Buffalo Bills NFL Draft History: Re-Drafting the first round picks since 2010

Buffalo Bills 2012 First Round Pick: Stephon Gilmore

Gilmore may be the most polarizing player on this list. On one hand, he’s a five-time Pro Bowler, two-time first-team All-Pro, Super Bowl champion, and was the 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

The problem is he garnered many of those accomplishments as a hated rival of the New England Patriots. While he did earn his first Pro Bowl appearance during his final season in Buffalo back in 2016, Gilmore’s run in Buffalo felt very incomplete.

Gilmore was good as a Buffalo Bill, not great. He never topped three INTs in a season until his last year with the team. The University of South Carolina product also never had a PFF grade below 60.1 in Buffalo, as he had two 70-plus seasons in 2014 (73.2) and 2015 (71.1).

The problem here is that he became elite in New England. In his first three seasons with the team (2017 to 2019), Gilmore posted seasonal grades of 78.2, 90.7, and 82.8. During his DPOY campaign, the South Carolina native yielded zero TD passes, led the league in INTs (6), and passes defended (20).

From 2018 to 2020, Gilmore allowed a completion rate of 52%, and over the past three seasons, he’s only allowed three TD passes.

I think the one thing about Gilmore that’s frustrating as well is that he did not seem to be the biggest fan of playing in Buffalo. He came in at a time when the city was not considered a destination like it may be looked at now. Do you remember how excited he was to join the Patriots?

Was this the right pick? 

If you told the Bills they’d be picking a five-time Pro Bowler and future NFL DPOY I’m sure they’d sign up for that. But I’m also sure they’d rather him land those achievements while in Western New York, not up in Foxborough, Mass.

Maybe there’s an alternate universe where Gilmore stays in Buffalo and becomes the player he did in New England here instead. It’s not hard to envision that, especially with such a strong defensive staff coming in before the 2017 season, as he was joining the Pats.

I’m sure the Bills would take him again knowing the player he became, but maybe the team would have handled certain things with him differently knowing he wanted out after 2016.

Who could the Buffalo Bills have taken?

If the Bills wanted to stick with CBs in this draft, they had other good options to choose from. Former All-Pros Casey Hayward, Janoris Jenkins, and Josh Norman were also a part of this class.

Other Pro Bowlers and All-Pros selected after Gilmore in this draft include Harrison Smith, Fletcher Cox, Melvin Ingram, Dont’a Hightower, Lavonte David, Kelechi Osemele, and Alshon Jeffrey. But there is three potential future Hall of Famers who truly headline this draft.

First is Russell Wilson, the best QB in the draft, but he was not selected until the third round. Wilson is a Super Bowl-winning signal-caller that has nine Pro Bowls, has the league lead in TD passes (2017) and passer rating (2015), as well as the 2020 NFL Man of the Year award, on his resume. The former Seahawks QB rewrote the team’s record book with over 20 different records in his 10 seasons in Seattle.

Another former Seattle Seahawks great,  Bobby Wagner was selected at No. 47 in the second round. Wagner has been the truest measure of consistency, as the middle linebacker has six All-Pro nods and only trails David for the most tackles in the NFL since 2012. The Utah State product also was a 2010s All-Decade performer.

Lastly, one name that had regional value with the Bills was No. 21 overall pick Chandler Jones, who added insult to injury by joining the Patriots and helping them win Super Bowl XLIX. A Rochester, New York native and the pride of Syracuse Orange football, Buffalo could have brought in a quasi-local talent who became one of the best of his generation.

Jones is a four-time Pro Bowler, two-time All-Pro, the NFL’s sack leader in 2017, and another 2010s All-Decade pick. Jones has had seven double-digit sack seasons in his career and he joined the 100-career sacks club in 2021, as his 107.5 are tied with Mark Gastineau and Pat Swilling for 38th all time.