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Bills GM Brandon Beane is getting to work on freeing up cap space and addressing position needs.
Buffalo has a high volume of its roster hitting free agency, and Beane will need to assess the best ways to improve at those positions, whether by resigning their own players, other ones in free agency, or acquiring talent in the draft or by trade.
With that, here are the Bills' position needs for the 2026 offseason:
Linebacker
The Bills' defense is in for some changes, and fixing one of the team's biggest annual problems during the Josh Allen era will be among them. Consistently stopping the run has been a glaring issue, as it eats up time of possession clock for opponents and keeps Allen and the offense off the field. It was Buffalo's biggest weakness in 2025 when they ranked at or around last in the league in rushing defense.
Linebacker is an important position in the new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard's defense, and how the team scouts the position will now be different, as his base set features edge rushers as outside linebackers. Explosiveness, fluidity, and some ability to drop into coverage will be key qualities of those players. At inside linebacker, they have options, including bringing back their own free agents, like Matt Milano.
While the Bills' first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft may get bundled in a trade for an impact veteran at a position of need, they could also use it with combined draft assets to move up to secure an impact linebacker.
Receiver
The Bills need starting talent at the boundary and wide receiver spots that will be where Josh Allen needs them when he needs them for passes, and to make the catches. That means reliable speed, route running, and hands.
The team brought in 31-year-old Brandin Cooks in Week 13, and he became their deep target boundary receiver. he could be back, and the Bills also have capable receivers in Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Joshua Palmer, and Curtis Samuel, who need to be maximized and get more, continued reps to develop in the passing game with Josh Allen and in Brady's offense, as Tyrell Shavers and Gabe Davis were lost to injury.
To that end, Palmer and receiving tight end Dalton Kincaid will hopefully stay healthy so they can play the majority of snaps, as both missed time due to injuries. And Shakir, who head coach Joe Brady noted this week, he wants to get the ball to more, even outside the slot, could see more Tyreek Hill-style usage.
Samuel, widely seen as not having performed up to the expectations of his addition in free agency, much less the three-year contract he signed, may have his chance to have his best showing yet as a Bill under Brady after showing flashes the past two seasons. Despite being identified as a cut-candidate due to his cap hit, it's worth noting that, in addition to the success he had with Brady in Carolina, he also did so with newly added receivers coach Drew Terrell, who worked with him in 2021-2022, helping the pass catcher yield his career-best performance. Beane can restructure his contract to a $1.5M base salary with his $1M roster bonus this season to save $5M this season versus cutting him and savinig $6M with $3.5M in dead cap hit.
In addition to solidifying that rotation, adding a field-stretching WR to help unlock and open up opportunities for the offense and the underneath areas of the field for Shakir may be in order.
Defensive End
Greg Rousseau might move to a different base position in Leonhard's defense, Joey Bosa and A.J. Epenesa are free agents, and it's unknown at the moment if either will return, and Michael Hoecht and Landon Jackson are both working their way back from season-ending injuries that kept them out most of 2025.
Buffalo has used at least one top-100 selection on their front-seven in each of the last eight NFL Drafts, and with the defensive ends group projecting as the strongest deep position class this year, it could mean adding an impact talent if one slides down the board within range of their early round positions.
Offensive Line
What happens here depends, in part, on whether the team is able to resign free agents Conor McGovern and David Edwards. McGovern would figure to be the priority signing as Edwards' market could price him out of Buffalo's plans, and would be easier to replace in the starting rotation than McGovern if necessary, though Beane has said he'd like to have both back. The GM re-upped Alec Anderson for another year; more additions may be in store.
Defensive Back
While there is a need here with multiple safeties and corners hitting free agency, they are in-house options who could figure into the Bills' 2026 plans at a cap-friendly rate, including bringing some of those players back. Beane even mentioned the possibility of moving Taron Johnson from nickel to safety is something the team will look at.
Defensive Line
Beane added a fresh crop of talent to the defense last offseason, and with a new coaching staff and changes to the defense, there will likely be some new additions as the team aims to strengthen the trenches wherever possible.
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: 2026 NFL offseason: Buffalo Bills positional needs