Four Critical Changes That Bills Must Make During Bye Week

At this point in the 2026 season, the Buffalo Bills are one of the most compelling teams in the National Football League.

Currently equipped with the league’s highest-scoring offense—along with the NFC’s Detroit Lions—that’s averaging 32.8 points per game through six weeks behind quarterback Josh Allen, the Bills certainly have the firepower on that side of the ball to make a trip all the way back to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood this upcoming February.

It’ll be up to Allen and Co. to stay the course and quit sounding the “smoke detectors” that have crept up and proved costly against the New England Patriots in Week 4: Buffalo’s only loss of the season so far.

On the opposite side of the operation, things look more bleak than ever before for the defense under first-year NFL coordinator Jim Leonhard, which is a unit that is currently surrendering 28.5 points per game.

Leonhard’s group, which is also allowing 386.8 yards per contest according to FOX Sports—the second most in the league, ironically, behind only Detroit, as well—has given up the second most touchdowns in the league to opposing offenses with a total of 21 trips across the goal line midway through October.

Any way someone tries to slice it, so to speak, the end results have been dicey.

The former University of Wisconsin defensive coordinator was thought to be a solution to Buffalo’s defensive woes over the past nine years under former head coach Sean McDermott, but that couldn’t be further from the truth thus far.

Something has to change, and it needs to happen quickly. 

So, with the bye week upon us, here are four proposed solutions to figuring out those aforementioned miscues on both sides of the ball in order for the Bills to continue making noise later on this season . . . possibly even in February.

1. Start Jalon Kilgore at safety and roll with rookie's mistakes

Although rookie defensive back Jalon Kilgore just made his NFL debut during the team’s victory on Monday Night Football over the Los Angeles Rams to end Week 5, the former University of South Carolina playmaker has shown fairly well in his first two professional outings.

Yes, there have been some ups and downs, but that’s to be expected with a 21-year-old getting his feet wet, especially for one who missed several training camp practices in August due to injury.

And, with that said, Kilgore’s rookie blunders will be much more palatable than fellow safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s continuous poor play and disturbing antics on and off the field. At this point in his career, Gardner-Johnson is all bark and no bite.

Now that he’s suspended for one week, if the Bills aren’t going to flat out release the verbose veteran, then It’s at least time for Buffalo to bench the soon-to-be 29-year-old defender in favor of its rookie fifth-round pick.

Gardner-Johnson was supposed to bring an edge to the defense in Western New York this year, however, the 5-foot-11, 208-pound trash talker has done none of that. As of now, the defense is about as edgy as a butter knife.

Keeping that in mind, Kilgore nearly had an interception of Kirk Cousins against the Las Vegas Raiders in the fourth quarter last week in limited action following Gardner-Johnson’s inexcusable ejection from the game, so there’s reason to believe that he can continue to develop and trend in a positive direction moving forward.

The former Gamecock had 178 total tackles, 21 pass breakups, eight interceptions, and four-and-a-half tackles for loss in three seasons as an undergraduate before being selected by the Bills at pick No. 167 this past April. 

2. Bring veteran LB Shaq Thompson up from practice squad

The cry for help at the second level of Buffalo’s defense this season is nothing new. Yet, nothing has been done about it to this point, and that’s not acceptable.

Old adage says that the definition of insanity is, “repeating the same thing over and over, and expecting different results,” and that’s exactly what the Bills seem to be doing on defense.

Jim Leonhard recently vowed that changes were on the way to his defense, but if any adjustments were made prior to the recent Raiders’ game, then they surely weren’t very apparent in terms of better results.

Yes, fourth-year linebacker Dorian Williams made his first career interception—a crucial game-changing one at that—to help the cause against Las Vegas, but fellow linebacker Terrel Bernard has been practically invisible all season in terms of being a real playmaker like he seemed to be during his first few seasons as a starter in Sean McDermott’s old defense.

Right now, Leonhard’s scheme doesn’t appear to be a fit for Bernard . . . for whatever reason.

So, while maybe it’s not necessarily time to pull the plug on Williams and Bernard as the starting tandem just yet, it wouldn’t hurt for Leonhard to consider tinkering with the lineup a little.

Elevating 12th-year veteran Shaq Thompson, who racked up 69 total tackles, eight tackles for loss, and one interception in six regular season starts and two playoff starts for the Bills last season, from the practice squad for the next three games should be the first order of business.

Unlike Gardner-Johnson this season, Thompson did provide the defense with some juice last season in his limited starting action, so there’s no reason to think he can’t do that once more despite being 32 years old.

Pairing him with rookie linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr could be an intriguing idea moving forward in Leonhard’s 3-4 scheme, at least in certain packages or in some sort of rotation until the kinks are worked out.

3. Bills need to release or trade WR Joshua Palmer, increase Skyler Bell's role

There’s no other way to say it: wide receiver Joshua Palmer has been a bust of a free-agent signing for Bills’ general manager Brandon Beane so far.

Whether it be his battle with an exorbitant amount of injuries in his first year with the team last season, or his terrible struggle with drops and overall impact so far in 2026, Palmer doesn’t deserve to see many offensive snaps—if any—going forward after the bye week.

If and when D.J. Moore is fully healthy, then Buffalo’s top receivers should be Moore, Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, and rookie Skyler Bell, who has now appeared in two regular season games.

Bell hasn’t been allowed to see many snaps, though, because Palmer is still standing in the way for some reason.

At some point, the young fourth-round pick needs more opportunities between the white lines, and continuing to try and make it work with a fragmented free-agent signing from last spring doesn’t make much sense. 

Buffalo should consider calling the Los Angeles Rams, who just announced a lengthy stay on the sideline for fellow receiver Davante Adams due to a hamstring injury on Monday, and see if the NFC West squad has any interest in Palmer’s services.

He did play at SoFi Stadium with the Los Angeles Chargers prior to coming to Western New York, so maybe he’d be happy for the “change” in scenery, as well.

4. Bills must be in market for defensive playmaker at trade deadline

While there are probably 20 more changes that could be made for Buffalo during the bye week, the fourth and final one on this list might be a bit of a stretch . . . but, the Bills should consider it.

Whether it be for a difference-maker in the deep secondary in lieu of the aforementioned Kilgore and Gardner-Johnson, another veteran cornerback to pair with Christian Benford instead of Maxwell Hairston and Davison Igbinosun, or taking another stab at trying to grab a fellow pass-rusher to better pair with outside linebacker Gregory Rousseau, Brandon Beane should be hitting the phones this week—and every week until the November 10 trade deadline—to try and consummate a deal for an outside defensive playmaker.

After all, the “Jimmys and Joes” are the ones that make the difference on the field. So, maybe it’s not all Jim Leonhard’s fault. 

There were rumblings of some subtle disagreements between Beane and Sean McDermott last year over roster construction, and it seems like maybe McDermott was in the right.

Buffalo’s roster on defense isn’t all that great, even if it is considered the youngest unit in the National Football League in 2026.

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