Buffalo Bills Pre-Draft Roster Analysis

An updated look at the Buffalo Bills roster following the major waves of Free Agency and before the NFL Draft.

I’m old enough to remember when the offseason was the best part of being a Buffalo Bills fan. After stumbling to a 7-9 record, hope sprang eternal when new players were added to the roster through free agency and the NFL Draft to give the Bills renewed hope of just getting to the playoffs. While I still love the team-building opportunities of the offseason, this time of year has become more about adding a few missing pieces to the roster that can prevent the team from stalling out in the Divisional or Conference Championship Round of the playoffs.

After a transitional year for the roster, general manager Brandon Beane was equipped with more cap flexibility than recent years which led to a fairly aggressive free agency period that saw the Bills add DE Joey Bosa, WR Joshua Palmer, DE Michael Hoecht and DT Larry Ogunjobi to the mix, helping fill holes on the roster. But Beane’s work is not over as the attention now turns to the 2025 NFL Draft and the fallout from what happens over the event.

Where is the roster in good shape? Where are the question marks? Let’s take a re-focused look at Buffalo’s roster through the lens of a familiar process here in the Herd Mentality Substack where I categorize each player based on the caliber of player I perceive them to be. Given that I host two additional podcasts covering the entire league, not just the Buffalo Bills, this is an essential part of my approach.

What are the Tiers?

Elite Starter: Players in this tier are the best of the best. They are true difference-makers and clear top players in the NFL at their position.

Quality Starter: Players in this tier are outstanding starters who consistently make a meaningful impact on the team's success. These are upper-echelon starters who fall just below elite starters.

Average Starter: Players in this tier are sufficient-level starters who get the job done but are not consistently high-impact players.

Quality Depth: Players in this tier are not ideally preferred starters but can be relied on to provide meaningful depth and produce steady results in a rotational capacity.

Replacement Level: Players in this tier have little impact. Any player who is NFL roster-worthy could easily fill the role.

Incomplete Evaluation: Players in this tier haven’t played enough to fairly place them in a different tier.