It’s still 2026 NFL Draft review week and many teams, including the Buffalo Bills, have released their draft-weekend video, giving an inside look at much of what transpired in the war room as the club made their selections.
Related to this, Ty Dunne of Go Long TD, who provided a juicy nugget earlier this week, published a separate draft-review interview with Bills president of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane just hours before the Bills’ draft episode of ‘Embedded’ went live on the team’s
YouTube channel.
I combed through Dunne’s outstanding sit-down with Beane and watched the ‘Embedded’ episode to search for any new information.
Below are the previously unknown or unconfirmed “nuggets” pertaining to Buffalo’s offseason to date, with a focus on the draft, found within those two pieces of content.
Joe Brady’s Carolina connection with D.J. Moore was integral to Bills trading for the WR
Here’s Beane, from Dunne’s piece:
I thought DJ, he’s a guy we followed all the way back from the draft process. A guy I checked into at the trade deadline last year. And of course when you’re looking at options and you’re talking through, Joe Brady quickly reminds you, “Yeah, he had one of his better years with me in Carolina.” He really loved DJ. So he knows his makeup, his wiring even better than I know it to be because mine is from what I understand of him and from the people I know in Carolina and from the people through the draft process at Maryland.
Go Long TD
We kinda-sorta figured this — but I believe this is the most outward Beane has been about the actual process of determining Moore was a receiver they wanted to trade a second-round pick for in March. Especially including Brady’s direct involvement.
Bills didn’t see drop off in Moore’s skills last season in Chicago, despite statistical dip
Beane again, from Dunne’s article:
We watched a ton of his play when he’s not even getting the ball. What does he look like? Was he open? Is he beating routes or is he now struggling to beat press coverage? All the things that you’re going to ask him to do. We saw no decline in his play. We know he’s football smart. We know his DNA. We know he loves ball. We know he’s a great teammate. He checked a lot of boxes.
That’s scouting — pro or college — right there, especially at receiver. Sure, you want to watch all the targets, but how open is the receiver when he’s not thrown the ball? That’s something that needs to be observed and a question that needs to be answered.
While the Bears quarterback Caleb Williams absolutely took a leap in his second season — he did still have the NFL’s lowest completion rate among starters in 2025 and the club featured rookie pass-catchers Colston Loveland and Luther Burden later in the season when Williams settled and played a high-level more consistently.
Three-down ability did factor into the selection of T.J. Parker
He’s a three-down player. We think he has shown plenty of rush. His sack production was down this year, but that can be for a lot of reasons. You don’t want to overreact to that. We did a two-year study on a number of these rushers and D-Lineman in this draft — outside ‘backers now in our new system. And when you look at that, you saw a guy that can play three downs, can play the run, can help you get there.
Those not in favor of the Parker selection likely don’t agree with his status as a “three-down” defender because it potentially harkens back to the prototypical edge-rusher during the Sean McDermott era, a type best described as the jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none.
The Bills still view run defense and edge-setting skills as important on the outside of the defensive line. Parker was not referred to by Beane as a designated pass-rusher or “DPR” in Dunne’s piece.
Jude Bowry will be a candidate to play guard with the Bills
Beane, in Dunne’s piece:
But I think, for Bowry, what fired us up is the versatility to also go inside and compete at guard. So we like his skillset and he doesn’t necessarily have to come in here and start right away. But we do think in time he could potentially have the skillset to compete to start.
That also jibes with what Joe Brady said on Bowry at the 11:18 mark of the Embedded video: “…to be able to get a tackle, it’s a premium positions in the NFL. And you can get a guy that has the versatility to be able to go inside, but we do believe has starting ability.”
The Bills were offered to trade down from No. 125 / No. 126 overall
At the 12:17 mark of Embedded, Beane gets a phone call and says, “Hey, Buddy I think we’re just going to pick these two” right before Buffalo selected Skyler Bell and Kaleb Elarm-Orr with those two consecutive picks in the fourth round.“
It was never disclosed which team made the call to Beane.
Despite the overall trade back theme of the Bills’ 2026 draft, this was an instance the Bills felt the prospects — Bell and Elarms-Orr — were simply too good to pass on, so they stood pat and made those back-to-back selections?
Did you find any new information in Dunne’s piece or the draft episode of Embedded? If so, drop it in the comments.
