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Buffalo Bills draft Cole Bishop: How he fits, pick grade and scouting intel

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Buffalo Bills draft Cole Bishop: How he fits, pick grade and scouting intel

The Buffalo Bills selected former Utah safety Cole Bishop with the No. 60 overall pick in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

The 6-foot-2, 206-pound safety collected 60 tackles, with 6.5 for a loss and three sacks, in 2023 for the Utes en route to second-team All-Pac-12 honors. He also has two interceptions and three pass breakups with a forced fumble and two recoveries. Bishop played in 11 games for the Utes last season, starting 10. He was just as impressive in 2022 when Utah played in the Rose Bowl. Bishop led the team in tackles with 83 that season, while also having six tackles for loss.

Bishop, a Senior Bowl standout, played with current Bills second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid in college.

Buffalo spent their first pick of the night at No. 33 overall on Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman. Now, they find a potential future starter at safety after the departure of Jordan Poyer and possible departure of Micah Hyde.

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“The Beast” breakdown

Bishop ranked No. 70 in Dane Brugler’s Top 300 big board. Here’s what Brugler had to say about him in his annual NFL Draft guide:

“A three-year starter at Utah, Bishop was a multidimensional safety in defensive coordinator Morgan Scalley’s hybrid 4-2-5 scheme. Some safeties play fast, and others play controlled — Bishop does both, because of the way he always rallies to the football, regardless of his origin point (would rotate single high to the box to a rolled-up cornerback to a nickel backer, and several other positions in between).

“Growing up as a New England Patriots fan, Bishop models his game after Rodney Harrison, and it shows in his competitive demeanor and the way he wastes zero time getting to the football. Although he has some limitations in man coverage, he can cover tight ends and shows terrific vision in zone to diagnose route combinations and drive on the football.

“Overall, Bishop needs to put more impact plays on tape by setting traps for the quarterback in coverage, but he plays with top-down explosiveness and the football IQ to make plays at all three levels of the field. He has NFL starter-caliber talent and is ideally suited for a robber role.”

Why he’s a second-round pick

The run of offensive players in Thursday night’s first round pushed much of the defensive back talent into Friday’s second round. Bishop is as talented as any, running the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine in 4.45 seconds. Bishop is a great fit in Buffalo’s scheme as he constantly finds himself around the ball and is able to cover tight ends, which will appeal to head coach Sean McDermott.

Nick Baumgardner grades the pick

A big, speedy safety from Utah who made nearly 200 tackles (including 21 ½ for a loss), Bishop played a lot in the box as a nickel defender as well as back deep at safety for the Utes. A very instinctive player, sometimes too aggressive, Bishop is explosive and still just 21. A versatile back-end defender who could be a starter sooner than later. I would’ve preferred Washington State’s Jaden Hicks – but this is a solid choice in an area of need for Buffalo.

Grade: B-

How he fits

Without Poyer and possibly Hyde for the first time since McDermott and Brandon Beane arrived, the Bills desperately needed an infusion of a high-end safety prospect that could be a long-term starter. Bishop enters the equation with an opportunity to start as early as 2024. Showing explosiveness athleticism, heady instincts and taking some aggressive playmaking chances, Bishop has the versatility the team covets and likely slots in as a baseline free safety early in his career. This is the highest pick the Beane has made on a safety in his Bills tenure.

Rookie impact

The Bills will likely take it slow with Bishop and not push him into the starting lineup before he’s ready, but that should and likely will be the goal at some point in 2024. They’ll have to help him harness some his chance taking so that way quarterbacks don’t use it against him, but that may be his biggest hurdle. Bishop enters a safety room that is entirely unsettled, with Taylor Rapp likely being the only solidified starter. Bishop will battle with free agent signing Mike Edwards and Cam Lewis for the starting role this summer.

Depth-chart impact

It’s likely that Bishop’s primary adversary for the starting job will be Edwards, who has the most starting experience in the safety room outside of Rapp. But Edwards is on a contract that the team can move on from in the summer if Bishop is ahead of schedule, though that would be unlikely unless the Bills added to the position. There is the outside chance that Hyde could return to the Bills if he wants to continue on with his playing career, but that remains an uncertainty at this point.

They also could have picked

A lot of the team’s other needs were picked over by that point in the second round, really setting up for a safety, with it just depending on which one they liked the most. There wasn’t a defensive tackle worth it at that point in the draft. Edge rusher Marshawn Kneeland would have been in consideration but he went off the board at No. 56. The team also could have double-dipped at wide receiver with Troy Franklin, but that would have ignored a need for a fourth receiver. Safety seemed like the right move at this point with how the board played out.

Fast evaluation

The Bills really needed a safety with upside to be their long-term starter at the position, and will likely have to find another in the next year or two. Bishop enters the equation maybe not as an immediate starter, but one that should be in the starting lineup before long as a playmaking safety with a good knack for blitzing. The Bills are two-for-two on their two biggest needs in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Come back for more analysis on …. later.

(Photo: Ric Tapia /Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

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