Two Bills Drive

‘The Buffalo Bills are lucky to have two do-everything linebackers in Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard. That drastically reduces the likelihood of them drafting a player at the position early in the NFL draft later this month, but it shouldn’t be ruled out entirely.’

’30. Buffalo Bills. Maxwell Hairston, CB, Kentucky. Our first mock draft of the season had the Bills going with Michigan defensive tackle Kenneth Grant, who is still on the board here. So why the change? Depth of the defensive tackle class. The Bills should be able to address that position with one of their two second-round draft picks. The depth at cornerback isn’t as great, so grabbing Hairston here fills the team’s biggest positional need heading into the draft. Hairston has blazing speed – his 4.28-second 40-yard dash was the fastest time at the NFL scouting combine – and good production, with six interceptions over the past two seasons. Hairston did have a shoulder injury that limited him to just seven games in 2024, so his durability at 5-foot-11, 183 pounds is a concern. The Bills believe in their sports science department and also made a change at head strength coach this offseason, so they should be able to develop Hairston in that regard.’

‘Having a natural grass playing surface is going to take significantly more effort to build and maintain, but the Bills prioritized it as NFL players push for making playing surfaces safer and more consistent.’

‘What an opportunity for the Bills to add cost-controlled contributors who can ideally start right away, particularly on defense.’

‘This year’s cornerback draft class presents an interesting challenge. There are nine or 10 cornerbacks who could land in the top 60 on some NFL teams’ boards. But not many of them could be considered A-plus tacklers.’

‘The market for Cooper is speaking loudly. To this point, he has not even taken any reported visits to teams. If the Bills wanted to bring him back, they seemingly would have already done so – unless the sides were so far apart on money that it became clear no deal was going to happen. Cooper turns 31 in June and it’s fair to wonder exactly how much he’s got left. Would the Dolphins be willing to find out if they decided to move Tyreek Hill? That’s a reasonable idea. My sense is that wouldn’t scare the Bills all that much.’

‘But does the top-30 list provide clues on the Bills’ draft plans? Not in the last two years.’

‘The 2025 class of receivers is thought to be significantly less impressive than the 2024 group, when nine of the first 34 overall picks played the position, including the Bills using the first pick of the second round on Florida State’s Keon Coleman..’