The Buffalo Bills lacked any real defensive stars on the roster in 2025 — a point underlined when they were sent packing by the Denver Broncos in the AFC Divisional Round.
Of the 6 postseason honors the Bills earned in 2025 — 2 NFL All-Pro picks and 4 Pro Bowlers — exactly zero were on the defensive side of the ball.
So, the Bills need stars, and they need them right away.
Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox thinks they may have 1 in the making with safety and 2024 2nd-round pick Cole Bishop.
“Over the past year, however, safety Cole Bishop has (become) Buffalo’s centerpiece star of the future,” Knox wrote on July 5. “A second-round pick out of Utah in 2024, Bishop appeared in 16 games as a rookie but made only four starts. He started all 17 games this past season, though, and performed extremely well. Bishop tallied 85 tackles, two sacks, seven passes defended, and three interceptions while playing 91 percent of the defensive snaps. He also allowed an opposing passer rating of only 65.6 in coverage. He also filled multiple roles on the defense, seeing time at free safety, in the slot, and in the box. If Bishop can build on his impressive sophomore campaign, he’ll cement himself as a mainstay in the secondary and one of the faces of Buffalo’s defense.”
Bishop has plenty of motivation to perform at the highest level in 2026. He’s headed into the 3rd season of his 4-year, $6.5 million rookie contract and could play his way into a lucrative contract extension after the season.
Cole Bishop’s 1st Time as Unquestioned Starter
While Bishop enters 2026 as an unquestioned starter for the 1st time in his career, there are plenty of questions surrounding the Bills and the player himself, including the fact he’s playing for a new head coach, Joe Brady, and a new defensive coordinator, Jim Leonhard.
It’s still a far cry from 2025, when the Bills coaching staff made a point of saying Bishop wasn’t a starter after he missed a preseason game against the Chicago Bears as he nursed an injury.
“Bishop suffered a shoulder injury during training camp that plagued him for much of his rookie season, and last year, Bishop again was hurt, this time with a quad injury that forced him to miss part of the 2025 offseason workout program,” Buffalo Rumblings’ John Boccaccino wrote on July 6. ” … once the regular season began, Bishop demonstrated his value and quickly proved he was the top safety on the roster. He started all 17 regular-season games and both playoff games, logging 99 tackles to go with four interceptions, eight pass breakups, and two sacks.”
Bills Bring in Volatile Safety to Pair With Bishop
The Bills made a boom-or-bust investment to pair alongside Bishop as the other starting safety in 2026 by signing Super Bowl champion C.J. Gardner-Johnson to a 1-year, $3.5 million contract.
Gardner-Johnson, 28, led the NFL in interceptions in 2022 and is on his 7th team in 8 seasons — including 2 separate stints with the Eagles — and his 4th team in the last 15 months.
The Eagles traded Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans shortly after their Super Bowl win in February 2025, and he was cut by the Texans just 3 games into his tenure. He was briefly on the practice squad of the Baltimore Ravens before finishing the season with the Chicago Bears.
“One of the narratives is I’m a cancer in the locker room,” Gardner-Johnson told The Athletic’s Tim Graham. “That just came out when? After Houston? Where was that after the Super Bowl loss? Where was that after the Super Bowl win? When we do our homework and really think about it, where have I been a cancer?”
Like HEAVY’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
The post Bills Have ‘Centerpiece Star’ on Defense With Former 2nd Round Pick appeared first on HEAVY.