Buffalo Bills’ 3 sleeper prospects to target in 2025 NFL Draft

Here are three Bills sleeper prospects for the team to target in the 2025 NFL Draft.

DT Deone Walker, Kentucky

The Bills need beef up front in the 2025 NFL Draft to help improve their middling (at best) run defense. There is a solid chance that they take big Michigan defensive tackle Kenneth Grant in Round 1, which could solve a lot of their problems up front.

However, defensive tackle is arguably the deepest position in this year’s draft, so that could mean one of two things.

Buffalo could skip DT at No. 30 and address cornerback, safety, edge, or even wide receiver in the first round since most of those positions aren’t as deep as the DT group. It could also mean that the Bills could draft more than one DT to build a young foundation in the defensive trenches for the future.

Either way, one player the team should consider on Day 3 is Kentucky DT Deone Walker.

Walker is still somewhat raw and Sean McDermott and company will have to figure out how exactly to use him most effectively at the next level, but he has something you just cant teach: 6-foot-7, 331 pounds.

The former Wildcat is a mountain of a human being and moves well for a man that size. He can clog up the middle of the line, push the pocket, and even had success at Kentucky playing as a 5-technique run-stuffing defensive end.

His NFL.com scouting report comps him to Jordan Phillips, who has been the Bills’ best run-stopper for the better part of the last three seasons. To get a young Phillips with upside on Day 3 of the draft would be a steal.

WR Dont’e Thornton Jr., Tennessee

The best wide receiver corps are a diverse collection of players where everyone has a different skillset they bring to the party.

In 2025, the Bills have a well-rounded group that includes the strong, physical Keon Coleman, the shifty and sure-handed Khalil Shakir, and the route-running technician Joshua Palmer.

What they don’t have is “hot, nasty, bada** speed,” to steal a phrase from Talladega Nights' Ricky Bobby.

Tennessee wideout Dont’e Thornton brings that pure speed, running a blazing 4.3-second 40-yard dash, one of the fastest of the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine.

That speed shows up on tape, too, as the 6-foot-5, 205-pound wideout can take the top off a defense with a go route, and if a corner is trailing on a slant with no help over the top, Thornton excels at taking it to the house.

In 47 games, Thornton only had 65 catches, but he averaged a stunning 21.9 yards per reception over the course of his career.

With all the WRs on the Bills roster heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, there is still room for a speed guy like Thornton, and his particular specialty could be electric in Western New York with Josh Allen as his trigger man.

EDGE Oluwafemi Oladejo, UCLA

While the Bills should be able to pick up Walker and Thornton on Day 3, UCLA pass rusher Oluwafemi Oladejo would probably have to come to Buffalo via one of the team’s two second-round selections.

That’s because as draft day approaches, the former Bruins linebacker-turned-pass-rusher is picking up more and more buzz around the league as a trendy Day 2 sleeper pick.

Oladejo is 6-foot-3, 259 pounds, and came to Westwood as an off-ball linebacker who spent three years playing that position. However, with a switch to the defensive line in 2024, Oladejo became one of the most interesting developmental prospects in this year’s class.

Last season, at DE, he led the Bruins with 13.5 tackles for a loss and 4.5 sacks.

Since Oladejo can play on the line or off the ball, he could provide McDermot with an intriguing Swiss Army knife who can be implemented in ways that will confuse opposing offenses.

For next season, using Oladejo as a situational sub-package player while he learns his new edge-rushing craft from some pretty good role models like Joey Bosa and Gregory Rousseau could uncover a diamond in the rough moving forward.

If Oladejo continues on his development track, he could have a similar ceiling to former Georgia linebacker-turned-pass-rusher Jalon Walker, but come off the board some 50 picks after Walker does.