4 takeaways: Bills Day 3 draft picks

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Bills stayed in their defensive stance for the start of the NFL draft's final day, but eventually picked a few offensive players.

Buffalo added Kentucky DT Deone Walker, Ohio State CB Jordan Hancock, Georgia Tech TE Jackson Hawes, Virginia Tech CB Dorian Strong, UConn OT Chase Lundt and Maryland WR Kaden Prather to a 2025 draft class that already included Kentucky CB Maxwell Hairston, South Carolina DT T.J. Sanders, and Arkansas DE Landon Jackson.

Here are four takeaways from the six selections Buffalo made on the third day of the draft.

Attention to defense

If defense wins championships, the Bills went title hunting in this draft. Few classes in team history have focused this much on one side of the ball.

The only other year that the Bills drafted defensive players with their first five selections was 2006. The haul then was: DB Donte Whitner, DT John McCargo, DB Ashton Youboty, DB Ko Simpson, DT Kyle Williams.

This year the Bills attended to some of their biggest needs along the defensive line and in the secondary by drafting three players at each position group.

Bills general manager Brandon Beane said he did not make a concerted effort to favor defense with so many selections. But that's how it worked out based on the Bills' value judgements.

"It was truly the board," Beane said. "Until we got to the very end of the draft, it was the highest player on the board. That’s what it was. I would say either how we graded them, how we viewed them, but I thought it was a stronger, more depth on the defensive side of this draft."

The volume approach could create some positional logjams when it comes time to cut the roster down to 53 players. Here's a glance at the notable players the Bills have right now on the front and back end of the defense:

DE Greg Rousseau, DT Ed Oliver, DT DaQuan Jones, DE AJ Epenesa, DE Joey Bosa, DE Michael Hoecht, DT Larry Ogunjobi, DT DeWayne Carter, DE Javon Solomon, DT T.J. Sanders*, DE Landon Jackson*, DT Deone Walker*

CB Christian Benford, DB Taron Johnson, CB Tre’Davious White, S Taylor Rapp, S Damar Hamlin, S Cole Bishop, DB Cam Lewis, CB Ja’Marcus Ingram, CB Dane Jackson, S Darrick Forest, CB Maxwell Hairston*, CB Jordan Hancock*, CB Dorian Strong*

Big Blue

Standing 6-foot-7 and weighing more than 330 pounds, Walker provides needed bulk to Buffalo's defense. None of the currently rostered defensive players weigh more or stand taller.

Along with Hairston's selection in the first round, Walker also gives the Bills two Kentucky Wildcats in this year's class, and three drafted in the past two years, following running back Ray Davis' selection in 2024.

Hairston had an excited reaction when was asked about the prospect of re-teaming with Walker before the start of the second round.

Walker played with a fractured vertebrae in his lower back last season, which limited his effectiveness and lowered his draft stock. Beane said Walker would have been a first-round pick if he entered the draft a year ago, and that the Bills don't expect the injury to linger into his rookie season.

Jumbo additions

When the Bills finally got around to pick offensive players, they favored strength over speed.

Hawes, the second of Buffalo's two picks in the fifth round, is a 253-pound blocking tight end who caught 16 passes in 12 games for Georgia Tech last season. He could assume the role Quinton Morris has held for the Bills.

Lundt, a 6-4, 304-pounder who started 49 games at right tackle for UConn, helped the Huskies offensive line rank ninth nationally in allowing 14 sacks in 13 games last season, and 23rd in the country at 192.7 yards per game. He could be compared to Bills reserve lineman Ryan Van Demark, a former teammate at UConn, and projects as an option to be the sixth blocker when the Bills want to use jumbo sets.

Secondary selections

While the Bills drafted three players listed at cornerback, they each bring different skillsets to the defensive backfield.

fifth-round pick Hancock played inside, outside and free safety for the national champion Buckeyes, and Beane said the Bills project him as a hybrid defender who can cover slot receivers or play safety in nickel and dime alignments.

Sixth-round pick Strong, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound son of a competitive weightlifter who has bulging biceps of his own, is a press coverage corner with more physicality in his game than the swift Hairston.

One more thing

Prather, a 6-foot-3 receiver picked late in the seventh round, wore jersey No. 1 at Maryland after transferring from West Virginia. That number has some lore in the Terps program, having been worn by some of the program's top wideouts — including Stefon Diggs.