The Buffalo Bills have started the season strong with a 4-0 record, and right now, fans are focusing on their current success rather than the future.
However, since the Bills are one of the top teams in the NFL, they cannot offer long-term contracts to everyone on their roster. This makes the NFL Draft critically crucial for the team’s future.
In an early 2026 Mock Draft from The Draft Network, Jaime Eisner has the Bills taking Ohio State’s linebacker Sonny Styles in the first round.
“With Matt Milano’s contract set to expire, the Buffalo Bills should look to add to the second level of their defense,” Eisner wrote Sunday. “Sonny Styles has been a fast riser this college football campaign. Styles can play at every level of the defense, bringing energy and some pass-rush upside. He’d be a valuable addition to this Buffalo defense.”
Sonny Styles Would Be a Good Fit For The Bills
Styles has played for Ohio State over the past four seasons and was a critical part of its 2024 National Championship team.
Styles has recorded 182 combined tackles and eight sacks in 43 collegiate games. The four-year linebacker is talented on the football field, but also shows a significant amount of leadership.
Ohio State awards a No. 0 jersey, known as the Block O jersey, to the player who demonstrates the best leadership on the team. This season, the team honored Styles with it.
Styles is great against the run and even awesome in coverage. Andrew Harbaugh from Vikings Wire wrote a scouting report on Styles this summer, discussing the elite traits he possesses.
“Sonny Styles is a linebacker for the National Championship Buckeyes who does a tremendous job of covering ground and is underrated in coverage,” Harbaugh wrote in June. “I really appreciated his ability to close on runners outside the numbers and the run defense he gave the Buckeyes in the playoffs. He also does a tremendous job of tracking the ball by watching the quarterback’s eyes, so it allows him to stay with them and potentially even be in play to get his hands on it in the air, or be in play to lay hands on the receiver. Lots of room for improvement, but I like his heat-seaking ability and the playmaking it serves.”
It’s a long way to go, and a lot can happen before the NFL Draft in April, but Styles would fit excellently with the Bills’ defense.
Matt Milano Could be Playing His Last Season in Buffalo
Veteran linebacker Matt Milano is in the final year of his contract with Buffalo, and there’s a good chance the team won’t bring him back.
The Bills’ signing of running back James Cook to a four-year, $48 million contract extension this offseason means Buffalo has less money to spend on other players.
With linebacker being a position that many teams don’t give big contracts to, Milano could be looking for a new home next season, which means the Bills could be in the market for a linebacker early in the NFL Draft.
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