MOCK OFFSEASON Part 2: Buffalo Bills 2026 7-Round Mock Draft & Initial 53-Man Roster Projection

0:00Part two of my 2026 Buffalo Bills mock off-season starts right now on Lockdown Bills. You are Lockdown Bills, your daily Buffalo Bills podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. What's up, Bills Mafia? It's Joe Marino, author of the herd mentality sub-stack co-host of the Lockdown NFL Scouting podcast, co-host of the NFL First Read podcast, and I'm your host of Lockdown Bills. Lockdown Bills is a proud part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network. I want to thank you for making Lockdown Bills your first listen every day and a big welcome and shout out to our every dayers. You know who you are. Those of you who never missed a single episode, I appreciate y'all being here very, very much. Today's episode is brought to you by game time, download the game time app, create an account, and use code Lockdown for $20 off your

1:02first purchase. Well folks, welcome in. It is time for part two of my mock off season. And if you have not consumed part one of the mock off season, I highly encourage you to push pause and listen to it first because this is part two and it's all connected. Both episodes dropped at the same time. So it is available for you to consume. I encourage you. There's everything is very sequential here. So you got to consume part one for part two to make sense. And in part one, I covered creating cap space, handling, expiring contracts, and the signing of outside for agents. In episode two, this is going to be our mock draft, our seven round mock draft, and the roster projection. Wanted to remind everyone of some of the goals that I had in doing this. First of all, it's not necessarily meant to be predictive. It is full of my bias and things that I would want to happen. The idea is to show a path. I want to give you an idea of what can be accomplished by

2:08Brandon being this off season. And of course, it is Greg Thompson approved. He went through and signed off on all of my money adding up and player contract projections being reasonable and all those types of things. And again, my theme with this as I've considered all the needs of the bills have is I want answers everywhere. I don't want to go in and say, well, cross our fingers. Let's hope that we can get by with that option. I wanted answers everywhere. And so we've done a lot of it. And now it's time for the NFL draft piece of this. And so I enter this NFL draft with some goals in mind and things that I want to accomplish. I would say edge rusher was my top priority based on how the free agency period played out. And so I wanted to get a couple of young edge rushers to fill things out. I also wanted to add a player at receiver that's meaningful. I wanted to get a cost control young player that has some upside at receiver. I wanted to get some help at corner.

3:12I needed some depth there. I needed at least one piece for the offensive line. And I wanted specialists. I wanted to find a new punter and kicker that the bills can have on rookie deals and hopefully find their tandem for a long time. And so the bills enter this draft with picks 26 91, 126, 163, 167, 219, and 227. Based on the DJ more trade, I'm sort of hopeful and predicting that the bills are going to trade out of the first round. There's a lot that we have to figure out between now and then. But generally right now, with the bills now missing a second round pick, I think the bills need to recoup some of that. They need young players that are cost control that can help this football team. And I want to find I want to find them. And so I do I did want to trade out of the first round. And so that leads me to

4:18all right, who has draft capital that would maybe want to come back into the first round. And I very quickly settled on the jets. The jets have the most draft capital by far. Including pick 33. And so I wanted to move from 26 to 33. We have the opening pick of the second round. And the logic here is that the jets trade back into the first round to get Ty Simpson, the quarterback from Alabama. And so that's the thought. And so the terms of the trade are this. The bills give 26 and get 33. 103. And 175. And the jets 2027. Fourth round pick. Now the math on the trade value chart says that 103 and 175 is enough. But because it's a division trade and it's for a quarterback, we got to tax him a little bit. So we get our we get their

5:22fourth round pick in 2027. So now the bills have 33, 91, 103, 126, 163, 166, 175, 220, and 228. I have nine picks now for the bills in this draft. And so let's tell you who I picked. And I'll be honest with you, I have not like in-depth scouted all of these players. I'm familiar. I've got a lot of work to do on this draft class still, but I think these are all players that would fit. And it's kind of the positions that I have in mind based on what I did in free agency. So with the 33rd pick, so round two pick 33, I have the bills selecting edge rusher R Mason Thomas out of Oklahoma, explosive and bendy edge rusher, not super big, right? Probably going to play in

6:23the 240s, but is explosive and super flexible, played at Oklahoma. And so the bills have great intel on him. The bills corners coach, Javila was their co-defensive coordinator the last few years in Oklahoma. Think the bills version of Nick Benito. That's my objective here. Of course, Nick Benito, a huge part of that Denver defense that I think Jim Leonard will want to player like that. So now we have our Mason Thomas and edge rusher. Our next pick is round three pick 91. And we're going to go with the receiver. Ted Hurst out of Georgia State, 64 206 pounds, ran 442 in the 40, two productive seasons at Georgia State down the field explosive receiver. And so I just wanted to stock the cupboard a little bit with some traits with some upside with some youth. And Ted Hurst is my answer with pick 91.

7:25Round four pick 103. We're getting another edge rusher. Just Sean Barham from Michigan. Very diverse player. He's been a rush linebacker from Michigan. He's played off the ball. And he's just very dynamic. I love the way he beats blocks. He's explosive. And so he gives us a versatile player that we can play in multiple spots in the front seven. With our next fourth round picks, we have round four 126. I want to get some corner depth. We're going corner back to Cario Davis out of Washington. 64 194 pounds 33 and three eighths on the arms ran 441. I think press man corner with tremendous length. Ball skills. He might have some appeal as like a free safety. But if my plan is for Roger McCreary to go play in the slot, I definitely need some depth. That

8:25outside corner to Cario Davis gives us a young player with upside to have behind Max Harrison and Christian Benford. Round five pick 163. We're going to the offensive line Pat Cougan out of Indiana 653 11 started his career at Notre Dame. At one season as their left guard had one season as their center. And then this past year for Indiana, he was their center. Three-year starter with time at center in guard. He was the Rose Bowl MVP. I love getting a player that was part of that Indiana program that can give us a young player that further bolster further bolsters the options on the interior. And we're kind of taking a bit of a shotgun approach here and putting a lot of bodies in there and hoping to get some answers along the way. Round five pick 166. We're getting another receiver, but it's not really a receiver. This is a punt return. I wanted a punt return. That was a weak spot for the bills last year. And I wanted

9:28an answer. We're getting a big time answer here in Caden, Wet Gen from Iowa. 5993 pounds, ran 447, tremendous return. On punts, 55 career punt returns, 46 fair catches, so a ton of experience. Only had one month, 17 and a half yards per return and four touchdowns. Kick returns, 57 kick returns, average 28 yards, and had two touchdowns. So six career return touchdowns, four on punts. And I wanted that punt return, pedigree. And we get it. We're solidified there. We got a punt return. And we're going to keep going special teams here. Round five pick 175. We got a kicker. Trace Mac from Florida. Obviously his name is awesome. Trace Mac. You got to smack it through the uprights. That'd be fun, right? This guy's got a big leg. For his career at Florida, 10 of 13 from beyond 50. Got us a young kicker to move on from Tyler Bass. And then in the seventh round, pick 220. We're getting a punter. Jack Stonehouse had a Syracuse.

10:30The bills met with him at the combine. And so we got a we got a young punter. Then we have one more pick, round seven, pick 228. And I'm trading it. I'm trading it to the giants for a 2027 six round pick. So we're going to give them a seven this year for a six next year. And so that's the draft class. And in addition to the players we added, I've also added two picks for 2027. We have all of our organic picks in 2027 plus the Jets 4, which we anticipate being a high fourth round pick. And then the giant six round pick, which could be a high six round pick and got a couple of nice assets. So here's the draft hall one more time. And then we'll get into the depth chart. Round two, pick 33, edge rusher, our Mason Thomas out of Oklahoma. Round three, pick 91, wide receiver Ted Hurst from Georgia State. Round four, pick 103, edge rusher, slash linebacker, just Sean Barham from Michigan. Round four, pick 126, cornerback to cardio Davis from

11:36Washington. Round five, pick 163, interior offensive lineman Pat Cougan out of Indiana. Round five, pick 166, wide receiver, really punt returner, Caden Wetchan out of Iowa. Round five, pick 175, kicker, trace smack out of Florida. And round seven, pick 220 punter, jackstonehouse out of the Syracuse. So that's my mock draft. And coming up next, we're going to really dive into this depth chart. And we'll bring to light all of the moves and look at each position group and what it looks like. So we'll get to that next folks, be sure to stick with me. We live in a world where we can stream anything, order food and minutes and carry super computers in our pockets and somehow buying tickets to a live game still feels complicated. There's hidden fees, jumping prices, endless steps. There's got to be a better way. And there is. And that's why I use game time. It gives fans the advantage and makes getting tickets simple, whether it's to

12:36NFL games, concerts, comedy, whatever you're into. I actually recently jumped into the app looking for tickets to a comedy show that me and my wife wanted to go to and it only took a few minutes. You can see the exact view from your seat before you buy. The price includes all fees. So there's no surprises coming at checkout. And you can even spot zone deals where you pick the section and game time picks the seat for extra savings. Two taps and you've got great seats locked in. Fast, easy done. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets, download game time, create an account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase terms of pie. Again, create an account and redeem code L O C K E D O N for $20 off download game time today. All right, let's do it. Let's talk about this roster that I have assembled. And at the end, I'll also tell you who my core special teamers are and then what the final cap position is after some additional moves are made. So let's focus on the offense here. At quarterback, we're keeping two players, Josh Allen and Mitch Trubisky. Pretty cut and dry.

13:40Shane Bouchal will have them back on the practice quad. At running back, this one's another one that's very cut and dry. James Cook, Ray Davis, Ty Johnson, and of course, we brought back Reggie Gilliam. Frank Gore can be back on the practice squad. So really no investments at quarterback or running back other than resigning Mitchell Trubisky and resigning Reggie Gilliam. The only two players I resigned. At wide receiver, we have several changes. There's only, there's only three players from last year that are back and we have three new bodies. So of course, DJ Moore, who the bills traded for, he's in the mix, Galicia Kier and Keon Coleman. We also have Josh Palmer, of course, is back. And then our two rookies, Ted Hurst and Kaden Wettgen, who's really a punt returner. And so I would guess our, our 11 personnel, our three wide receiver sets is going to be DJ Moore as the X receiver. Josh Palmer opposite of him and then Shakira in the slot.

14:47That feels a lot better than what it was last year, right? I hope. And Josh Palmer, just stay healthy, dude. I think the guy can play. He's got a great skill set. Just be healthy, dude. And then I love that we have the young vertical player and Ted Hurst that has speed and size and upside. And the bills got to start doing this. They got to, they got to draft more receivers. You know, Brandon Bean is not really drafted many. Keon Coleman, Galicia Kier, Gabe Davis, like Kaden Prater and, what like, it's about it. Ray Ray McCloud, Austin Prole. They got to invest more meaningful and mid-round capital to start giving themselves some chances to hit instead of having to trade for receivers all the time and paid receivers all the time. They need some cheap options. So Ted Hurst, welcome to the mix. So the receiver room again, DJ Moore, Galicia Kier, Keon Coleman, Josh Palmer, Ted Hurst, and then Kaden Wetchen, who is the

15:47punt returner. So we're keeping six. At tight end, really nothing happened here except for what we did with Dawson Knox extending him with also there being a pay cut element. So our tight end room is Dalton Kinkade, Dawson Knox and Jackson Haas. Lucky late two would be back on the practice one. I forgot to tell you, at receiver Curtis Samuel is of course cut. Steven Gossnell, McColle Hardman, Jalen Virgil, all released Tyra, Tyrault Shavers is probably a pump candidate to start the year. For the offensive line, obviously, there's a lot of turnover here. Our left tackle is the Unbalkans. Then at left guard, we have Wyatt Teller. Our center is a battle between Cedric Vamper and Granger, Ryan Bates and Alec Anderson, all players that have at least two years with Josh Allen on this football team. Somewhere along the way, we got to have a starter there. I think, and I think we will have one. The others can stay as reserves that our right guard is

16:49Osiris Torrance. Remember, we extended him. Our right tackle is Spencer Brown, of course, and then we also have Pat Cougan, who we drafted, and then Tyler and Grable is our swing tackle. You might be thinking a little bit about offensive tackle depth. Of course, Grable is our swing, but I think between Bates, like if you really had to have one, Bates can go there in a pinch. Anderson has done it in a pinch. And then, of course, like Chase Lunt and Travis Clayton, we'd love to have him back on the practice squad. But those are not players that I have initially making it. We're going to keep nine offensive linemen, Dawkins, Anderson, Grable, Cedric Vamper and Granger, Osiris Torrance, Spencer Brown, Ryan Bates, Wyatt Teller, Pat Cougan. Then our specialists, we have Reed Ferguson returning at Long Snapper, but we drafted Trace Mac,

17:50and we drafted Jack Stonehouse. And so this puts us in a position with Tyler Bass that we can release him post June 1 and save $3.95 million. And we are going to do that. So new specialists for the bills, Trace Mac and Jack Stonehouse. All right, that's the offense. Coming up, we'll talk about the defense. I'll tell you who my core special teamers are. And then, of course, where the bills cap position is after everything is said and done. So folks, be sure to stick with me. It's tax time, but for a lot of us, the old way of doing taxes is a lot. Trying to book an appointment. That's not the most convenient sitting in a waiting room with a stack of papers, emailing back and forth and wondering if they really get your situation, but this year you're getting a major upgrade into it. TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. You can meet face to face with a real tax expert and your documents get uploaded straight to your TurboTax app on the spot. And just like that, you're done.

18:55Your TurboTax expert will work to get you every dollar that you deserve while you get real-time notifications as you go about your day. It's the relief of walking in and meeting a real person and walking out knowing your taxes are being handled right. So head to TurboTax.com slash local to find a store near you and book your appointment today. All right, folks, we got to talk about this defense. Tell you who our core special teamers are. And then, of course, where this cap position is at. Defensively, on the defensive line, we're keeping seven players. Two of them are nose tackles in crisis, Tonga, reagent signing, and Deon Walker. We're cutting Fidarian Mathisons in Zion Log. Hopefully we get one of them back on the practice squad. And then our five tech slash four eyes, Greg Russo, Ad Oliver, Sebastian Joseph Day, landed Jackson and TJ Sanders.

19:57And then Duane Carter and Tommy, a King Basote, they're released. So it's unfortunate. Duane Carter, a third round pick a few years ago. He's an odd man out here. So seven defensive linemen, Tonga and Walker at the nose. Oliver Russo, Sebastian Joseph Day, TJ Sanders, landed Jackson as our five techs four eyes with Sebastian Joseph Day also has some versatility to play in the A-gaps. On the edge, like true outside linebacker, tight players, stand up players. We're going to keep five of those. Michael Hoyt, Arnold Ebbaketti, which is our free agent signing from the Falcons, Javon Solomon. And then we drafted two, Armason Thomas out of Oklahoma and Jashon Barham. And in the acquisitions of Ebbaketti, Armason Thomas and Jashon Barham, we have infused this group with a ton of athleticism. We have Burst and Ben for sure in those players, which was a huge

20:59objective. At linebacker, we're keeping four. And this is a new part of like this style of defense. They only keep four off-ball linebackers. So of course, we signed Leo Chanel, which also adds a ton of athleticism to our rush profile through Al Bernard, Dorian Williams, and Joe Andrewson. That means Chris or Kiontha Jenkins and Jimmy Carolell are released. Then at corner, we are keeping five of those. Christian Benford and Maxwell Harrison, Terran Johnson for now. Ticario Davis, our draft pick that's going to provide us with some youth and depth. And then Roger McCreary, who we signed with the intent of him replacing Terran Johnson worst case scenario. We have depth and a true succession plan because it was a two-year deal. I would love to believe that Dorian's strong can be part of the mix. I just don't know what the future is there. And that means we're also releasing MJ Devonshire to Corey Cowach and Darryl

22:04Porter Jr. And then we're also going to keep five safeties. Cole Bishop, Sam Franklin, Dane Belton, Jordan Hancock, and PJ Locke. And so Bishop and Belton are our starters. Locke and Hancock can kind of compete to be the dine player. And then Sam Franklin's a core special team. So as we went through Taylor Rap is released and then one day Owens would also be released in this scenario. So that's a 53. I kind of like how it came together. Of course, I do. I mean, I went through and picked all this and I didn't have any competition from other general managers. I signed the players I wanted to for the deals that I wanted to. I understand the element of that. I use pro football focus for the mock draft simulator. And so that's a real mock draft that I did. I didn't fudge it or anything like that. Those are real picks that I made using the PFF mock draft simulator. The core special teamers, of course, we have new kicker and

23:06punter. But I thought it was interesting to kind of go through and and parse out like these are the critical players for kick off and punt and kick return and part return. Reggie Gilliam, Sam Franklin, PJ Locke, Joendryson, Dorian Williams, Javon Solomon, just Sean Barham. I mean, that's seven guys right there. You also have Kaden Lechen to be the punt returner. Jackson Hawes can fact they're in a little bit. I think you have a pretty robust group of potential special teams contributors. And some that should be very high volume snap players. So what does this mean for the cap? Well, as I stated, the bills have based on everything I did right up at about $3 million, $2.9 million in cap space. With the drafting of the kicker, Trace Mack, we're going to release Tyler Bass. And that gets us another $3.95 million.

24:09So now I have $6.8 million in functional cap space. That's going to work towards operating funds in the season. I also have the Terran Johnson lever. If you like what you have from Roger McCreery, and you say, you know what, Terran Johnson, you're cooked. After June 1st, you can release Terran Johnson and free up $8.7 million. So there you go. Now you have even more in season operating funds. The other lever that I would mention is Josh Palmer. The bills could release him after June 1st and free up a little over $5 million in cap space. And if they found somebody that could that would want to trade for Josh Palmer, the bills can actually free up $10 million in cap space. Now there's some dead cap they'd have to accumulate this year and next. I think it's like very minimal this year. It'd be like one point something maybe around $5 million for next year. But the 10.1 that you get in cap space right now is very real. And so maybe you like what you're getting from Keon and the rookie Ted Hurst.

25:11And I don't think you would get a good return for Josh Palmer. But you could do like Josh Palmer and a six for a five. And the real win is that you you get the cap space. So I like how this came together in terms of all right, you did a lot, but you're not completely devoid of functional cap space during the season. And again, I recognize the advantage that I have just doing it on a spreadsheet. I'm not competing. I'm not negotiating. I think deals could come in more than I anticipate. Although I use the foundation of like people that project contracts, spot rack and over the cap and PFF and Greg also agreed that my numbers were competitive. So it's probably a little aggressive. But I think being can pull off something close to this. I'm mostly fascinated with how much cap space he creates. I think that's the part

26:16of this that's going to be most interesting to me. Obviously, he's gone out and traded for DJ Moore, which is a pretty big swing. But even with that, there's still a lot they can do. And we'll find out next week. It's going to be exciting. You know, we're going to be covering it for you every step tons of content reacting to everything that's going to be going down. So make sure that you are subscribed. I'd love it if you took a second to rate review and share the podcast. Let me know what you think about this mock off season. Fill up the YouTube comments with your thoughts. Let me know what you would do. It's always fun to consider all this. And then we'll get the real thing next week. All right, folks, that's it. Thanks as always go bills. And I look forward to catching up with you again real soon.