Top positions of need for the Buffalo Bills prior to the 2020 NFL Draft
1. Edge Rusher
The one position you can never have too many of in the NFL. The Buffalo Bills brought in Mario Addison in free agency and still have Jerry Hughes, but neither of those guys are getting any younger. They should really consider adding a young edge rusher early in the 2020 NFL Draft.
I know I said that the Bills are in win-now mode, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore the future. If you get the right player, especially if you spend a second or third-round pick on a defensive end, not only will they brighten the future of your defense, but they should be good enough to find a role right away as well.
Hughes has played well for the Bills over the years, but he has never been considered in that “elite” category. He is 31-years-old and Buffalo has an out in his contract after this season. There is also an out in newly-added Mario Addison’s contract, according to Spotrac, so nothing is set in stone at defensive end beyond this season for the Bills.
The Bills lost 2016 first-round pick, Shaq Lawson, in free agency after he never really lived up to his potential as an edge rusher with average production throughout his Buffalo career. The Bills may want to take another early stab at the position to bring in some youth to the room, allowing him to learn from the current veterans on the roster before taking over a large role down the road.
2. Defensive Tackle
The Buffalo Bills addressed this position very early in last year’s draft by selecting Ed Oliver ninth overall. Oliver had a solid rookie season, showing a lot of promise as a building block for the team’s future on defense.
Now the team turns to the 2020 NFL Draft to find a perfect pair in the center of their defense with Oliver. Currently, the Bills are slated to start veteran nose tackle Star Lotulelei. While Lotulelei is pretty much a shoo-in to be on the roster for at least this season and next due to the large cap hit the team would sustain if they released him, he isn’t quite the player he used to be and Buffalo may want a replacement for him down the road.
Bringing in a talented defensive tackle would allow the Bills to rotate that player in right away with Lotulelei and give them a viable pair for Oliver in the future. The Bills have hung their hat on the tenacity of their defense for years now, especially since Sean McDermott took over as the head coach. I’m sure they want to make sure that they can sustain that style of play for years to come.
3. Linebacker
The Buffalo Bills find a very good one in Tremaine Edmunds in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. Edmunds was very young when drafted, but has been excellent from the get in Buffalo. Continuing with the theme outlined at defensive tackle, the Bills have one young star and should look to bring in another to pair with him for the future.
Aside from Edmunds, the Bills have solid veteran linebackers in Matt Milano and A.J. Klein. With what isn’t a very elite 2020 NFL Draft linebacker class, this would allow the Bills to take a chance on a player with high upside and give them some time to develop.
There are no Tremaine Edmunds in this class, especially that will be available when the Bills will be picking. But if the Bills go with a linebacker in the mid-to-late rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft, they could trust their evaluators and their coaching staff to find and develop a potential star.