ESPN’s NFL Nation has assembled a panel of more than 80 journalists and other members of the media tasked with the job of evaluating and ranking all 32 teams in the league. The latest publication aims to find which teams legitimately improved their day-one roster during the draft.
The Buffalo Bills entered draft week with a post free agency ranking of fourth in the league. Following a draft that saw the defending AFC East champions bolster their defensive line unit, the Bills have cracked the top three.
“There is no area the Bills have addressed more thoroughly this offseason than the defensive line,” ESPN’s Alaina Getzenberg writes. “They selected three players for the unit in the draft (T.J. Sanders, Landon Jackson and Deone Walker), even after adding Joey Bosa, Michael Hoecht and Larry Ogunjobi in free agency. The team also signed Greg Rousseau to a four-year contract extension.”
The defensive line wasn’t exactly a glaring hole in 2025, with PFF calling it “quietly one of the most formidable units in the league”. But as the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles have shown, you can never have enough depth in the trenches.
“By bringing in youth and veterans, the Bills have overhauled a 2024 group that was a part of the worst passing defense and third-down defense (44% conversion rate) of Sean McDermott’s eight-year tenure,” Getzenberg concluded.
The team the Bills jumped to make the top three was the Detroit Lions, who’s defensive line injuries are a big reason for their divisional round loss in the 2024 playoffs. The Bills now trail only the AFC and NFC champion Chiefs and Eagles, respectively.
Bills Second Round Draft Pick Sits Down With Reporter
The Bills traded up 15 spots on day two of the 2025 NFL Draft to secure defensive tackle T.J. Sanders from South Carolina with the 41st overall selection. Sanders is a high energy sack-getter and he sat down for an interview with a team reporter to cover what he hopes to bring to the Bills defense.
“I think I bring a high motor,” Sanders said to Buffalo’s Maddy Glab. “A guy who gets after it every snap. Someone who doesn’t quit on games, quit on plays…it’s a non-stop mentality.”
Sanders touched on what he loves most about the game of football, and it might be exactly what the Bills Mafia wants to hear.
“I just felt alive getting that first sack and after that I just wanted more and more sacks,” Sanders continued. “And getting a scholarship to do that for college, now getting a chance to do that in the NFL, just going out there getting a sack, disrupting players, that’s the joy you get from playing D-line.”
Bills Fourth Round Draft Pick Rejoins Teammate
The Bills were both shocked and exhilarated to have Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston fall to the team at 30 overall in round one of the draft. Nearly 80 picks later, the team returned to the Wildcat well and selected defensive tackle Deone Walker in the fourth round.
At six-foot-seven Walker was a two time captain at Kentucky and he told Glab about his excitement to be joining the same professional team as Hairston and former Wildcat Ray Davis.
“”I know Max told me as soon as he got drafted, he was standing on the table for me,” Walker told her. “…Max and Ray are like my brothers. A band of brothers who stick together, can’t nobody stop you. So, it’s just great to be back to being teammates with those guys.”
