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The Buffalo Bills were 13 seconds away from returning to a second consecutive AFC Championship Game in 2021. Questionable special teams and defensive calls, plus an inability to stay with Tyreek Hill, cost Buffalo that chance. The good news is, with the 2022 NFL Draft approaching, the team has an opportunity to add players to strengthen the team, which they do in this three-round Buffalo Bills mock draft.

The Bills have addressed some areas of need in free agency, signing edge-rusher Von Miller to a missive new deal and adding running back depth with Duke Johnson. Now, the draft offers one more chance for Buffalo to get even stronger next season and finally capture the Super Bowl title that’s eluded the franchise for its entire existence.

Here is a Buffalo Bills mock draft showing how the first three rounds could play out.

Round 1, No. 25 overall: Kaiir Elam, CB, Florida 

There’s a chance that if a wide receiver that the Buffalo Bills brain trust of general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott love falls to No. 25, they scoop him up. That seems unlikely, though, with all the teams that need/want that position. So, in this Buffalo Bills mock draft, they will address their biggest area of need first. That’s why pick No. 25 is Florida Gators cornerback Kaiir Elam.

Elam has a solid pedigree as his father Abram and uncle Matt both played safety in the NFL. He also has a solid NFL body at 6-foot-2, 191-pounds. At that size and with a 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, Elam has the length and athleticism teams covet at the corner position in 2022.

The Bills have a No. 1 CB with an uncertain future after his mid-season knee injury in Tre’Davious White and a solid nickel CB in Taron Johnson. The hope with drafting Elam, whose stock continues to rise through the draft process, is that he can be a Week 1 starter for the already fearsome Bills D.

Round 2, No. 57 overall: Martin “MJ” Emerson, CB, Mississippi State 

In the 2020 NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills needed to get younger, deeper, and more dynamic at the edge-rusher position. As such, Brandon Beane picked DE Gregory Rousseau from Miami in the first round and Carlos “Boogie” Basham Jr. in the second. The point is, don’t be shocked if the Bills double-dip again at corner in the first two rounds.

Mississippi State Bulldog Martin Emerson is the pick in this Buffalo Bills mock draft. Emerson is another big corner at 6-foot-2, 201-pounds. He’s an intelligent player, making several Honor Roll lists in college, per HailState.com. He’s not a shutdown man-to-man corner, but he has the size and strength to develop into one. The Florida native also needs to get better in run support.

Emerson only had one interception in college, but some of that was the function of the Bulldogs’ zone style. He can play Cover 3 and Cover 4 well, though. This will make him a good fit in defensive coordinator Leslie Frasier’s defense. Emerson isn’t the immediate starter Kaiir Elam could be, but he’s talented enough to play this season and could develop into a legit top-tier CB.

Round 3, No. 12 overall: Romeo Doubs, WR, Nevada

With Cole Beasley and Emmanuel Sanders gone from last season’s wide receiving corps, the franchise needs to continue adding young, cheap weapons for Josh Allen. That’s why the third pick in this Buffalo Bills mock draft is Nevada wideout Romeo Doubs. 

Doubs is a Los Angeles, California native and a product of the Snoop Dogg Youth Football League. At Nevada, he caught 225 balls for 3,322 yards and 26 touchdowns. He produced back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons in 2020-21. 

Doubs is a track athlete as well and, even at 6-foot-2, 201-pounds has the speed to take the top off the defense. He also lined up in the slot about 20% of the time in college, per PFF. The speed and versatility will be helpful as new offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey tries to keep the Allen-run offense innovative after the departure of Brian Daboll. 

All stats courtesy of Sports Reference

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Tim Crean

Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined Sportscasting in 2021. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL and soccer landscape, as well as his expertise breaking down sports media, which stems from his many years downloading podcasts before they were even cool and countless hours spent listening to Mike & The Mad Dog and The Dan Patrick Show, among other programs.

As a longtime self-professed sports junkie who even played DII lacrosse at LeMoyne College in Syracuse, New York, Tim loves reading about all the latest sports news every day and considers it a dream to write about sports professionally. He’s a lifelong Buffalo Bills fan from Western New York who mistakenly thought, back in the early ’90s, that his team would be in the Super Bowl every year. He started following European soccer — with a Manchester City focus — in the early 2000s after spending far too much time playing FIFA.

When he’s not enjoying a round of golf or coaching youth soccer and flag football, Tim likes reading the work of Bill Simmons, Tony Kornheiser, Chuck Klosterman, and Tom Wolfe.