Buffalo Bills 7-Round mock draft with a trade up in the first round

Buffalo Bills Round 2 (Pick 57): Leo Chenal, LB (Wisconsin)

A corner is a significant need for the Bills here, but with Martin Emerson and Marcus Jones sitting as the Top 2 corner prospects available on my big board at this pick, I decided the value wasn’t there. After the Bills’ playoff loss to the Chiefs, I wrote about how there would be questions at linebacker as Brandon Beane will be faced with whether or not to extend Tremaine Edmunds.

Leo Chenal falling this far is a blessing as he is the best run-stuffing linebackers in the class and one of the best run defenders we’ve ever seen at the position. His three-down ability is in question, but Chenal has an identity that will make him easy to deploy on early downs. The hope is that his run-stuffing ability would put the opponent into second and third and longs where the Bills could then deploy nickel and dime coverages.

In addition, to run-stuffing, Chenal’s downhill ability showed up in the passing game, too, and he registered eight sacks this past season. So come playoff time, I could see Chenal deployed as a spy against some of the athletic AFC QBs.