Buffalo Bills can still add UFAs to fill roster holes

CLEVELAND, OHIO - NOVEMBER 03: Martin Emerson Jr. #23 of the Cleveland Browns yells while running onto the field prior to a game against the Los Angeles Chargers at Huntington Bank Field on November 03, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) | Getty Images Second wave of free agency starts today.

General Manager and President of Football Operations Brandon Beane added 10 draft picks to the Buffalo Bills’ roster over the weekend. And while there are places on the final 53-man roster and practice squad available for the edge rusher, wide receiver, linebacker, defensive tackle, guard, safety, offensive tackle, defensive tackle, and two cornerbacks the Bills selected, roster construction season doesn’t end after pick #257. Undrafted free agency is well underway and will add to the 90-man roster the Bills will take into the spring and summer, but the second way of unrestricted free agency kicked off (unofficially) Monday at 4 PM ET.

That time marked the beginning of the period where teams can sign unrestricted free agents without there being impact on the compensatory pick formula for their teams for next offseason. It also coincides with the desires of veterans and their agents as well; they can wait to see what positions a team selects with premium draft picks before deciding to sign on the dotted line in the hopes of not getting usurped on the depth chart before playing a snap for their new team. The Bills addressed a lot of their perceived roster needs during the 2026 NFL Draft, but there are a few names out there that, if signed, would represent reinforcements or even upgrades at positions of lesser strength for the team: DJ Reader – Defensive Tackle Reader has been heavily linked to the New York Giants and visited them prior to the draft, but is worth at least a minor note here.

Brandon Beane told WGR550 on Monday morning that if the team lined up to play today, second-year DT Deone Walker, who flashed in spurts last season, would start at the nose for the team . It should be noted that Beane has consistently elected to not pursue a traditional nose tackle during the draft and new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard not only saw a tackle utilized in the middle of his Denver Broncos defensive line who was listed at 305 pounds on the team website, but also had a 310 pound defensive tackle in Keanu Benton playing over the center during his Wisconsin days. These items in combination make a Reader addition highly unlikely, and he hasn’t provided the same level of juice to a defense as he did between 2020 and 2023 but has consistently demonstrated ability to impact a team’s front seven in an area where the Bills are weak: rush defense.