The Buffalo Bills need a big 2023 NFL draft. General manager Brandon Beane hasn’t drafted a Pro Bowl player since 2018, and the talent gap is starting to show. That means these Bills draft picks need to be able to contribute and not fall into the same traps that previous picks have in the last few years. That means the Bills must avoid Alabama running back Jahmyr Gibbs and Tennessee wide receiver Jalin Hyatt in this draft.

RB Jahmyr Gibbs, Alabama

The Bills draft needs include a running back. And while drafting a running back high in the first round isn’t a great idea, for a contending team like Buffalo, drafting one at No. 27 isn’t a terrible idea. That is if it is the right running back.

For a generational prospect like Texas RB Bijan Robinson, it’s worth using a first-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. He is the best prospect since Saquon Barkley and could completely change the face of an NFL offense. Teamed with Josh Allen, Robinson could help win the Bills a Super Bowl.

For anyone with less upside or less of a well-balanced skillset than that, it’s not worth it.

The Bills need a between-the-tackles runner. Offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey needs to call more standard running plays this season to take some pressure off of Josh Allen, and in fairness, he needs a between-the-tackles runner on the roster to do that.

Alabama’s Jahmyr Gibbs is an explosive runner. He’s 5-foot-9, 199 pounds, and ran a 4.36 40-yard dash at the combine. And that speed absolutely shows on tape where he can catch the edge and take it to the house.

The issue here is that Beane has fallen in love with speedy, undersized backs the last few seasons in the form of Devin Singletary and James Cook. Singletary is now gone, and Cook remains — which is fine — but Gibbs would have competing skills with Cook, not complementary ones.

Free-agent signing Damien Harris may be the physical runner the Bills need, so they won’t have to take a back in the first round at all. In that case, Beane can take any style runner he wants in the fourth or fifth rounds.

But if the Bills do think about an RB in Round 1 of the 2023 NFL Draft, don’t let it be Jahmyr Gibbs. That would just be more of the same, and Buffalo would have the same stagnate rushing offense next season that is going to get Allen seriously hurt one of these days.

WR Jalin Hyatt, Tennessee

Jahmyr Gibbs is a player the Bills should avoid in the 2023 NFL Draft because the team already has a similar player, and he doesn’t bring the skills that Josh Allen and the Bills offense need most.

Tennessee WR Jalin Hyatt falls into a similar category.

Drafting Gibbs would help reinforce Ken Dorsey’s worst play-calling tendencies. Drafting Hyatt would do the same for Allen.

Hyatt is a straight-line speed guy with questionable hands at times. The Bills already have that in Gabriel Davis. Sure, Hyatt may be a little faster and a little smaller, but it’s basically the same thing. Hyatt is 6 feet, 176 pounds, and ran a 4.4 40-yard dash at the combine.

The Vols receiver doesn’t have great hands, and he’s not big enough or physical enough to bully contested catches away from defensive backs. He’ll bring a lot of the same problems to the table that Davis — a huge disappointment in 2023 — does.

More importantly, Jalin Hyatt is not what Josh Allen needs next season. Allen has become too comfortable putting on the Superman cape and trying to win games by himself. This means the taking off and running, the hurdling defenders when he should slide, and throwing the deep balls.

Allen has never met a go route he doesn’t want to take, and the more speed burners he has on the roster, the more deep balls he’ll throw. This is where Allen and the Bills offense often got into trouble this year and ended drives in turnovers or three-and-outs.

This isn’t to say the Bills draft shouldn’t include a WR or two. It absolutely should. However, the team needs to draft players who excel at short or intermediate routes in order to complement what Davis and Stefon Diggs do.

He’ll likely be gone by the time the Bills draft, but Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba would be an excellent pick in this regard. And a sleeper to watch out for who is a big target with solid intermediate route skills is West Virginia’s Bryce Ford-Wheaton.