After my last two mock drafts looking into the possibility of both trading up and trading down, this will be a mock draft without trades. This is going to be an exercise to see which prospects are available at the Buffalo Bills original selections in the 2021 NFL Draft.
For clarity purposes, I will be drafting this mock draft with the assumption that the Bills let all their free agents walk with the exception of Daryl Williams, Andre Smith, Levi Wallace, and Ike Boettger.
With these being the only players the Bills elect to re-sign for this hypothetical mock draft scenario, the position of highest need is most likely linebacker. Without a linebacker in this draft, the Bills are looking at a three-headed competition between Andre Smith, Tyrel Dodson, and A.J. Klein to replace the contributions of Matt Milano.
Without bringing back Jon Felciano, the next position of need is probably someone to compete with Ike Boetgger for the open guard position opposite of Cody Ford. Furthermore, finding a player with positional flexibility on the interior of the offensive line to replace Feliciano would be a big bonus. This positional flexibility could prove to be very valuable to the Bills moving forward considering the questions surrounding Mitch Morse’s future due to his concussion history.
After filling these two voids in the roster, my plan for the remaining picks will be fortifying the defensive line and adding to the offensive weaponry. Without Andre Roberts or Isaiah McKenzie in this hypothetical, the Bills will be looking for a prospect that can be a contributor as a return man and as the gadget guy on offense.
As utilized before, this mock draft will be done using the PFF Mock Draft SImulator and their big board rankings. Of course, the big board will be constantly changing from now until draft day, but it will be interesting to see the quality of players that fall to the Bills at their current selection slots with the current big board.