely. On the field, though, Green would be a strong fit.16a. Kenneth Grant, DT, Michigan
I grouped Grant and Hairston together as a true coin-flip scenario at this point in the draft process. Grant would fill an immediate need to be their long-term one-technique defensive tackle starter due to his run-stuffing abilities, though you do wonder about his three-down potential. Hairston is a slightly undersized cornerback with great speed and ball skills, while also with some questions about his tackling ability on the edge, but he would have a genuine starting appeal. It would really depend on who the Bills like more between the two.18. Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona
McMillan is a great talent at receiver, though his skills and potential role overlap a bit too much with Keon Coleman, the player the Bills used their top draft selection on last season. The Bills should be looking for a versatile Z receiver rather than an X receiver who would complicate Coleman’s playing time.19a. Azareye’h Thomas, CB, Florida State
Thomas and Burden get lumped together as perhaps an imperfect fit to the Bills’ immediate needs, but one the team could easily look past due to the potential of both players. Thomas has the size and length the Bills love in their cornerbacks, and is only 20. Though his ball skills are lacking a bit, and in a zone defense that wants its cornerbacks to read the quarterback, anticipate and make a game-changing play, it could take a bit of projection for him to get there.Burden is likely best suited to a slot role in most offenses, which isn’t a great fit for the Bills in terms of need, but there also seems like some untapped potential with a creative offensive playcaller. You could make the case that Burden’s versatility could be everything the Bills wanted Curtis Samuel to be but with a higher ceiling, and an asset to the offense. In both cases, you have to squint a bit to make it work, but you can easily see the Bills being compelled by either idea in the first round.