List of Buffalo Bills first-round draft picks

The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the East Division of the American Football Conference. Founded in 1959 by Ralph Wilson, they were a charter member of the American Football League (AFL) and joined the NFL in 1970 following the AFL–NFL merger. The Bills' name is derived from an All-America Football Conference franchise from Buffalo that was in turn named after western frontiersman Buffalo Bill. Since 1973 they have played their home games at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

The NFL draft, officially known as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting", is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings; the teams with the worst win–loss records receive the earliest picks. Teams that qualified for the NFL playoffs select after non-qualifiers, and their order depends on how far they advanced, using their regular season record as a tie-breaker. The final two selections in the first round are reserved for the Super Bowl runner-up and champion. Draft picks are tradable and players or other picks can be acquired with them.

Before the merger agreements in 1966, the AFL directly competed with the NFL and held a separate draft. This led to a bidding war over top prospects between the two leagues, along with the subsequent drafting of the same player in each draft. As part of the merger agreement on June 8, 1966, the two leagues began holding a multiple round "common draft". Once the AFL officially merged with the NFL in 1970, the "common draft" simply became the NFL draft. The first AFL draft was held prior to the start of the 1960 season. The first round of the 1960 AFL draft was territorial selections. Each team received a "territorial pick" which allowed them to select a single player within a pre-agreed upon designated region (the team's "territory"). Teams then agreed on the top eight players at each position, who were subsequently assigned to teams by random draw, with each of the eight teams receiving one of those players. This process was repeated until all 53 roster spots were filled. Beginning in the 1961 draft, the AFL, using the same system as the NFL, began to assign picks based on the previous season's standings.

Since the team's first draft, the Bills have selected 68 players in the first round. The team's first-round pick in the inaugural AFL draft was Richie Lucas, a quarterback out of Penn State; he was the team's territorial selection. The Bills have held the first overall pick five times, four times in the NFL draft and once in the AFL draft. They selected Ken Rice in 1961, O. J. Simpson in 1969, Walt Patulski in 1972, Tom Cousineau in 1979, and Bruce Smith in 1985. In the most recent draft, held in 2025, the Bills selected Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston.

The Bills did not draft a player in the first round on seven occasions. Five of the team's first-round picks—Joe DeLamielleure, Carl Eller, Jim Kelly, O. J. Simpson, and Bruce Smith—have been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; one of these, Carl Eller, chose not to play for the Bills and joined the NFL instead. The Bills used an additional two first-round picks in the 1960s to select players—Ernie Davis and Mike Dennis—who also chose to sign with the NFL instead.

Player selections

Symbol	Meaning	*
Inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame
Selected number one overall
Selected number one overall and inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

Season	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes	1960	1961	1962	1963	1964	1965	1966	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Territorial		QB	Penn State	First round was territorial selections
1	*	T	Auburn
4		HB	Syracuse	Signed for the NFL's Cleveland Browns instead
4		C	Michigan State
5		DE	Minnesota	Signed for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings instead
8		T	Ohio State
8		RB	Ole Miss	Signed for the NFL's Los Angeles Rams instead
22		S	Arizona State
9		WR	San Diego State
1		RB	USC
5		DT	USC
4		WR	Arizona State
1	*	DE	Notre Dame
7		TE	Michigan
26		G	Michigan State	Pick received from Miami Dolphins
18		TE	Oklahoma State
19		LB	Nebraska
18		DB	Oregon
12		DT	Oklahoma State	Pick received from Detroit Lions. Original pick traded to Cincinnati Bengals.
5		RB	Oklahoma State
1	*	LB	Ohio State	Pick received from San Francisco 49ers
5		WR	Clemson
16		C	N.C. State	Moved down draft order in trade with Seattle Seahawks
28		RB	Penn State	Moved down draft order in trade with Los Angeles Raiders
19		WR	Clemson	Moved up draft order in trade with Denver Broncos
12		TE	Notre Dame
14		QB	Miami (FL)	Picked received from Cleveland Browns. Signed for the USFL's Houston Gamblers instead.
26		RB	Notre Dame	Moved down draft order in trade with Miami Dolphins
1		DE	Virginia Tech
14		DB	Memphis State	Pick received from Green Bay Packers
16		RB	Iowa	Pick received from Cleveland Browns
20		T	Vanderbilt	Moved up draft order in trade with San Francisco 49ers
8		LB	Penn State	Moved down draft order in trade with Houston Oilers
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Los Angeles Rams
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Los Angeles Rams
16		DB	Fresno State
26		DB	Illinois
27		T	Arizona
28		DB	North Carolina
27		DB	Notre Dame
14		G	Pittsburgh
24		WR	Mississippi State
23		RB	Houston
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Jacksonville Jaguars
23		DB	Ohio State
26		DE	Arizona State
21		DB	Ohio State	Moved down draft order in trade with Tampa Bay Buccaneers
4		T	Texas
23		RB	Miami (FL)	Pick received from Atlanta Falcons. Original pick traded to New England Patriots.
13		WR	Wisconsin
22		QB	Tulane	Moved up draft order in trade with Dallas Cowboys
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Dallas Cowboys
8		S	Ohio State
26		DT	N.C. State	Moved up draft order in trade with Chicago Bears
12		RB	California
11		DB	Troy
11		DE	Penn State
28		C	Louisville
9		RB	Clemson
3		DT	Alabama
10		CB	South Carolina
16		QB	Florida State	Moved down draft order in trade with St. Louis Rams
4		WR	Clemson	Moved up draft order in trade with Cleveland Browns
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Cleveland Browns
19		DE	Clemson
27		CB	LSU	Moved down draft order in trade with Kansas City Chiefs
7		QB	Wyoming	Moved up draft order in trade with Tampa Bay Buccaneers
16		LB	Virginia Tech	Moved up draft order in trade with Baltimore Ravens
9		DT	Houston
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Pick traded to Minnesota Vikings
30		DE	Miami (FL)
23		CB	Florida	Moved up draft order in trade with Baltimore Ravens
25		TE	Utah	Moved up draft order in trade with Jacksonville Jaguars
''{{sortname	No	pick	0	nolink=1}}''	Moved down draft order in trades with Kansas City Chiefs and Carolina Panthers
30		CB	Kentucky