Should the Bills be in on these available free agents?

Because there is literally nothing going in the NFL right now — the lone month-long break on the football calendar — ESPN’s Matt Bowen recently published a ranking of the best available free agents.

We know many established veterans opt to sign with teams even a few days into training camp to lighten their offseason load before gearing up for another long, arduous season in the NFL, so this list is relevant for every fan base.

And it’s relevant here, for the Bills, because five members of Bowen’s list either piqued my interest for Buffalo or have Bills ties.

Listed by Bowen as the No. 2 available free agent, about a month ago, we extensively covered the potential Diggs reunion. In that article centered around if the Bills should even want Diggs back, I finished with this:

“Right now, a Bills-Diggs reunion is just a simmering rumor.

Yet given I believe Diggs could serve as a dynamic underneath weapon with a strong rapport with Josh Allen — and provide on-field mentorship to Bell — it’s a rumor I’m definitely going to be closely monitoring.”

Essentially, I believe Diggs could be an outstanding chain-mover with a clearly defined, you’re-not-the-No.1-anymore role with these Bills. The off-field troubles cannot be ignored, and clearing those are a prerequisite to my belief in Diggs as a useful piece in the Joe Brady offense.

I’m moderately intrigued by the Diggs option.

Bowen as Bosa as the third-best available free agent, and frankly, this is an option I’m not really in favor of whatsoever.

Bosa was as advertised the first half of 2025. Then he hurt his wrist and hamstring and was a clear liability as a pass-rusher. Even when he was borderline dominant as a pass rusher — which is most important — Bosa was regularly making enormous mistakes on the edge as a run defender. Teams targeted him on the ground, and the veteran was too regularly caught out of position.

He just turned 31 a few days ago, which isn’t ancient for a defensive end.

While his most impactful play of the second half of the season came on a play he dropped into coverage to tip a pass in Buffalo’s furious comeback win over the Patriots in New England, I don’t love the idea of him with more regular coverage responsibilities in Jim Leonhard’s system than what was asked of him in Sean McDermott’s defense last season.

I’m essentially totally out on a Bosa reunion for the Bills at this stage, although I don’t believe the team’s outside pass-rushing group is now completely fixed or suddenly tremendous due to the adds of Bradley Chubb and T.J. Parker.

Deebo Samuel

There were Samuel-to-Bills rumors during draft season that never materialized of course, and they always felt kind of strange, didn’t they?

The Bills have an elite-level YAC wideout in Khalil Shakir. Was another one necessary? Probably not. Then again, having two elite-level YAC receivers isn’t against the law, and I’m never opposed to clubs strengthening a strength. In this case though, the Bills clear need — at the outset of the Samuel rumors — was a true separator at the wideout position.

Buffalo believes it got that player in D.J. Moore, and fourth-round pick Skyler Bell was one of the twitchiest, most explosive receivers in the 2026 draft class.

Does the presence of Moore and Bell mean the Bills can pivot back to acquiring a power-based YAC wideout? I guess so. Last year, in his Age 29 season, Samuel stayed reasonably healthy and caught 72 passes on 99 targets for 727 yards with five touchdowns from Jayden Daniels, Marcus Mariota, and Josh Johnson. His 1.66 yards-per-route-run figure represented an increase from 2024 but was still much lower than his typical efficiency numbers in the prime of his career.

I’m moderately intrigued by Samuel too (like Diggs), and of course he’d come without off-field concerns. Also similar to Diggs, Samuel is a high-energy gamer who’d likely become a fan favorite due to how hard to plays on every snap.

Wagner is 36 years old. He’s still a baller against the run as a blitzer. In his relative “old age” as an NFL player he’s lost some fluidity and the speed needed to rock in coverage like he did early in his career.

While every off-ball linebacker in today’s NFL has coverage responsibilities, it’s distinctly less of an ask in a base three-man front than in a four-man front. In short, Wagner would be kept in a smaller box — between the tackles — in Leonhard’s system.

And inside linebacker is one of the question-mark positions on Buffalo’s defense despite some established names on the roster like Terrel Bernard and Dorian Williams.

Wagner has had a Hall of Fame career, owns a Super Bowl ring, and has long been a team captain.

We don’t know much Leonhard prioritizes the linebacker position — after Sean McDermott emphasized the spot in his defense — but I’d very much welcome Wagner on this team because of his gravity. A player of his magnitude would undoubtedly help stabilize one of the more uncertain positions on Buffalo’s roster as the Bills undergo a schematic overhaul.

I have been clamoring for the Bills to sign Clowney for a very long time. I sent tweets about the idea for the Bills in 2023, 2024, and 2025.

Now, Clowney is a prototypical hand-in-the-dirt defensive end, ideally suited for a 4-3 base defense.

However, he began his career in a three-man base in Houston and set a career high in regular-season pressures with 71 within the Ravens 3-4 defense in 2023.

Clowney is a fountain of youth type player who’s seemingly been in the NFL for two decades but is only 33 and has yet to lose his youthful exuberance on the field. He’s a high-motor defender who still coverts speed to plenty of power and has always been a destructive run defender.

The Bills rush linebacker room is reasonably crowded now, yet if the Bills want to raise the floor of that group, Clowney should be strongly considered. He’d represent a clear upgrade from A.J. Epenesa.

Which of these free agents interest you the most?

Read the full article here