The NFL Draft isn’t strictly about the incoming rookie class to every team. It’s also about how the rookie class impacts the rest of the roster. And the newcomers also impact the rest of the roster, especially considering they’re (typically) the youngest and least-expensive assets on the team.
Let’s look at how the veterans will be affected by the 10 draft picks the Buffalo Bills made in the 2026 NFL Draft by choosing winners and losers.
Winners
Buffalo’s running back room
No one expected the Bills to prioritize running back in the 2026
draft… then again, team’s draft plans can be unpredictable. Heck, I don’t know of anyone who predicted the Bills would trade up for an outside cornerback in the second round.
Nonetheless, Buffalo didn’t add a running back of any kind in the draft or free agency. Until the inevitable training camp/preseason signing of Darrynton Evans occurs, Buffalo’s running back room is set — James Cook, Ty Johnson, Ray Davis, and Frank Gore Jr. on the practice squad.
T.J. Sanders, Landon Jackson, and Phidarian Mathis
These four are reasonably young defensive line pieces likely to be trusted with new, more block-devouring responsibilities in the Jim Leonhard defense — by the way, I think they are physically and skill-set wise more up to the task than what’s believed.
Of course, many thought defensive line would be emphasized by the Bills early in the draft… and it simply wasn’t. And it’s not as though Beane picked a tall, long, and thick, classically built 3-4 defensive end in Round 6. Zane Durant is 6’1” and 280-ish pounds. Big win over draft weekend for this youthfuil, promising, and low-key important bunch.
Josh Allen
OK, so the Bills didn’t select a receiver until No. 125 overall in this draft. An earlier pick at the position would’ve, on paper, resulted in Allen being a bigger winner out of the draft.
I’m still listing Buffalo’s superstar quarterback as a winner because Skyler Bell is the exact stylistic receiver the Bills desperately needed — a sudden, outside separator — and the type Allen flourished with (see: Stefon Diggs, John Brown, Cole Beasley, and Emmanuel Sanders) earlier in this career.
Bell is 23 and has an NFL-ready game. I love Bulldog of WGR 550’s prediction that Bell will be a fixture in three-receiver sets by Halloween.
Jim Leonhard
How about seven of 10 draft picks on the defense for Leonhard? And of course we can’t forget the defense-laden draft a year ago, when Beane made six of nine selections on that side of the ball. Not much more you can ask for as a new defensive coordinator. So many developmental opportunities here. Huge winner.
Losers
Dorian Williams (and kinda-sorta Terrel Bernard)
I still believe in Williams. All he did when Matt Milano went down with a serious injury in 2024 was lead the team with 117 tackles with five tackles for loss on a bit less than 60% of the defensive snaps.
Now, Williams didn’t have an interception nor a pass breakup that year, and his lack of coverage improvement could ultimately prove to be the reason he loses the full-time job he’s been waiting for since his rookie season.
Kaleb Elarms-Orr has serious speed, plus coverage instincts, and I evaluated him as one of the most reliable tacklers at the position in the class. Leonhard will likely deploy more than two inside linebackers in his scheme, yet KEO will likely push Williams (or Bernard) for one of the full-time roles in the new-look Bills defense in time.
Javon Solomon
Before the draft, Solomon, the club’s 2024 fifth-round pick, was the penciled in as the EDGE4 behind Greg Rousseau, Bradley Chubb, and the rehabbing Michael Hoecht.
This one’s pretty straightforward — second-round pick T.J. Parker instantly slots in likely near the top of Buffalo’s edge-rusher rotation, thereby hurting Solomon’s chances of more defensive snaps in Year 3.
Jordan Hancock and Damar Hamlin
Hancock was fifth-round pick by the Bills in 2025 after a reasonably productive career at Power 4 program and a fantastic pre-draft workout. The Bills then spent a fifth-round pick in 2026 on a reasonably productive safety from a Power 4 school who tested outstandingly before the draft.
Jalon Kilgore’s presence creates somewhat of a crowded safety room in Buffalo.
All the veteran interior offensive linemen
While I’m on the topic of a crowded position room, the Bills interior offensive line room is beyond capacity after the additions of Jude Bowry — I’m presuming he plays guard in the NFL — and Ar’maj Reed-Adams.
Beyond those two rookies, there’s the starters — newly minted Connor McGovern, Alec Anderson, O’Cyrus Torrence. Behind them on the inside are veteran journeyman Austin Corbett, Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, Lloyd Cushenberry, and Nick Broeker.
The Bowry and Reed-Adams picks may very well lead to a vintage Beane late-August trade of a veteran blocker.
