UPDATE: For coverage of rounds 3-4, you can find coverage on our Bills page.

The 2024 NFL Draft kicked off at Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza in downtown Detroit on Thursday, but the Buffalo Bills never made a pick in the first round.

The Bills traded their first-round pick to the Kansas City Chiefs and then moved out of the first round with a second trade with the Carolina Panthers. That left them with the first pick of the second round Friday night when the draft resumes a little after 7 p.m.

This is obviously a big weekend for the Bills who, because of a top-heavy salary cap situation led by Josh Allen's massive contract, need to add younger, cost-controlled players who can make contributions in 2024. Who will become the Bills' first pick? Will it be a receiver or possibly another position. We should find out soon.

You can find live coverage all through the NFL Draft here.

More: What time does the 2024 NFL Draft start today? How to watch, live stream every round

Bills take DT Dewayne Carter in third round

The Bills are just going right down the list of their biggest needs and are picking them off one-by-one.

In the third round, with the 95th pick which they acquired from the Chiefs in the Thursday night trade, the Bills selected Duke defensive tackle Dewayne Carter.

The 6-foot-2, 304-pounder will instantly get the chance to become a rotational depth player along with free agent veteran signings Austin Johnson and Deshawn Williams.

UPDATE: For coverage of rounds 3-4, you can find coverage on our Bills page.

Bills pick Duke DT DeWayne Carter: NFL draft profile, college stats, highlights

Draft grades: Bills get 'explosive' 300-pounder who Sean McDermott will love

Safety Cole Bishop is Bills' second pick at No. 60 overall

Once again, Brandon Beane stayed true to the needs of the roster as he selected Utah safety Cole Bishop with his second pick in the second round Friday night.

Bishop is a 6-foot-2, 207-pounder who once was teammates with Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid.

Bishop got a very nice start with the Utes, amassing 54 tackles, nine tackles for loss, and three sacks to go with five pass breakups as a true freshman in 2021. Bishop was named Pac-12 All-Conference Honorable Mention in both 2021 and 2022, but 2023 was when Bishop's coverage abilities really came around.

After allowing opponent passer ratings of 107.4 and 104.2 in his first two seasons, Bishop dropped that down to 67.8 in 2023, allowing 14 catches on 26 targets for 170 yards, 58 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, two interceptions, and one pass breakup. He also had three sacks, 12 total pressures, 47 solo tackles, 22 stops, and nine missed tackles.

Bills pick Utah safety Cole Bishop: NFL draft profile, college stats, highlights

Draft grades: Buffalo Bills select 'intimidating safety' and experts love his athleticism

Florida State’s Keon Coleman is Bills pick at No. 33 overall

The Bills did indeed address the wide receiver position as they selected the 6-foot-3, 213-pounder from Florida State.

Coleman began his college career at Michigan State and transferred to Florida State for the 2023 season.

He caught 50 passes for 658 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Coleman was a player some analysts had linked to the Bills. The 6-foot-3, 213-pounder gives the Bills excellent size on the outside and while he’s not a burner with a 4.61 in the 40-yard dash at the combine, he’s got plenty of speed to separate and make plays down the field.

“Coleman has kind of some freaky ball skills,” NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah said on one of his pre-draft conference calls. “He can really contort himself and adjust down the field. Kind of a physical guy.”

Asked how he thinks he can help the Bills the most, Coleman said, “Being able to play big and play smart. Just adding some versatility. And then how hard of a worker I am. I can catch the ball and things of that nature, and just be able to make plays all over the field. I think I can just bring (Josh Allen) another reliable target on top guys they already have there.”

Bills pick Florida State's Keon Coleman: NFL draft profile, college stats, highlights

Draft grades: Buffalo Bills pick former top 10 prospect who 'fits them like a glove'

Will the Bills actually pick a player?

We’ll find out right away Friday night because they own the first pick of the second round thanks to their late night trade on Thursday with the Carolina Panthers.

However, do not put it past Brandon Beane to make another trade down if the right offer comes, provided that offer only drops the Bills a few spots because going any lower than 40 probably would not be prudent.

Thursday night, he said that teams were already calling up the first pick in the second round. He admitted he had more players in this draft graded as second-round prospects than first-rounders, so you would assume he has a sizeable pool to choose from at both No. 33 and No. 60.

Beane will probably make a pick at 33, but he could look to move up from 60.

“We’ll see how the board is falling,” he said. “It’s hard for me to predict right now how many of our guys that we have in the second. But yeah, if we have guys that have second-round grades and we want to go back up there and get him, we will do our best to do that. It’s too early to tell. I think what today did was give us some ammo to move around.”

What did the experts think of the Bills trading out of the first round?

Buffalo traded pick Nos. 28, 133 and 248 to arch rival Kansas City in exchange for Nos. 32, 95 and 221. Then the Bills flipped Nos. 32 and 200 for Nos. 33 and 141 in a trade with the Carolina Panthers.

Draft analysts were perplexed and Bills fans were frustrated.

"This is a very, very confusing move by the Bills," ESPN's draft broadcast reacted after Buffalo's trade with Kansas City, which has ended the Bills season in three of the past four years.

Draft grades: Bills trades are 'head scratcher' and experts rip deal with rival Chiefs

What channel is the NFL draft on tonight?

The NFL Draft will air on NFL Network, NFL+, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes the next two days.

What time does the draft start tonight?

Barring yet another trade, the Bills will make their first pick of the draft Friday when the second and third rounds get underway at 7 p.m.

The Bills also have a second pick during the second round (No. 60) and have one in the third round (No. 95).

Rounds 4-6 will take place Saturday.

Who should the Bills draft in the second round of the NFL Draft?

Two players who several draft analysts graded as late first-round or early second-round picks are Georgia’s Ladd McConkey and Texas’ Adonai Mitchell. Other players considered second-round values are Oregon’s Troy Franklin, Florida State’s Keon Coleman, Western Kentucky’s Malachi Corley, and Michigan’s Roman Wilson.

You can read more about Sal Maiorana's thoughts here.

Bills trade out of the first round of 2024 NFL Draft

After making two trades, the Buffalo Bills will be scheduled to make their first pick Friday when they have the first selection of the second round.

More: When do the Bills draft today? List of Day 2 picks

Buffalo Bills trade pick to Carolina Panthers in 2024 NFL Draft

After swapping places with the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the NFL Draft, the Buffalo Bills made yet another pick with the Carolina Panthers. They will now have pick No. 33.

Buffalo was originally scheduled to make the 28th pick, but made the deal with Kansas City which also included the Bills sending pick 133 in the fourth round and pick 248 in the seventh round in exchange for No. 32, pick 95 in the third round, and pick 221 in the seventh round.

The deal gave the Panthers No. 32 and pick No. 200 in the sixth round, and the Bills received pick 33 which is the first one in the second round, and pick No. 141 in the fifth round.

These trades certainly give the Bills some extra ammo for the rest of the weekend, and the biggest aspect of all this is that they get a third-round pick which they thought they were going to receive as a comp pick for Tremaine Edmunds but somehow were squeezed out of the equation as that became a fourth-rounder.

Bills trade down in first round, send pick to Kansas City Chiefs

One can only imagine how impatient Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane was getting as he sat in the war room at One Bills Drive watching the first round of the NFL Draft play out Thursday night.

This is what happens when you are a perennial playoff team; barring a trade up, which Beane almost certainly explored, you have to wait a long time to make your first pick and for Beane and the Bills, it was all the way down at No. 28.

And then when the moment arrived nearly three hours after the show began, Beane decided he could wait a little longer.

The Bills traded spots with the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round who had the 32nd and final pick of the round. Buffalo also sent pick 133 in the fourth round, and pick 247 in the seventh round and will also receive pick 95 in the third round, and pick 221 in the seventh round.

This gives the Bills the third-round pick they thought they were going to receive as a comp pick for Tremaine Edmunds.

The Chiefs selected Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy with the pick.

Brian Thomas won’t be joining the Bills

The wide receiver that so many analysts believed was ticketed for Buffalo went at No. 23 to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Thomas was the consensus fourth-rated receiver prospect, and his general range was pegged somewhere in the mid-teens to early 20s, and sure enough, he was the fourth receiver picked, right in that window.

At LSU, Thomas emerged in 2023 and formed a dynamic duo with Nabers. The 6-foot-2, 207-pound native of Louisiana was heavily recruited by SEC powers LSU, Alabama, Georgia, and Texas A&M, but in the end, he decided to stay in his home state.

In his first two seasons with the Tigers he caught 59 passes, but then he broke out in 2023 with the help of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels as he caught 68 passes for 1,177 yards and 17 touchdowns.

At the NFL scouting combine, Thomas ran a tremendous 4.33 in the 40-yard dash and also had a big-time 38.5-inch vertical leap so when you talk about high pointing a ball, he can get really high.

During his combine media session, Thomas was asked several questions about his interactions in Indianapolis with the Bills, and he admitted their interest seemed genuine. “I would say most of the time was spent on personality, not really the whiteboard,” Thomas said. “Just going going over plays, going over what we did at LSU, naming formations and stuff like that.”

Alas, he’ll be catching passes from Trevor Lawrence instead of Josh Allen.

Bills wide receiver options wide open

Ever since the top three receivers were taken within the first nine picks, we’ve been waiting for the second run at the position to begin. Twenty-one picks in, it still hasn’t happened.

After 14 straight offensive players were taken, five of the next seven have been on defense, and the only offensive players were a pair of tackles.

So the Bills still have at a chance at wide receivers Brian Thomas, Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Ladd McConkey and Xavier Legette.

Apparently, defense is optional in the NFL

We are now 14 picks into the first round, and not a single defensive player has been taken. The Raiders just selected tight end Brock Bowers out of Georgia and the Saints grabbed Oregon State tackle Taliese Fuaga to keep the streak alive.

So far, six quarterbacks have been taken, three receivers, and four tackles. The previous longest period of time before a defensive player was picked was seven in the 2021 draft, so we have now doubled that mark.

As for the quarterbacks, the Falcons stunned everyone by grabbing Washington’s Michael Penix, and the Broncos also made a surprise pick with Bo Nix of Oregon. I’d have to imagine neither fan base is thrilled because both of those seem like pretty sizable reaches. We’ll see.

The Jets took full advantage of the QB-hungry teams. They had the 10th pick, the Vikings were 11 and the Broncos 12. They listened to offers from both teams who clearly wanted to pick Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy, and they made the deal with the Vikings. By going down just one spot, the Jets also picked up picks in the fourth and fifth round.

Receivers coming off the board as expected

The top three receivers in this draft class were taken within the first nine picks of the first round, so now the intrigue begins for the Bills who have continually been linked to the player who is widely considered the fourth-best receiver prospect, Brian Thomas.

Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. went No. 4 overall to the Cardinals, Malik Nabers of LSU went No. 6 to the Giants, and Washington’s Rome Odunze went No. 9 to the Bears.

If there was a chance that Brandon Beane was going to take a big swing to get one of those three, it was always thought that it would be for Odunze because he figured to be the last of that group taken, and he was.

And Chicago’s pick was a popular spot because the Bears started this draft with only four picks and it seemed like they would entertain trading No. 9 to stockpile a few more. But if Beane made a call to Canandaigua native and Bears GM Ryan Poles, he was rebuffed.

So now all eyes turn to Thomas. There were a few mock drafts that had Thomas falling all the way to the Bills at No. 28, meaning they wouldn’t have to trade up. But No. 28 is a long way away and if Thomas is truly the player the Bills covet, you would have to expect he won’t want to risk waiting that long.

Remember what he said at his pre-draft news conference last week when he was asked about trading up, something he did last year to make sure he secured tight end Dalton Kincaid. “If there is a guy I like and I’m confident,” he said, “I want to go to bed Thursday night that I got him. If that happens again, I could do it. I can’t really tell you if we go up, go back or draft at 28. I have no idea how it’s going to fall.”

The QB parade has begun

We all know the NFL is a quarterback league and the start of the first round was a clear indication of that.

As expected, the Bears took Caleb Williams of USC No. 1 overall, and then the intrigue surrounding where the others would fall began. The Commanders went with Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels of LSU, and the Patriots - who have been in a quarterback abyss mode since Tom Brady left - took North Carolina’s Drake Maye.

Obviously, Maye will be the player of utmost interest to the Bills and their fans as he tries to do what 2021 first-round pick Mac Jones never did - give the Patriots competent play at the game’s most important position.

Now, we wait to see if the run continues as J.J. McCarthy of national champion Michigan is the next highest rated QB. Or will the run on receivers begin?

If not receiver, then what?

The wide consensus is that the Bills are going to find a way to grab a wide receiver in the first round Thursday night, and there are multiple scenarios in play.

Brandon Beane could take a huge chunk of draft capital - both this year and next - and take a huge jump from No. 28 into a spot into the top 10 to get someone like Washington’s Rome Odunze. Or they could cut a lesser swath into the asset bucket and perhaps get into the mid-teens if LSU’s Brian Thomas is there.

Maybe they just stay put and take the remaining receiver who they have their best grade on, or there’s even a chance that if they don’t have a first-round grade on anyone when their pick comes up, trade back into the second round and acquire an extra pick or two.

However, what if none of those scenarios play out to their satisfaction? Would the Bills move off receiver and fill a need elsewhere? That’s a distinct possibility, and defensive line might be where they go, particularly tackle.

Ed Oliver and DaQuan Jones are locked in as starters, but the rotational depth includes two players on one-year deals, Austin Johnson and Deshawn Williams. And the 32-year-old Jones is on a contract that can be moved on from after 2024, so there is a need to get younger at the position.

One player who could be available is Jer’Zhan Newton of Illinois who is projected to go right around the end of the first round or early in the second. The 304-pounder was known more for his pass rush ability than his play against the run. He made 18 sacks and 28.5 tackles for loss in four college seasons, and in 2022 and 2023 combined he had 103 QB pressures which were the most of any FBS interior linemen.

Should the Bills trade up in the first round?

Will the Bills try to trade up and snag a receiver they could use after the Stefon Diggs trade? Or could they consider trading down to gather even more assets?

"We'll do both ways," Beane said. "I think that's the best way to prepare for every scenario. We'll go through with the scouts the various scenarios that could happen and just play the board."

See what else Beane said before the draft here.

What time does the NFL Draft start?

∎ Round 1: Thursday, April 25, 8 p.m. ET

∎ Rounds 2-3: Friday, April 26, 7 p.m. ET

∎ Rounds 4-7: Saturday, April 27, noon ET

∎ Location: Campus Martius Park and Hart Plaza, Detroit, Michigan

Buffalo Bills draft history

The NFL Draft is, and always has been, the most important tool that teams have at their disposal when it comes to building their rosters.

Each year, the teams that do it well - and I would consider the Buffalo Bills as one of those teams since the start of the Sean McDermott/Brandon Beane era began in 2017 - add young, talented, and relatively inexpensive pieces who go on to play critical roles.

Here is a look back at the great draft picks, the finds and the busts.

What channel is the NFL Draft on?

The NFL Draft will air on NFL Network, NFL+, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes all three days. If you have an over-the-air antenna that picks up ABC, you can watch the draft without a cable or live streaming subscription.

How to watch, stream the 2024 NFL Draft:

∎ Cable: NFL Network, NFL+, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes

∎ Streaming: NFL+, ESPN+, Hulu+, FuboTV

What picks do Buffalo Bills have in 2024 NFL Draft?

The Bills’ 10 selections are at No. 28 (Round 1), No. 60 (Round 3), No. 128 (Round 4), No. 133 (Round 4), No. 144 (Round 5), No. 160 (Round 5), No. 163 (Round 5), No. 200 (Round 6), No. 204 (Round 6) and No. 248 (Round 7).

2024 NFL Draft order Rounds 1 and 2

NFL Draft Round 1 order

1. Chicago Bears (from CAR)

2. Washington Commanders

3. New England Patriots

4. Arizona Cardinals

5. Los Angeles Chargers

6. New York Giants

7. Tennessee Titans

8. Atlanta Falcons

9. Chicago Bears

10. New York Jets

11. Minnesota Vikings

12. Denver Broncos

13. Las Vegas Raiders

14. New Orleans Saints

15. Indianapolis Colts

16. Seattle Seahawks

17. Jacksonville Jaguars

18. Cincinnati Bengals

19. Los Angeles Rams

20. Pittsburgh Steelers

21. Miami Dolphins

22. Philadelphia Eagles

23. Minnesota Vikings (from CLE through HOU)

24. Dallas Cowboys

25. Green Bay Packers

26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

27. Arizona Cardinals (from HOU)

28. Buffalo Bills

29. Detroit Lions

30. Baltimore Ravens

31. San Francisco 49ers

32. Kansas City Chiefs

NFL Draft Round 2 order

33. Carolina Panthers

34. New England Patriots

35. Arizona Cardinals

36. Washington Commanders

37. Los Angeles Chargers

38. Tennessee Titans

39. Carolina Panthers (from NYG)

40. Washington Commanders (from CHI)

41. Green Bay Packers (from NYJ)

42. Houston Texans (from MIN)

43. Atlanta Falcons

44. Las Vegas Raiders

45. New Orleans Saints (from DEN)

46. Indianapolis Colts

47. New York Giants (from SEA)

48. Jacksonville Jaguars

49. Cincinnati Bengals

50. Philadelphia Eagles (from NO)

51. Pittsburgh Steelers

52. Los Angeles Rams

53. Philadelphia Eagles

54. Cleveland Browns

55. Miami Dolphins

56. Dallas Cowboys

57. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

58. Green Bay Packers

59. Houston Texans

60. Buffalo Bills

61. Detroit Lions

62. Baltimore Ravens

63. San Francisco 49ers

64. Kansas City Chiefs

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: NFL Draft 2024: Buffalo Bills picks, trades, live updates