Sports Illustrated ranks Bills roster's biggest needs following 2024 NFL Draft

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane entered the 2024 NFL Draft with a retooled roster and a bevy of needs.

The veteran executive made a deliberate effort to make his team younger in the 2024 offseason, moving on from longtime contributors like safeties Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer, cornerback Tre’Davious White, and center Mitch Morse in the offseason to not only reset the proverbial clock at several positions, but also create long-term salary cap flexibility. The team also let wide receiver Gabriel Davis walk in free agency before trading four-time Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans, effectively eliminating a combined 1,929 yards and 15 touchdowns from the receiving corps.

Given the team’s offseason maneuvers, Buffalo’s draft needs were clear: it needed talent (and bodies) in the receiver room, a high-caliber safety, and general young, affordable depth across the roster. Beane, to his credit, largely addressed these needs, selecting Florida State pass-catcher Keon Coleman with the first pick in the second round of the draft before closing the round with Utah safety Cole Bishop. 

The team rounded out its draft with talented, but largely specialty players, prospects who certainly offer value but won’t be every-down contributors for the team. Third-round pick DeWayne Carter and fifth-round selection Javon Solomon, for example, possess talent and promise, but both project as long-term rotational defensive linemen for Buffalo. Fourth-round pick Ray Davis is a stout running back who could act as the thunder to James Cook’s lightning, but he’s very much a complementary piece as opposed to a featured weapon. Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger, whom the Bills selected in the fifth round, is a solid center who could be a long-term replacement option for Morse, but he lacks positional versatility. 

Beane seemingly filled several holes on his roster throughout the 2024 NFL Draft, but he, on paper, did so with singles and doubles as opposed to home runs. While we won’t be able to appropriately judge the value of this draft class until several years from now, it looks as though Buffalo’s current needs, despite its efforts, are largely the same as they were before the three-day event commenced.

Sports Illustrated’s Gilberto Manzano and Matt Verderame share this sentiment; the two recently ranked each NFL team’s most glaring needs following this year’s draft, identifying edge, wide receiver, and cornerback as the Bills’ biggest positional deficiencies.

“Buffalo hit on some needs in the draft, selecting WR Keon Coleman and S Cole Bishop to shore up immediate weak spots,” the two wrote. “However, it was surprising to see the Bills not take another receiver. Additionally, Buffalo is thin at pass rusher with only Gregory Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa as reliable pieces. The Bills are also dancing with danger at corner, as the first reserve is Kaiir Elam.”

It’s difficult to argue with the positions Manzano and Verderame mentioned as spots of need for Buffalo, as it still lacks general depth across its roster. Their assessment of the Bills’ receiving corps is fair; many expected the team to double (or triple) up on the position in the draft, and they’re still quite thin at the position following the selection of Coleman. Making the lack of depth a bit easier to stomach is Buffalo’s tight end situation, as Dawson Knox and last year’s first-round pick Dalton Kincaid figure to feature prominently in the offense.

The Bills could use more bodies at defensive end behind Rousseau and the recently-re-signed Epenesa; they have the NFL’s active sack leader Von Miller penciled in behind them, but he looked like a shadow of himself in his return from an ACL injury last season. Behind Miller are the intriguing Kingsley Jonathan and Casey Toohill, who, while promising, are still question marks.

Despite moving on from long-term starter Tre’Davious White in the offseason, Buffalo did not take a traditional boundary corner in the 2024 draft, with its sole selected corner—Penn State defensive back Daequan Hardy—projecting as a nickel defender. Rasul Douglas and Christian Benford are reliable, and though it’s a bit premature to write off 2022 first-round pick Kaiir Elam entirely, the depth behind him is concerning. Former University at Buffalo corner Ja’Marcus Ingram is the team’s fourth boundary corner, and though the Bills’ brass likes the former Bull, he hasn’t fared exceptionally well in live game action.

There are still several months between now and the start of the 2024 NFL season in September, so the Bills have plenty of opportunities to further address these roster deficiencies.