List of Buffalo Bills first-round draft picks

The Buffalo Bills are an American football franchise based in Orchard Park, New York. They are members of the American Football Conference (AFC) East division in the National Football League (NFL).[1]

Every year during April, each NFL franchise seeks to add new players to its roster through a collegiate draft known as "the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", which is more commonly known as the NFL Draft. The NFL Draft, as a whole, gives an advantage to the teams that performed poorly the previous season. The 30 teams that did not make the Super Bowl are ranked in order so the team with the worst record picks first and the team with the best record picks last. The two exceptions to this inverse order are made for teams that appeared in the previous Super Bowl; the Super Bowl champion selects 32nd overall, and the Super Bowl loser selects 31st overall. If the franchise so chooses, they may trade their draft picks for any combination of draft picks, players, and money.[2]

Key

Table key

^	Indicates the player was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
—	The Bills did not draft a player in the first round that year.
Year	Each year links to an article about that particular NFL Draft.
Pick	Indicates the number of the pick within the first round
Position	Indicates the position of the player in the NFL
College	The player's college football team

Player selections

Bruce Smith, drafted by the Bills in 1985, became a Hall of Famer in 2009.

Buffalo Bills first-round draft picks

Year	Pick	Player name	Position	College	Notes
1966	8	Mike Dennis	RB	Ole Miss
1967	22	John Pitts	S	Arizona State
1968	9	Haven Moses	WR	San Diego State
1969	1	O.J. Simpson  ^	RB	USC
1970	5	Al Cowlings	DT
1971	4	J. D. Hill	WR	Arizona State
1972	1	Walt Patulski	DE	Notre Dame
1973	7	Paul Seymour	TE	Michigan
	26	Joe DeLamielleure  ^	G	Michigan State
1974	18	Reuben Gant	TE	Oklahoma State
1975	19	Tom Ruud	LB	Nebraska
1976	18	Mario Clark	DB	Oregon
1977	12	Phil Dokes	DT	Oklahoma State
1978	5	Terry Miller	RB
1979	1	Tom Cousineau	LB	Ohio State
	5	Jerry Butler	WR	Clemson
1980	16	Jim Ritcher	C	North Carolina State
1981	28	Booker Moore	RB	Penn State
1982	19	Perry Tuttle	WR	Clemson
1983	12	Tony Hunter	TE	Notre Dame
	14	Jim Kelly  ^	QB	Miami (FL)
1984	26	Greg Bell	RB	Notre Dame
1985	1	Bruce Smith  ^	DE	Virginia Tech
	14	Derrick Burroughs	DB	Memphis State
1986	16	Ronnie Harmon	RB	Iowa
	20	Will Wolford	OT	Vanderbilt
1987	8	Shane Conlan	LB	Penn State
1988	—	No pick	—	—
1989
1990	16	James Williams	DB	Fresno State
1991	26	Henry Jones		Illinois
1992	27	John Fina	OT	Arizona
1993	28	Thomas Smith	DB	North Carolina
1994	27	Jeff Burris		Notre Dame
1995	14	Ruben Brown	G	Pittsburgh
1996	24	Eric Moulds	WR	Mississippi State
1997	23	Antowain Smith	RB	Houston
1998	—	No pick	—	—
1999	23	Antoine Winfield	DB	Ohio State
2000	26	Erik Flowers	DE	Arizona State
2001	21	Nate Clements	DB	Ohio State
2002	4	Mike Williams	OT	Texas
2003	23	Willis McGahee	RB	Miami (FL)
2004	13	Lee Evans	WR	Wisconsin
	22	J. P. Losman	QB	Tulane
2005	—	No pick	—	—
2006	8	Donte Whitner	S	Ohio State
	26	John McCargo	DT	North Carolina State
2007	12	Marshawn Lynch	RB	California
2008	11	Leodis McKelvin	DB	Troy
2009		Aaron Maybin	DE	Penn State
	28	Eric Wood	C	Louisville
2010	9	C.J. Spiller	RB	Clemson
2011	3	Marcell Dareus	DT	Alabama
2012	10	Stephon Gilmore	CB	South Carolina
2013	16	EJ Manuel	QB	Florida State
2014	4	Sammy Watkins	WR	Clemson
2015	—	No pick	—	—	[3]
2016	19	Shaq Lawson	DE	Clemson
2017	27	Tre'Davious White	CB	LSU
2018	7	Josh Allen	QB	Wyoming
	16	Tremaine Edmunds	LB	Virginia Tech
2019	9	Ed Oliver	DT	Houston
2020	—	No pick	—	—	[4]

References

General

• "Buffalo Bills NFL Draft History". Retrieved 2012-04-28.
• "Buffalo Bills 1st Round Draft History". Retrieved 2012-04-28.

Specific

1. "Buffalo Bills Team Page – NFL.com". NFL. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
2. Alder, James. ""NFL Draft Basics:Determining Order of Selection"". About.com. Retrieved April 23, 2009.
3. Traded to Cleveland Browns in 2014
4. Traded to Minnesota Vikings