After an injury-plagued rookie year, the jury is very early in its deliberation on whether Hairston turns out to be the right call.With Joe Brady having replaced Sean McDermott as head coach, and Jim Leonhard hired as the new defensive coordinator, to use a baseball analogy, trying to gauge what the Bills are thinking is like deciphering the strike zone of MLB umpire CB Bucknor’s strike zone. It’s all over the map.With their first-round pick, No. 26 overall, you can make a viable case for edge rusher, nose tackle, linebacker and even safety due to the switch from McDermott’s base four-man line, nickel scheme to Leonhard’s 3-4.

Also, you could easily see the Bills giving Josh Allen another receiving weapon, or making sure he’s protected properly by taking a guard to fill the opening left by free agent David Edwards’ departure.Here are six players - one at each position I listed above - who could be flying to Buffalo Friday to be introduced as the Bills’ first-round pick.1. KC Concepcion, WR, Texas A&MThere is no question that the Rochester native would be a great addition to Buffalo’s offense because he brings such a diverse skill set to the table. He has explosion down the field both as a deep threat but also a player who can turn a short pass into a big gain, something the Bills have long lacked in their receiver room.

Also, he was a dynamic punt returner and that has been a gaping hole for Buffalo since Andre Roberts left town after 2020.The argument against taking a receiver in the first round, though, is plausible. The Bills sent away their second-round pick to acquire DJ Moore from the Bears, and if you want to look at it this way, Moore is sort of their second-round pick in 2026, so why would Buffalo use its first-rounder on a receiver when there are so many areas of need on the defense?2. Cashius Howell, Edge, Texas A&MWhen his arm measurement at the scouting combine was revealed to be 30 ¼ inches, social media blew up.

Considered a sure-fire first-rounder when he arrived in Indianapolis after making 11.5 sacks and being named SEC defensive player of the year in 2025, the thought was that no one would take the risk that high on Howell because historically, short-armed edge rushers have struggled going against big-bodied, long-armed NFL offensive tackles.We’ll see if Howell breaks the trend, and if the Bills take the swing, what they’ll be banking on is that his tremendous speed, burst and bend will enable him to escape the clutches of those linemen trying to get their hands on him.The Bills’ edge/OLB depth chart includes Greg Rousseau, Bradley Chubb and Michael Hoecht, a solid threesome for sure, but all of them lack Howell’s speed. His 10-yard split at the combine was 1.58 seconds, tied for fastest among all edge rushers who tested with Ohio State’s Arvell Reese who might be the No. 2 overall pick by the Jets.3.

Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas TechMany draft analysts don’t see the value in taking an off ball linebacker in the first round, but I really don’t understand the logic, especially in Buffalo’s case. Right now, the Bills have Terrel Bernard and Dorian Williams as their starting inside linebackers. Bernard is undersized and injury prone, Williams is a liability in coverage and heading into the last year of his contract, and both have been inconsistent performers.Rodriguez is arguably the most complete linebacker in this class.

He made plays all over the field for Texas Tech and was so good that he won three national defensive player awards, was Big 12 defensive player of the year, first-team All-America, and finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting. Why is the first round too early for a player like that?He needs to improve in coverage, but as Brady said recently, in today’s NFL you need linebackers who can do a little bit of everything, and that’s Rodriguez’s superpower.4. Kayden McDonald, DT, Ohio StateBuf