Buffalo traded down one spot, grabbed a seventh-round pick, and still landed their target at 102
The Buffalo Bills opened Day 3 of the 2026 NFL Draft with a trade, a seventh-round pick for a future year, and an offensive lineman who split opinion before the applause even settled. With the 102nd overall pick, the Bills selected Jude Bowry, an offensive tackle out of Boston College who brings size, experience, and a position debate that may follow him into training camp.
Before the fourth round began, general manager Brandon Beane swapped pick No. 101 with the Las Vegas Raiders for No. 102 and a 2027 seventh-round selection. The Raiders used that slot to take cornerback Jermod McCoy out of Tennessee, a player who had slid due to a knee injury. The Bills had already addressed the cornerback position in the third round with Ohio State’s Davison Igbinosun, so letting McCoy go made sense. Buffalo used its spot one pick later to get Bowry, who had apparently slipped further than expected.
Who Jude Bowry is and what he brings
Bowry stands 6 feet 5 and weighs 315 pounds. He was a two-year starter at Boston College with 23 career starts dating to 2022, logging 1,285 snaps at left tackle and 97 at right tackle across his college career. He allowed just two sacks over 31 games and was flagged for only eight penalties, a clean sheet for a player working against Power conference pass rushers over multiple seasons.
The athletic profile is the part that drew Buffalo in. Bowry has the feet to match edge speed, the length to disrupt timing at the line, and enough core strength to generate movement as a drive blocker. The inconsistencies in his game, particularly in hand usage and punch timing against bull rushers, are the reason he was available in the fourth round rather than the second.
The guard conversation that won’t go away
Every snap Bowry took in college came on the outside, but the position he may project to in the NFL is on the interior. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler described him as raw against skilled pass rushers at tackle but noted he is a twitchy athlete with length and core strength worth developing, suggesting a move inside to guard might serve him better long term.
That framing matters in Buffalo’s specific situation. Left guard David Edwards departed in free agency, leaving veteran Austin Corbett and backup Alec Anderson competing for the starting role. Corbett has an injury history that makes depth at that position genuinely valuable rather than cosmetic. Bowry now enters that competition as a developmental option who could push for snaps sooner than a typical Day 3 pick.
A pick built for the future, not the present
Bowry is not a starter in 2026. That was the immediate reaction from draft analysts, and it is a fair one. The Bills came in with a clear defensive depth need, and Buffalo took an offensive lineman who projects as a swing tackle or potential guard convert rather than a plug-and-play contributor.
The counterargument from Beane’s perspective is straightforward. When a player with Bowry’s athletic ceiling slides to the 102nd pick, you take him and figure out where he fits. The Bills addressed the edge rusher need in the second round with Clemson’s T.J. Parker and came back for a cornerback in the third. The fourth round is where teams bet on upside.
Whether Bowry develops into a starter or settles into a utility role, Buffalo got him without giving up the 101st pick outright. For a franchise that has consistently drafted with an eye toward the next two or three seasons, the math on this one may look different in 18 months.