ORCHARD PARK — There is a belief that not much changed with the post-Sean McDermott Buffalo Bills hierarchy.
Even though McDermott had his hand fully submerged in the roster pot, Brandon Beane was still the general manager and had a big say in draft and roster construction. And while McDermott, as head coach, dictated the way Buffalo played offensively, Joe Brady still had play-calling autonomy.
And let's be honest, because of front office, coaching and player transiency, the NFL is a cookie-cutter league.
But free agency offered signs Beane and Brady were deviating from the McDermott path. And Buffalo's draft plan reinforced that idea, even if Beane downplayed it Saturday.
The nine-player draft class, statistically, is the most athletic group the Bills have assembled since Beane's first draft in 2018. The Bills tallied a combined Relative Athletic Score of 8.91, nearly a 1 ½ points higher than the 7.47 average from 2018-2025. And the 2017 class, which McDermott managed before Beane was hired, had a combined score of 7.42.
"It wasn't like an over-emphasis from our new coaches or we didn't change anything," Beane said. "But you'll love when the football player matches the testing. And so we love good testers, but we always want to make sure they check all the boxes required for their position as a player."
Mathematics fanatic and Detroit Lions fan Kent Lee Platte designed Relative Athletic Score (RAS) in 2017. It compares a player's physical measurements and performance in drills at the NFL scouting combine or pro days and weighs them against every other player at their position dating back to 1983.
Platte groups 10 measurements into four categories. Size, measured through height and weight, speed through the 40-yard dash (along with 10- and 20-yard splits), explosiveness through the vertical and broad jumps, and agility through the 20-yard shuttle and three-cone drill.
Scores are graded on a 0-to-10 scale. A player awarded a 10 is considered elite and a five is average.
There are some flaws to the system, of course. Not every player performs each drill — tight end Dalton Kincaid didn't do any pre-draft testing due to back surgery — especially agility drills, which are frequently bypassed. But there are correlations between RAS scores and on-field success.
Buffalo's previous top score was 8.78 in 2022, which yielded four contract extensions in cornerback Christian Benford , linebacker Terrel Bernard , running back James Cook and wide receiver Khalil Shakir .
And many of the 10-best RAS scores drafted by Beane have been the team's most successful. Right tackle Spencer Brown was the only player to achieve a 10, while defensive tackle Ed Oliver was second with a 9.92.
However from 2017-2021, the Bills never hit eight in a composite RAS score. In fact, their average was 6.79. The Bills have been making an effort to become more athletic in recent years, with the 2024 and 2025 classes both having scores over eight.
But this year's group trumps both. The Bills drafted six players in 2024 and 2025 with elite speed at their position, compared to six this year alone — wide receiver Skyler Bell, defensive tackle Zane Durant , linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr, defensive back Jalon Kilgore, EDGE T.J. Parker and cornerback Toriano Pride Jr.
And after the Bills selected six players with elite explosion in the previous two drafts, they took five this year — Bell, Durant, Elarms-Orr, Kilgore, Parker and offensive tackle Jude Bowry. Bowry also tested with great speed and Pride was considered great in explosion.
Six players received a grade over nine — Bell (9.83), Kilgore (9.68), Bowry (9.48), Parker (9.39), Elarms-Orr (9.33) and Durant (9.28) — overtaking last year's previous best of four.
There are always outliers. Linebacker Edefuan Ulofoshio (9.67) and defensive end Boogie Basham (9.28) tested through the roof, while offensive lineman Nick Broeker (9.28) and wide receiver Justin Shorter (9.23) never played a game for the Bills.
Football instincts and intelligence still matter, but it no longer appears the Bills are placing a higher priority on them. From 2017-2024, the Bills drafted nine cornerbacks who averaged a 4.5-second 40-yard dash, with only three cracking 4.5. But the last four corners taken the past two drafts have averaged 4.39.
"We thought we needed — kind of like last year — more youth," Beane said. "We looked for some speed, some size, just some versatility — just an infusion of some youth on the defensive side of the ball. … We felt like there was more opportunities to compete at either starting roles or key backups on the defensive side of the ball."
