As the 2026 NFL Draft draws closer, the unfortunate reality of picking at No. 26 is starting to set in for the Buffalo Bills and their fans. This draft class is not considered strong, but has depth at two key positions of need for Buffalo at wide receiver and edge rusher. Still, that doesn’t offer any guarantee that the Bills can find a true difference maker at those positions so late in the first round.
As Bills Mafia is well aware, Beane is fully capable and willing to move the Bills around the draft board. He traded up for the likes of Josh Allen and Tremaine Edmunds, and traded back for Keon Coleman.
At his NFL Combine press conference, Beane explained his thought process in determining whether to trade up or back in the first round, which might give Bills Mafia an understanding of what he may do in April.
Bills GM Brandon Beane weighing options to move up, move back, or stay put at No. 26
“You’re weighing how valuable you’ve graded the asset of each player that you’ve got in the first round," Beane said on Tuesday. "And, I think it’s one of those ones as the board is sliding down, getting closer to you, if you feel like there’s a player that, let’s just say you’ve got a grade that you would say that’s a top-10 grade and you’re at pick 18 to 20 and you’re going, ‘Man, there’s a big drop from there,’ that’s when you start to get aggressive and say, ‘I need to go up and use some assets.’"
“On the flip side of that, if you don’t see that and your board is starting to get wiped out, and you’re at pick 22, 23, and you’re like, ‘Man, I don’t have any first-round grades left, I’m already in the second.’ That’s the point where you start saying, ‘What assets can we gain to go back?’ So, it’s really important to build your board right the next couple of months and let it speak to you what you need to do.”
Of course, Beane’s history on draft day has seen him trade up more often than moving back. Beane acknowledged that he gets aggressive nearly to a fault.
“Well, people will tell you I have a lot of downfalls, but one of my downfalls is I probably get a little aggressive," he said. "And I know that, and I try to put people around me to strap me down to the desk if they think I’m getting out of line.”
Even with that in mind, it sure seems like if Beane is going to be positioned to move in the first round, it’ll be to move back. Most big boards you’ll find across the web don’t have 32 players with first-round grades, let alone the 26 that would be needed to reach Buffalo if the 25 teams ahead of them didn’t reach on a prospect.
Of course, few teams have similar draft boards, as every team values every player differently. As such, in theory, Beane only needs roughly 18 first-round grades on his board while seeing eight picks come off who the Bills wouldn’t have been interested in to have a first-round-graded player available at No. 26. That’s a broad hypothetical scenario for context– once the draft begins, anything, especially the unpredictable, can happen.
Still, with a weak class overall, if other teams target the top receivers and pass rushers in the first round ahead of Buffalo, it could force Beane’s hand into deciding between a potential player with a first-round grade who doesn’t fill one of those immediate needs or to trade back and stock up on picks. In that scenario, is it a better play to take the highly graded player or address the needs with extra picks? The answer depends on your philosophy, or more specifically, Beane's.
Many other factors will come into play before the draft, particularly how Beane and his staff attack those positions of need in free agency or potentially on the trade market. Still, Bills Mafia won’t be the least surprised if the board falls unfavorably for Buffalo by the time they are on the clock at 26, leading to a move that will shape the entire Bills 2026 draft class.