Bills' draft pick could be counting down his final days in Buffalo

With the ever-changing look of the Buffalo Bills in 2026, there will be many surprising faces who will not be on the roster come next season. With a new head coach followed by new coordinators leading the team, it will be their job to evaluate who stays and who goes.

As the Bills have just hired a new defensive backs coach, Jay Valai, to motivate the cornerbacks, some changes will be needed in that room as they shift from the nickel 4-3 to a blitz-heavy 3-4 with man coverage. Some players aren't cut out for this scheme and may not be back next season.

Bills Mafia may not see Taron Johnson on roster next season

Going from 4-3 to 3-4

While the Bills hired a familiar face as the new defensive coordinator and former player, Jim Leonhard, he returns to where he played in the NFL from 2005 to 2007 and then in 2013. As a former safety who played in the aggressive 3-4 scheme in Buffalo, Leonhard now brings a similar scheme back to Orchard Park as the playcaller.

Previously, the Bills ran a 4-3 scheme for nine seasons under former head coach Sean McDermott, which focused on rushing the passer with four defensive linemen and playing nickel and dime on third down and in long-yardage situations.

Unlike that scheme, Leonhard brings in a scheme that focuses on creating pressure on the quarterback and playing man coverage on every down, including third-and-long. The best part of this scheme is that there are way fewer nickel and dime packages because those are too conservative to be able to rush the passer.

The downside of switching to this scheme is that one particular cornerback on this roster won't translate well to it, given its less use of a nickel corner. It's too bad because he was a former draft pick who became a Bills Mafia favorite during his time in Orchard Park.

Why Taron Johnson won't fit

It may be tough to say, and it may hurt some feelings, but it's now time for Taron Johnson to be released from the Bills. While Johnson is still a great cornerback, he was better suited to McDermott's scheme, which required a nickel corner.

The reality is this scheme doesn't truly need nickel corners, and while the Bills ran the nickel for the last nine seasons, Johnson did a phenomenal job in his role. How will one ever forget his game-changing pick-six in the 2020 AFC Divisional Round against quarterback Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens.

But unfortunately, everything comes to an end, and this year may be the last for Johnson on the current Bills roster. Wherever he goes next, Bills Mafia will follow him and cheer him on, but right now, general manager and President of Operations, Brandon Beane, has to do what's best for the team and their cornerback room going forward.

As they say, it's a passing league, and a team can never have enough corners. With Johnson off the table, the Bills may have to fill their cornerback hole with a free-agent pickup or draft one in the later rounds. Beane has been known for doing this during his nine years as the Bills' general manager.