Six first‑round options for the Bills as draft night nears

Unlike the previous two NFL drafts when there was a strong consensus regarding what the Buffalo Bills were going to do in the first round, your guess is as good as mine or your neighbors as to which way Brandon Beane will go Thursday night when the festivities get underway in Pittsburgh. The Bills were in need of a wide receiver in 2024 when they had the 28th pick of the first round and there was speculation that Beane might try to trade up high enough to take a swing at one of the top three - Marvin Harrison Jr. , Malik Nabers or Rome Odunze.

Ultimately the price was way too high as they were all gone within the first nine picks, and when Brian Thomas went to the Jaguars at No. 23, Beane cut bait with no more first-round grades on receivers. He traded back twice and out of the first round to pick Keon Coleman at the top of the second round , a receiver who hasn’t panned out through two seasons.

Last year, there was an even greater unanimity that cornerback was the play and sure enough, Beane stayed put at pick No. 30 and took Maxwell Hairston , one of only two corners taken in the opening round. After an injury-plagued rookie year, the jury is very early in its deliberation on whether Hairston turns out to be the right call.

With Joe Brady having replaced Sean McDermott as head coach, and Jim Leonhard hired as the new defensive coordinator, to use a baseball analogy, trying to gauge what the Bills are thinking is like deciphering the strike zone of MLB umpire CB Bucknor’s strike zone. It’s all over the map. With their first-round pick, No.