Buffalo Bills' Top 25 Players of 2026: Safety Cole Bishop

As the team enjoys its summer break, Bills On SI will unveil its Top 25 Player Rankings (based upon expected impact) for the 2026 season. The ranking methodology is based on positional value, past performance and expectations for any player. Cole Bishop's 2025 breakout lands him at No. 9.

The Buffalo Bills' pass defense allowed the fewest yards per game in the NFL in 2025 at 156.9, and a big reason for that was a breakout star at safety.

Cole Bishop never got going in 2024 due to a shoulder injury in training camp that hindered his development, but he proved that was a fluke with a Pro Bowl-worthy second season, becoming a building block for new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard to build upon.

Bishop enters 2026 with a group of relatively unproven young players and one-year signees C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Geno Stone at safety. He'll likely be trusted to be the leader of that group when the season rolls around.

Buffalo's defense has undergone a lot of personnel transitions under Leonhard, but Bishop, along with cornerback Christian Benford, is a player whose role will be well-known going into 2026.

Cole Bishop's 2025 season

Remember when Cole Bishop called game?#Bills | #GoBills | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/YBs75wQTgQ
— Built in Buffalo (@BuiltInBuffalo_) May 30, 2026

Bishop led the Bills with 85 tackles and 3 interceptions, placed second with 7 passes defended and added 4 tackles for loss and 2 sacks. He more than doubled his tackle total of 40 and recorded his first career picks after zero as a rookie.

The Boston native allowed a 65.6 passer rating when targeted in 2025, a mark good for 17th in the NFL and fifth among safeties. He spent most of his spans at free safety making plays on the football.

Bishop's biggest improvement can be seen in his evaluation by Pro Football Focus, where he improved his 52.0 overall grade as a rookie to 70.7 in 2025, a mark good for 23rd among 98 qualified safeties.

As a rookie, Bishop missed 11.1% of his tackles, which may have been a byproduct of not being able to adjust to NFL game speed as a rookie at full strength. However, he improved on that massively in 2025, cutting that rate down to 6.6%, although he missed six tackles that season compared to five in 2024.

Young leader on the back end

Sep 14, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Bills safety Cole Bishop (24) after the game against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

With the departures of 2017 Bills draftees Tre'Davious White and Matt Milano, Bishop's breakout may be a sign that he is ready for a leadership role, and Leonhard is confident in his abilities.

"I was a very big fan of Cole coming out of college," the Bills' defensive coordinator said. “The versatility that he has, he’s kind of a jack of all trades, right? He’s physical, he can play out in space, he can cover.”

The 23-year-old safety will be tasked with helping the cornerback room gel together as well, considering all of the main players in the room, except for Benford and Dee Alford, are either in their second season or earlier.

Bishop underwent an offseason knee procedure, but in June, he said he plans to be ready for training camp, which will be needed given the uncertainty of the majority of the Bills' secondary in 2026.

The rest of the Top 25 so far:

25. RB Ty Johnson, June 16
24. CB Maxwell Hairston, June 17
23. K Tyler Bass, June 18
22. CB Dee Alford, June 19
21. LB Dorian Williams, June 20
20. RB Ray Davis, June 22
19. S C.J. Gardner-Johnson, June 23
18. G Alec Anderson, June 24
17. TE Dawson Knox, June 25
16. DT Deone Walker, June 27
15. TE Dalton Kincaid, June 28
14. G O'Cyrus Torrence, June 29
13. LB Terrel Bernard, July 1
12. C Connor McGovern, June 30
11. LB Greg Rousseau, July 2
10. WR Khalil Shakir, July 3

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