Each day leading up to the 2026 NFL Draft — April 23-25 — TeamFB7 will break down a different team’s biggest draft need and the best selection to address it. Granted, teams will most often use their first-round pick on the best available player/value and not necessarily always their biggest need, so this isn’t going to compile together into a mock draft in the end. It’s more a breakdown of how each team could best address its most paramount priority if it chooses.
Sean McDermott lost his job despite coaching the Buffalo Bills to the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons there after the franchise had gone 17 straight years without reaching the postseason.
McDermott led the Bills to five straight AFC East titles before finishing second with a 12-5 record last year. He got the team to two AFC Championship games, losing to the Patrick Mahomes-led Chiefs dynasty both times (plus two other times to Kansas City in the divisional round). Overall, McDermott was 98-50 as Bills head coach.
And yet … it was absolutely the right move for team ownership to decide it was time to go a different direction.
McDermott certainly deserves credit for elevating the Bills from that interminable lull and for bringing stability to the franchise. And for that, he got nine years to try and take the team to the next level — that’s a fair runway.
There are only three current head coaches who have been with their current teams at least that long — the Chiefs’ Andy Reid (entering his 14th season), the Rams’ Sean McVay (10th) and the 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan (10th). Reid has won three Super Bowls and taken Kansas City to five total, McVay has gotten Los Angeles to two while winning one title and Shanahan has led San Francisco to two Super Bowl appearances.
McDermott never got over the hump and wasn’t just going to get to keep trying into perpetuity.
The Bills had plateaued under his leadership. Many Buffalo fans would push back on that and disagreed with his dismissal, but it’s the simple truth.
The floor for the Bills with Josh Allen at quarterback is so incredibly high that simply making the playoffs every year isn’t good enough. Too often, Buffalo came out flat as a team and relied on Allen’s heroics to save the day.
Let’s be real here — take half the head coaches around the NFL (or more) and put them in McDermott’s place the last five or six years, does Buffalo really do any worse?
Again, we’ll give McDermott his deserved credit and say that not all of those coaches could have gotten the franchise out of the perpetual irrelevance in which it was mired, but then there is the bigger picture to consider.
Two conference championship games and no Super Bowls with arguably the best quarterback in the league now entering his ninth season and turning 30 years old.
The franchise has been on cruise control but off pace from reaching its desired destination.
Yes, it was time to try something new.
Maybe Joe Brady, promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach, won’t fare any better, but it was worth a shot and made plenty of sense. The move maintains continuity for Allen but gives the overall team a dramatically different personality at the front of the room, from the soft-spoken understated (to say the least) McDermott to the infinitely more outgoing and energetic Brady.
“He has his own personality,” offensive guard Alec Anderson said. “And he’s not so much business attire. … He wants to dress like the guys and be more, not one of us, but he wants us to know that we don’t have to have our a****** so tight around him all the time. We can go walk around and be our personalities.”
Said left tackle Dion Dawkins: “He’s swagged up. He’s energized. He’s happy. He’s always smiling. … It’s just the vibe that our locker room has and needs that he can connect with so many different players. … Sometimes, man, being on a mission for so long and not getting over that hump, like it can weigh on you. For all of the new guys coming in, it’s just different [vibe]. Joe Brady is the guy the culture needs to shock the world — like, ‘Oh my God, they just have a different swagger bucket about them. Their swag is just different.’ Like, we’re not in military uniforms like McD, which is also a great way of coaching — it’s just a different course.”
In addition to bringing in new offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr., formerly the Saints’ OC and a Broncos senior assistant the last two years, Brady also hired former Bills star Jim Leonhard as defensive coordinator. Leonhard has been considered a rising star in the coaching ranks from his time as DC at his alma mater Wisconsin from 2017-22 and most recently as the Broncos’ defensive passing game coordinator.
But ultimately, any team is only as good as the players on the field.
Let’s break down the Bills’ roster needs ahead of the start of the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday, as Buffalo holds picks in Round 1 (26th overall), 3 (91), 4 (126), 5 (165), 5 (168), 6 (182) and 7 (220).
What Are Bills’ Biggest Needs In 2026 NFL Draft?
Starting on offense …
Four-fifths of the Bills’ starting offensive line has been together for at least three seasons with left tackle Dawkins (a nine-year starter), right tackle Spencer Brown (five-year starter), center Connor McGovern (three-year starter) and right guard O’Cyrus Torrence (three-year starter).
The missing piece is former left guard David Edwards, who signed a 4-year, $61-million free agent contract with the Saints.
Buffalo has one internal option in Alec Anderson, who has appeared in 34 games with 6 starts in two NFL seasons and was re-signed on a 1-year deal, and it brought in former Panthers and Rams starter Austin Corbett on a cheap 1-year deal.
The Bills could take a guard in the middle rounds, but no need to splurge at the top of the draft.
And with Allen, NFL rushing leader James Cook and one of the best tight end tandems in the league in Dalton Kincaid (39 catches for 571 yards and 5 TDs in 12 games) and Dawson Knox (36-417-4) in place, the only other offensive area of need is at wide receiver.
It’s remarkable that Allen won the MVP two years ago and finished third last season with such a limited WR corps, and the Bills prioritized addressing that this offseason when they traded their second-round pick to the Bears for veteran wideout D.J. Moore and a fifth-round pick.
Moore got usurped in Chicago by the Bears’ emerging young WRs and he may not be a top-end WR1 at this point, but he’s only 29 years old, has averaged over 1,000 yards a season for his eight-year career and put up his best season (96-1,364-8) in 2023 for the Bears. He also had a pair of 1,100-yard seasons in Carolina with Brady as his offensive coordinator there.
Even with the trade for Moore, having Khalil Shakir (the team’s leading receiver the last two seasons) back as a premier slot weapon and that top-end tight end tandem, the Bills could look to add another receiver.
Keon Coleman (38-404-4 in 13 games last season) has been a disappointment as the No. 33 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and Joshua Palmer (22-303-0 in 12 games) and Mecole Hardman (signed to the practice squad and elevated for two games last season, hasn’t topped 300 yards since 2021 with the Chiefs) are just depth pieces.
But there are also more urgent priorities.
Bills’ Biggest Defensive Needs
The Bills ranked 7th in total defense last season (293.1 YPG) and 12th in scoring defense (21.5 PPG), but they have some holes to plug on that unit after substantial turnover.
Up front, Buffalo let edge rushers Joey Bosa (5 sacks, 9 tackles for loss last season) and A.J. Epenesa (21.5 sacks the last four years but just 2.5 in 2025) become free agents, but they splurged on veteran Bradley Chubb (47 tackles, 8.5 sacks for Dolphins in 2025) on a 3-year, $43.5-million deal. They also return Greg Rousseau (46 tackles, 7 sacks) with Michael Hoecht (15.5 sacks last four years, limited to 2 games in 2025). That rotation seems a little light, though and investing in more firepower at such a premium position for both the present and future makes a lot of sense.
Moving inside, Buffalo already has a lot invested in defensive tackle Ed Oliver (in the middle of a 4-year, $68-million deal that runs through 2027). He was limited to three games last season by injury (including a torn bicep), but he’ll be counted upon as a fixture on the interior in 2026. Then there’s second-year returning starter Deone Walker along with some depth options in T.J. Sanders, Phidarian Mathis and DeWayne Carter (missed 2025 with a torn Achilles).
The Bills could absolutely stand to upgrade here, but with limited capital at the top of the draft, hard decisions will have to be made.
And the Bills might benefit even more from upgrading at linebacker. In letting injury-plagued longtime starter Matt Milano become a free agent after playing in only 21 games over the last three seasons, Buffalo has fifth-year pro Terrel Bernard (limited to 12 games last season, graded 73rd out of 88 qualifying LBs by PFF) and Dorian Williams (20 starts in 33 games the last two years, graded 59th out of 88 LBs by PFF) presently atop the depth chart without a lot behind them.
Inside linebacker should absolutely be a priority in this draft for the Bills.
Meanwhile in the secondary, Buffalo is set at safety with returning starter Cole Bishop (85 tackles, 3 INTs) and two notable additions in former Ravens/Bengals ballhawk Geno Stone (13 INTs, 253 tackles last three seasons) and the well-traveled C.J. Gardner- Johnson (20 INTs in seven seasons).
But the Bills could look to add a cornerback with veteran Tre’Davious White becoming a free agent after a one-year return to the team, starter (when healthy) Taron Johnson traded to the Raiders after eight years in Buffalo and versatile DB Cam Lewis signing with the Bears.
The Bills still have three-year starter Christian Benford (graded 35th out of 114 CBs by PFF) and signed former Falcons nickel Dee Alford (3 years, $15.75 million), but they’re presently counting heavily on 2025 first-round pick Maxwell Hairston at the other outside CB spot after he was limited to 11 games (3 starts) as a rookie with 18 tackles and 2 INTs.
So we’d rank the Bills’ draft needs in order as LB, EDGE, DT/NT, WR, CB and OG.
They clearly don’t have enough picks to suitably address all those needs, so it will be interesting to see what Buffalo prioritizes.
Who Should Bills Take In First Round Of 2026 NFL Draft?
The Bills paid a high price in the Moore trade with Chicago, leaving them with just one selection in the first 90 picks and all those aforementioned needs.
That linebacker depth chart is uninspiring and worrisome, especially if injuries strike.
A lot of notable mock drafts have the Bills going a different direction here — ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and The Ringer’s Todd McShay both think they should take Auburn EDGE Keldric Faulk while NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah went with Texas A&M EDGE Cashius Howell.
Those picks make sense, sure, but our recommendation to the Bills is to take Georgia linebacker CJ Allen here.
The 6-foot, 230-pound linebacker had 88 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles for Georgia last season as a junior and was a first-team AP All-America selection, coming out of a program with a pretty solid track record of producing ready-to-go NFL pros.
Some draft analysts have him going in the early to mid-second round, but we like the Bills taking him here unless they can trade back a little bit and still grab him 5-10 picks later while adding much-needed extra draft capital.
