There’s no one way to fix the Buffalo Bills—but with the 2025 NFL Draft looming, it’s time to get specific. This Big Board is built just for Buffalo, and unlike the national rankings, we’re diving deep into fit, need, and vibes.
On Saturday, I thought I would make a Big Board just for the Buffalo Bills only, but then Joe Marino put out his horizontal Big Board, and it was fantastic and I didn’t want to rip him off.
But then I realized, differences of opinion are great between fans and commentators. I have friends who say the Bills need to trade away the whole draft if they have to to get a difference maker. I have other friends who say, trade back and improve the value of your mid round picks. And they’re both completely valid.
Variety is the spice of life, so I guess we’ll give it a shot.
Methodology
Every GM in the NFL says the following:
- “We’re going to follow our board.”
- We’re going to keep in mind our roster.”
- We’re going to pick best player available.”
And it’s not that they’re lying, it’s draft speak. In reality, every NFL front office bakes need into their board. I don’t care what the Bills think about Cam Ward, but if he were to drop all the way to 30 for some reason, the Bills would still not draft him, because they already have Josh Allen. Not only is the need not there, but the position on the Roster just isn’t available.
Need
In this big board, we will consider need using the following scale:
1 – Desperate for a starter
2 – In need of rotational/developmental talent
3 – Could use an upgrade, but we can get by with what we have
4 – Only if the right player is there
5 – There is no room on the roster/ we’d rather pick up a UDFA and see if we can slide them on the practice squad, than waste a draft pick.
With that in mind, we can then rate the following positions as positions of need for the Buffalo Bills.
- DT – 2
- CB – 2
- DE – 3
- S – 3
- RB – 3
- WR – 3
- LB – 4
- TE – 4
- IOL – 4
- OT – 5
- QB – 5
Value (Positional Depth/Scarcity/Dropoff)
One of the key indicators of a good drafter is whether they can identify when tier breaks are likely to happen in a draft. If you have 6 DEs rated as 2nd rounders and you’re halfway through the second round and none of them have been picked, and you’re like the Bills and have 2 second round picks, maybe pick a DE with your second pick, not your first. Positional depth is important to recognize, because you can still address your roster without having to reach for a player of that position.
There are of course some players where positional depth does not matter. Abdul Carter is such an amazing football prospect, it doesn’t matter how many other draftable, NFL DE’s there are in this class, because there is only one Abdul Carter.
Interest
We’ll place some additional value (moving players up the board) on players with whom the Bills have had off-season contact, including a Combine meeting, a Pro Day visit, a Private Workout, a Top-30 Visit, and a Zoom Meeting.
This 2025 NFL Draft Big Board is specifically built for the Buffalo Bills, taking all of these factors into account. It truly means that if these players are left on the board when the Bills pick, we pick the one at the top of the list, no questions asked, with the exception of when we get to the later rounds, we’ll take into consideration who we’ve already drafted.
Overall Rank | Position Rank | Name | School |
***24 | CB6 | Maxwell Hairston | Kentucky*** |
***31 | DE8 | Landon Jackson | Arkansas*** |
***33 | DT6 | TJ Sanders | South Carolina*** |
Toledo | |||
52 | WR11 | Isaiah Bond | Texas |
***62 | DT10 | Deone Walker | Kentucky*** |
67 | DE15 | Jared Ivey | Mississippi |
83 | WR15 | Tez Johnson | Oregon |
87 | DT14 | Aeneas Peebles | Virginia Tech |
91 | WR17 | Xavier Restrepo | Miami (FL) |
92 | CB13 | Zy Alexander | LSU |
101 | CB16 | Dorian Strong | Virginia Tech |
111 | DT17 | J.J. Pegues | Ole Miss |
116 | RB11 | Brashard Smith | SMU |
119 | S9 | Jaylen Reed | Penn State |
122 | LB8 | Kobe King | Penn State |
124 | RB12 | Ollie Gordon | Oklahoma State |
125 | CB17 | Cobee Bryant | Kansas |
129 | S11 | Sebastian Castro | Iowa |
131 | DE24 | Antwaun Powell-Ryland | Virginia Tech |
135 | DE25 | Jah Joyner | Minnesota |
137 | RB14 | Damien Martinez | Miami (FL) |
138 | RB15 | Devin Neal | Kansas |
141 | DE27 | Kaimon Rucker | North Carolina |
***143 | CB20 | Jordan Hancock | Ohio State*** |
147 | CB21 | Tommi Hill | Nebraska |
149 | CB22 | Mello Dotson | Kansas |
150 | DT21 | Howard Cross III | Notre Dame |
151 | WR23 | Kobe Hudson | UCF |
153 | IOL10 | Seth McLaughlin | Ohio State |
***156 | TE9 | Jackson Hawes | Georgia Tech*** |
157 | TE10 | Jake Briningstool | Clemson |
162 | RB18 | Kalel Mullings | Michigan |
163 | LB12 | Jamon Dumas-Johnson | Kentucky |
164 | IOL13 | Luke Kandra | Cincinnati |
165 | TE12 | Thomas Fidone | Nebraska |
167 | DT22 | Zeek Biggers | Georgia Tech |
Last Updated 4/26/25 @ 2:57pm EST