If there is one thing that you can say about the Buffalo Bills under Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott, it’s that they like to build through the NFL Draft. They are about building within and developing for the future. While they aren’t afraid of making a big swing via free agency or trade, their philosophy is all about bringing in talent through the draft and seeing what they can do for the future.
While Beane and McDermott have shown that they can develop through the draft, there have been some bad misses under them. Like any other team, they have missed on plenty of prospects and have watched other players that they have passed up on go succeed somewhere else. However, there are five picks that stand out as some of the worst in the McBeane era.
Ranking the worst draft picks by Bills' current regime
5.) WR Justin Shorter, 2023
The Bills took wide receiver Justin Shorter in the fifth round in 2023, in hopes that he could not only produce on special teams, but also become a bigger target for Josh Allen. Instead, he never played a single game for the Bills and is no longer in Buffalo. He spent 2024 with the Las Vegas Raiders.
The thing that makes this pick so bad is that in the same round, wide receiver Puka Nacua was drafted and he became an immediate star for the Los Angeles Rams.
4.) RB Zack Moss, 2020
Zack Moss spent only 2.5 seasons with the Bills after being drafted in the third round in 2020. Buffalo brought Moss to Western New York to pair with Devin Singletary in hopes of creating a rushing attack behind Josh Allen, that way Allen didn’t have to play Superman every single game.
Moss wasn’t utilized right with the Bills and wasn’t a great fit. He rushed for no more than 481 yards in a season, and in the middle of the 2022 season, he was traded to the Indianapolis Colts in exchange for Nyheim Hines (who was more of a pass-catching back).
3.) OL Cody Ford, 2019
Getting Cody Ford in the second round in 2019 was a great pickup, at the time. However, just like Moss, it didn’t work out for him in Buffalo. Coming out of Oklahoma, Ford was brought in to help solidiy the offensive line that was coming off a horrendous year for Josh Allen’s rookie season.
Ford was first tested at tackle, but then was pushed to various guard positions for the next few seasons. He struggled to protect and struggled to start as well. Before the 2022 season, the Bills traded Ford to the Arizona Cardinals which officially solidified the Ford pick as a waste.
2.) CB Kaiir Elam, 2022
Trading up for cornerback Kaiir Elam was a horrendous mistake by the Bills. Coming out of Florida in 2022, Elam was supposed to help solidify the secondary in Buffalo after Tre’Davious White tore his ACL a couple months prior. Even though he had his brief flashes of solid play, he was a huge liability in man-to-man coverage.
He couldn’t beat out Christian Benford (who was drafted in the 6th round in 2022) and played in no more than 13 games in a season. Elam was a healthy inactive at various times throughout his tenure. The Bills traded Elam to the Dallas Cowboys this offseason and were able to get some draft picks back surprisingly.
1.) QB Nathan Peterman, 2017
Maybe you can’t put a fifth-round pick as the number one player on this list, but quarterback Nathan Peterman’s tenure in Buffalo was atrocious. The Bills drafted Peterman in 2017 with a possibility that maybe he could eventually become a franchise quarterback for the Bills. Buffalo had Tyrod Taylor already but they needed a long-term solution.
After Taylor started out a little rough in 2017, the Bills decided to start Peterman in the middle of the 2017 season and he instantly became well-known across the league, but for the wrong reason. He threw five interceptions in one half against the Chargers and the Bills had to bring Taylor back into the game.
In 2018 when the Bills drafted Josh Allen, Buffalo still had Peterman has the Week 1 starter but he completely fell apart to the point where Allen was put in as the starter and never looked back. Peterman was released in the middle of the 2018 season, ending his short tenure in Western New York.