ORCHARD PARK – Acquiring wide receiver DJ Moore in a March trade with the Chicago Bears might end up being the most significant move Buffalo Bills president/GM Brandon Beane makes as it relates to the 2026 NFL Draft.
Beane heard the screaming in the fan base and media about the underwhelming wide receiver group he provided Josh Allen in 2025, but beyond the noise, deep down he knew it needed an upgrade. That’s why he felt it was worth bringing in a proven, plug-and-play NFL veteran with tons of production as opposed to perhaps using the second-round pick he sent to the Bears on a hope-he-can-play rookie.
However, by executing the trade, Beane created quite a vacuum because all he has in the critical first two days – at least heading into the draft which commences Thursday – are a first-round pick at No. 26 and a third-round pick at No. 91.
Unless he does some wheeling and dealing to acquire additional picks, Beane and the rest of the Bills’ hierarchy will be wincing often on Friday as player after player comes off the board in the second round and early in the third.
“You want all your picks, but we just didn’t feel like there’s going to be a player of DJ’s caliber, so we’re excited how we already spent a little bit of our draft capital,” Beane said Monday.
Beane knows his patience will be tested Thursday, but he’s been in this situation before. He recalled 2020, the year he made the trade for wide receiver Stefon Diggs that cost him his first-round pick, meaning he only had two picks in the first 127 of that draft, the first of which didn’t come until the second round when he took defensive end AJ Epenesa at No. 54.
“Probably do what we did with Stef when I was drafting from my basement (during COVID), just put up some images of him,” Beane joked. “We’ll probably do the same with DJ, just to remind ourselves, ‘All right, this was an asset that we used for this known commodity in the NFL.’ We’ll just have to be patient after round one and see what’s there. Obviously, when you don’t have a two, if you pick at 26 that’s going to be a long wait (to 91).”
If you don’t count Moore as part of the draft class, so to speak, the Bills have one of their lowest draft capital situations – based on number of picks and where they fall – since Beane joined the franchise in 2017. Thus, he really has to nail his first-round choice, meaning finding a player who not only is the best available at No. 26, but also fills a glaring need, of which the Bills have a few.
Here’s my plan on how the Bills can make this a successful draft:
Trade back into the early part of the second round
With so few valuable picks – seven in all and just three in the first 164 – the clear-cut best thing Beane could do is trade out of the first round and accrue an extra pick or two.
Of course, it takes two to tango, as they say, and trading back – or up for that matter – isn’t always as easy as fans think because it doesn’t just happen with a snap of the fingers; you need to find a willing team to partner with and sometimes the matches just don’t fit.
“I’ll always listen,” Beane said regarding draft day trading. “We’ll see what’s there. “Even if I had three (second-round picks), if someone’s offering me something that makes sense to go back, we’d do that. I would think with us, you’d never say never.”
If he can pull off a trade back, he needs to do a better job than he did in 2024. That year Beane found two teams willing to deal; first the Chiefs and then the Panthers. Starting with No. 28 in the first round, he swapped places with defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City to No. 32, and then got out of the round completely, moving down just one spot to No. 33 where Carolina had the initial pick of the second round.
Those deals also included pick swaps in later rounds as the Bills improved in two spots in the trade with the Chiefs, and they also picked up a fourth-round choice in the deal with Carolina. Unfortunately, none of the maneuvering really worked out for Buffalo.
Coleman’s struggles have been well documented, and two of the players they used on the other acquired picks have provided very little. At No. 95 they took defensive tackle DeWayne Carter who underwhelmed during a rookie season impacted by injury, and then missed all of 2025 with another injury. And Carolina’s fourth-round pick, No. 141, became center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger who has hardly played in two years and does not appear to be a part of their future now that Connor McGovern has been resigned.
It’s unlikely anyone who the Bills have a first-round grade on will be there at No. 26. Thus, by trading back he won’t be reaching in the first round on a player who might very well be available in the top third or even half of the second round. In addition to better value, the Bills would also receive an extra pick in the return package (maybe as valuable as a third-rounder), or a pick swap that would involve improving positions somewhere on Day 3.
If Beane keeps No. 26, he has to address the defense
Assuming Beane has to stay put in the first round, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t pick a player who could become a future stud, even if that player doesn’t have a first-round grade.
In his Bills draft history, the only first-rounder he truly whiffed on was Kaiir Elam. His other first-rounders are Josh Allen, Tremaine Edmunds, Ed Oliver, Greg Rousseau, Dalton Kincaid and Maxwell Hairston. I don’t think there’s any real misses in the group. The downside is that outside of Allen there are no All-Pro players, but they’ve all been or were core members of the team for many years.
Is it possible he goes wide receiver if someone like KC Concepcion or even Jordyn Tyson (unlikely) is sitting there? Sure, but if Beane views Moore as this year’s second-round pick, I can’t see him doubling down with another receiver in the first round when there are numerous needs on defense.
The only way I could understand the logic is if he plans to somehow trade Coleman to open his roster spot, but given the nonstop support Beane and coach Joe Brady continue to offer Coleman, it’s tough to see them doing that. Just Monday the PR machine was churning again when Brady said, “I believe in who Keon Coleman is. It’s all going to come together and I have no doubt in Keon Coleman.”
A speedy edge rusher is probably the No. 1 priority, so if someone like Cashius Howell, Malachi Lawrence, or TJ Parker is there, it would be tough to argue with any of them.
Tackle wouldn’t be a bad idea if a run-stuffer like Kayden McDonald was there, or maybe Georgia’s Christen Miller. In a weak DT class, they’re at the top, but even those two might be better-suited as second-round picks.
Linebacker is definitely an area of need, and this is considered a deep class. Many analysts don’t see first-round value in an off ball linebacker, but I don’t get why you wouldn’t want to aim high in a good class for a player who could be on the field for 80-100% of your defensive snaps.
Terrel Bernard is injury prone and Dorian Williams is set to be a free agent next year, so if Beane doesn’t pick a LB in the first round, I would make sure to get on board with pick No. 91, and more preferably in the second round if he can swing a trade to get there because a bunch are going to come off the board in that range.
Depth in the middle rounds is imperative
Ideally with their first two picks the Bills get some combination of edge rusher, defensive tackle and linebacker.
Starting in the fourth round, they could look to get the position they didn’t already of those three, or turn to the offense because offensive guard is a quiet but pressing need, now and in the long term. Who knows what free agent signing Austin Corbett has left as the projected LG replacement for David Edwards, or if he can overcome his recent injury problems. And RG O’Cyrus Torrence is eligible for free agency in 2027.
If Torrence doesn’t get an extension this year, or isn’t re-signed before he hits the market next spring, the Bills could be in the hunt for two starting guards, so picking one with upside to get ready for next season, and possibly even compete to start in 2026, would be wise.
Given that safety is likely off the table in the first round, it would be smart to get one later, maybe in the fourth or fifth round because with CJ Gardner-Johnson and Geno Stone on one-year contracts, that will be a big hole to fill in 2027. Get someone in the building now to learn behind those two veterans and start building rapport with Cole Bishop.
Draft a punter, but not a quarterback
Seventh-round picks at almost every position are usually nothing more than bottom of the roster players who get scratched most games, or are practice squad fodder, except for one: Punter.
The Bills re-signed Mitch Wishnowsky to a one-year, $1.25 million deal and that’s fine, but they could draft a punter to compete with him, and if the rookie wins the job they could free a little salary cap space, plus have a low-cost option at the position for at least the next four years.
As for drafting a quarterback, this is not the year for it. The Bills don’t have picks to waste on a player who may literally never play a snap for them. If Josh Allen were ever to get hurt, Kyle Allen would be a better option than some late-round rookie.
If the Bills load up on picks in an upcoming year, then sure, maybe using one on a cost-controlled backup QB is OK, but not in 2026 when they already have such limited draft capital to work with.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: A trade may be just the thing the Bills need to ace this draft
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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