The Buffalo Bills enter the 2024 NFL Draft with some significant holes on their roster for the first time in several years. After purging their roster of high-priced veterans to get under the salary cap and letting some heretofore key players walk in free agency, there is more pressure than ever on general manager Brandon Beane to get it right in April.
Beane hit a home run in his first draft, taking multi-time Pro Bowlers Josh Allen and Tremaine Edmunds in Round 1. Since then, though, he’s only drafted two Pro Bowl players in five years (Dawson Knox and James Cooks), neither of them were first-round picks, and Knox was a Pro Bowl replacement, so it’s dubious that the honor even counts.
Since taking Allen and Edmunds, Beane’s first-round picks have been defensive tackle Ed Oliver, defensive end Gregory Rousseau, cornerback Kaiir Elam, and tight end Dalton Kincaid. Oliver, Rousseau, and Kincaid are all key starters and still have some Pro Bowl-caliber upside, but Elam seems like a bust. The CB was injured a bit last season but was also a healthy scratch five times.
Then, there is the 2020 NFL Draft when the Bills didn’t have a first-round pick. The team desperately needed a WR1 for Allen, so they traded that selection to the Minnesota Vikings for Stefon Diggs. That worked out (almost) perfectly for the Bills, except for the small fact that the Vikings drafted Justin Jefferson with that exact pick.
Since then, the Bills have had one of the most complete rosters in the league, though, so need-based draft picks weren’t as crucial. However, after letting center Mitch Morse, All-Pro CB Tre’Davious White, WR Gabe Davis, and defensive leaders Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde go, Buffalo has some real holes to fill.
With that in mind, here are three options for the Bills' first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
WR Keon Coleman, Florida State
Bills Mafia had big hopes for Gabe Davis following his epic eight-catch, 201-yard, four-touchdown performance in the team’s infamous “13-seconds” loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 playoffs. However, after failing to reach even 850 receiving yards in the past two seasons, Buffalo let him sign with the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency.
Now, the Bills need to find a legit WR2 and a potential WR1 heir-apparent to the 30-year-old Diggs. And if the Bills do take a wideout at No. 28 this year, his ascendency to WR1 could come quicker than expected as Diggs is already up to his old tricks with his annual attention-seeking social media behavior.
Assuming Diggs is in Buffalo this coming season, the Bills could use a big, physical, single-coverage beating X receiver to hold down one side of the team’s offense while Diggs and Khalil Shakir can mix it up at the Z and slot WR spots.
Coleman is 6-foot-3, 216 pounds, and looks like your prototypical go-to NFL wideout. If you just watch the tape of his best work at Florida State, you’d think he’d be in the conversation with the top WRs in this draft. However, he has two things that work against him.
One is that he lost his QB, Jordan Travis mid-season, and his production fell off. He ended last year with 50 catches for 658 yards and 11 touchdowns. With Travis, those numbers could have been closer to 75/1,000/15.
Also, he ran a 4.61-second 40 at the NFL combine. That’s not ideal, but his speed is better in pads. He was a successful punt returner last season, which tells you more about his running ability than a dead sprint in shorts.
Many NFL evaluators are sleeping on Keon Coleman for these two reasons. Bills Mafia should hope Beane isn’t one of those people.
C Jackson Powers-Johnson, Oregon
The Bills would have loved to keep Mitch Morse, their Pro Bowl center and offensive line leader for the last five seasons. However, at 32 in April and scheduled to make over $11 million in 2024, that just wasn’t an option.
Looking at the current Bills depth chart, it seems like 2023 left guard Connor McGovern will slide over to center and David Edwards will step up at his old position. Buffalo also signed journeyman backup center Will Clapp from the Los Angeles Chargers.
None of these options are ideal for the man who will hand the ball to Josh Allen on every play.
Ideally, the Bills would get a surefire future Pro Bowler with center/guard flexibility like Duke’s Graham Barton, but there’s little chance he’s around at 28. So, taking Oregon center Jackson Powers-Johnson — the best overall pure center in the draft — is a solid Plan B.
The 6-foot-3, 328-pound lineman does have some guard experience, but his average athleticism and production at center (not giving up any sacks last season) make him a better fit in the middle.
Beane could also wait and try to pick up Georgia center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger in the second or third, but taking the No. 1 guy at a position is never a bad idea.
DB Cooper DeJean, Iowa
Brandon Beane has been better at finding defensive backs late in the draft since he’s been in Buffalo. Sixth-round pick Christian Benford and seventh-round selection Dane Jackson are significantly better than Kaiir Elam.
Still, after the roster purge, the Bills have significant needs at both cornerback and safety, so they’ll need to pick these types of players up in the 2024 NFL Draft. So, how about they grab a two-in-one prospect in the first round?
Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean has played both cornerback and safety and at over 6 feet and 203 pounds with speed and strength, he can play both at the next level. He is also a playmaker and a ballhawk, racking up seven interceptions in his last two years at Iowa before QBs stopped throwing at him.
In the modern NFL, defenses succeed by having versatile players who can disguise fronts and coverages to confuse offenses. By having a player like DeJean on the field who can play corner, safety, or even linebacker (on rare occasions), Sean McDermott will be able to hide what his unit is doing until the snap of the ball.
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