The NFL’s long quiet stretch has ESPN’s Matt Bowen sorting through the best unsigned veterans, and that list gives the Bills a few names worth circling. Five of Bowen’s top available free agents either fit Buffalo’s needs, carry Bills history, or both.
Stefon Diggs sits at No. 2 on Bowen’s ranking, and the idea of a reunion has already been kicked around plenty. The case for it is pretty straightforward: Diggs could still be a sharp underneath target for Josh Allen, a player with a real feel for moving the chains and a role that wouldn’t ask him to be the No. 1 option anymore.
There’s also the matter of the off-field issues, which can’t be brushed aside. Those would have to be cleared up before he’d make sense as a piece in Joe Brady’s offense.
Even with that caveat, the interest is real. Diggs is a moderately intriguing option.
Joey Bosa, ranked third by Bowen, is a much tougher sell. He looked like the player he was supposed to be for the first half of 2025, then wrist and hamstring injuries hit and his pass rush dropped off.
The run defense was a problem too, even when he was still winning as a rusher. Too often, he was out of position and teams went right at him on the ground.
He just turned 31, so the age alone isn’t the issue. The bigger concern is fit.
His most memorable second-half play came when he dropped into coverage and tipped a pass in Buffalo’s comeback win over the Patriots in New England, but that doesn’t mean the Bills should want more of that. With Bradley Chubb and T.J.
Parker now in the mix, Buffalo’s edge group isn’t fixed, but a Bosa reunion still doesn’t look appealing.
Deebo Samuel is another name that keeps pulling Buffalo back into the conversation. The Bills were linked to him during draft season, though that never went anywhere, and the fit always felt a little odd.
Buffalo already has an elite YAC weapon in Khalil Shakir, and the original need at receiver was a true separator. The team believes it found that in D.J.
Moore, while fourth-round pick Skyler Bell brings more twitch and explosiveness to the room. That said, adding another power YAC receiver isn’t out of the question.
Samuel stayed healthy in 2025, catching 72 passes on 99 targets for 727 yards and five touchdowns from Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota, and Josh Johnson. His 1.66 yards per route run was better than 2024, though still below the level he hit in his prime.
Like Diggs, he’s moderately intriguing, and unlike Diggs, there are no off-field concerns attached. He’d also bring the kind of energy that tends to win over fans fast.
Bobby Wagner is a different kind of possibility entirely. He’s 36 now, still strong against the run and as a blitzer, but he doesn’t move with the same fluidity or coverage range he had early in his career.
That matters, though less so in a base three-man front than in a four-man front, because the linebacker is asked to live in a smaller box between the tackles. That could suit Jim Leonhard’s system.
Inside linebacker remains one of the more uncertain spots on Buffalo’s defense, even with Terrel Bernard and Dorian Williams on the roster. Wagner brings a Hall of Fame résumé, a Super Bowl ring, and captaincy experience.
Even if Leonhard doesn’t value the position the same way Sean McDermott did, Wagner would still bring a stabilizing presence to a defense in transition.
Then there’s Jadeveon Clowney, a player the Bills have been connected to in the writer’s mind for a while now. The interest has been there in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Clowney is built like a classic hand-in-the-dirt end for a 4-3 defense, but he has also shown he can thrive in other looks. He started in a three-man front in Houston and posted a career-high 71 regular-season pressures in Baltimore’s 3-4 defense in 2023.
He’s 33, still plays with plenty of juice, and remains a force against the run while converting speed into power. Buffalo’s rush linebacker room is crowded, but if the goal is to raise the floor, Clowney makes a lot of sense.
He’d be a clear upgrade over A.J. Epenesa.
In Other News...
Bills Fans Suddenly Have To Revisit The Stefon Diggs Question
Stefon Diggs is back in the conversation in a way Bills fans probably did not expect when Buffalo moved on from him two years ago. After his release by the New England Patriots, the veteran receiver is looking for a new landing spot, and the timing has naturally reopened an old question in Buffalo: whether a reunion could make sense for a team that has kept winning without him, but could still use another proven pass catcher.
The appeal is obvious because Diggs and Josh Allen once formed one of the leagues most productive quarterback-receiver pairings, and Buffalo knows exactly what kind of impact he can have when the fit is right. The harder part is figuring out whether that connection can be recreated in a different stage of both their careers, with different expectations attached and a very different version of the Bills offense than the one Diggs left behind. [Read more 🡒]
Deone Walker Could Change Everything For The Bills Defense In 2026
Buffalos defense is already headed into a reset of sorts with Jim Leonhard taking over as coordinator and Ed Oliver expected back in the middle, but the bigger internal swing may come from Deone Walker. The 2025 fourth-round pick was thrown right into the fire as a rookie, starting 16 games and holding up well enough to make the Bills think they may have found a long-term piece on the interior.
Walkers next step is about more than just surviving on early downs. The Bills want him to stay on the field longer and become a more disruptive pass rusher, and he has spent the offseason focused on conditioning to make that happen. If that work translates, Walker could give Buffalo a different kind of presence next to Oliver and help change the look of the front in 2026. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Fans Should Keep A Close Eye On Mecole Hardman Jr
Mecole Hardman Jr. quietly carved out a place in Buffalo late last season, first landing on the practice squad in November before working his way onto the active roster and into the final stretch of the year. The Bills got a look at his speed on offense and in the return game, and by January he had rewarded that opportunity with a one-year reserve/futures contract that keeps him in the mix heading into the 2026 offseason.
For Buffalo, the interest now is less about what Hardman did in a brief cameo and more about where he fits next. The wide receiver room still has room for someone to grab a job at the back end of the roster, and Hardmans path figures to be tied to whether he can stick as a receiver, a returner, or both when the Bills sort out the 53-man picture later this summer. [Read more 🡒]