4 Winners After Buffalo Bills Leadership's Revealing Appearance During NFL Combine

There was much to discuss following Brandon Beane and Joe Brady’s time at the podium at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Based on what was said by the Buffalo Bills’ leadership duo, there were winners and losers as the team will continue to make adjustments as it moves toward putting a quality product on the field for the 2026 season. Here are four individuals who may have liked what they heard when Beane and Brady spoke earlier this week.

WR Khalil Shakir

Shakir has been the Bills’ top wide receiver each of the past two seasons, but has done much of his work underneath on screen passes. In 2025, Shakir led all NFL players in yards gained on screens with 173, per Next Gen Stats. With that said, Brady provided hope that Shakir’s role may expand this coming season.

Brady highlighted the fact that Shakir is capable of more than the short-game work he has been provided since entering the league, while also hinting at a potential downfield role being introduced for the veteran pass catcher.

“Just finding different ways to utilize the guys where it’s not the same year in and year out,” said Brady. “And I think Khalil can play inside and outside.”

He added, “We have to continue to grow his game because he’s such a huge component to our offense.”

OL Alec Anderson

Another player who could take on an increased role this season is Anderson, whom the Bills re-signed earlier this week. With starting center Connor McGovern and starting left guard David Edwards set to become free agents, Anderson is likely in line to compete for a first-string role this offseason.

Brady expressed his confidence in the versatile offensive lineman on Tuesday.

“When he had the opportunities to go in, he didn’t blink,” said Brady of Anderson’s 2025 season. “And you want guys like Alex Anderson on our football team, right? Like the type of edge he plays with. We talk a lot about Bills blue, like type of players. Well, we also want some Bills red guys, some guys that have an edge, a little bit of personality to them.”

He continued, jokingly, “And as we know, Alec Anderson, sometimes I need him to not talk.”

Anderson’s new contract with the Bills is for one year, $3 million.

HC Joe Brady

Brady himself also came away a winner from Tuesday’s media session, as he and Beane discussed veteran NFL coach John Fox’s addition to the coaching staff as a senior defensive assistant. Fox brings 16 years of head-coaching experience into the fold, which should be mighty valuable for Brady in his first year as the team’s leader.

“It’s been great to have him around,” said Beane. “As you guys will get to know him, he’s a very personable guy, but very smart, a lot of experience.”

Brady also spoke about the benefit of bringing in a coach like Fox, citing his ability to step in and be hands-on as one of the most significant pluses of the hire.

“I didn’t want somebody that was strictly just in an office just waiting for, ‘Hey, when do you need some help?” said Brady. “I wanted a guy that wanted to still coach football.”

Fox appears ready to get rolling as the two-time Super Bowl coach hopes to help guide the Bills to the promised land.

DC Jim Leonhard

Finally, new Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard likely appreciated what Beane had to say regarding the team’s draft preferences, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. Upon being hired, the team’s new DC discussed his plans to fit the personnel he has at his disposal into his system—not the other way around.

On Tuesday, Beane echoed those sentiments.

“After Jim got settled, and before Joe hired him, we talked about how the attractiveness, if he were to hire Jim, he kinda went through his candidates of how they would run their defense,” said Beane. “And one of the attractive pieces that Jim brought was the multiplicity and the different variations and going more to a five-down front and a three-four scheme.”

He added, “But one of the great things, and I think that was relieving to our personnel staff, was when he sat in there with Joe for an hour-fifteen, hour and a half, was—listen guys, we want good football players. We don’t want to force a square peg into a round hole.”

Alignment has been something Beane has preached since Brady was promoted to head coach, and it seems like Leonhard has the same idea. A win for both sides.