After the 2025 season (hopefully being the year that the Bills go all the way), there will be a lot of chatter about how the Buffalo Bills will have to continue to build up their defense through the draft.
Since 2018, Brandon Beane’s first year as the general manager, the Bills have used a first round pick on five defensive players (Tremaine Edmunds, Ed Oliver, Greg Rousseau, Kaiir Elam, and Maxwell Hairston). He has also used second round picks on four defensive players (A.J. Epenesa, Boogie Basham, Cole Bishop, and T.J. Sanders). Long story short, it’s quite rare for the Bills to go offense early on in the draft. Not impossible, but not as common.
One position that the Bills could attack early in the 2026 draft is linebacker. More than likely, this is Matt Milano’s final season in Buffalo, whether fans want to admit it or not. While Terrel Bernard has become a star, the Bills will still need to find support for him in their 4-2-5 scheme. Well, that’s exactly what they do in a recent 2026 mock draft by Mike Renner of CBS Sports.
Bills get great value in late first round of mock draft
At No. 31 overall in Renner’s mock draft, the Bills acquire Ohio State linebacker Sonny Styles, who Renner describes as “Sean McDermott’s next Tremaine Edmunds”.
"Styles is Sean McDermott's next Tremaine Edmunds: a jumbo athlete at linebacker who can run faster than any tight end he'll be asked to guard. He's a former safety who looks much improved in only his second season at the position."Mike Renner, CBS Sports
Styles had a great season with the Buckeyes last season, racking up 100 total tackles and six sacks. He has the ability to play man coverage which is what McDermott likes having his linebackers do and he has an act for knocking down passes.
So far this season, Styles has 14 total tackles with a forced fumble. It’s still early, but Styles could come close to replicating his 2024 season at Ohio State. If he continues this kind of production, he may not even have the chance to fall to the Bills (assuming that Buffalo is near the end of the first round).
However, if things go in Buffalo’s favor and they have the chance to take someone like Styles, it would bring in an incredibly talented player on the defense to not only replace Matt Milano, but also learn from one of the best in the game with Terrel Bernard.