Analyst reveals key Bills path taken in NFL Draft originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

It was no secret that the Buffalo Bills had to improve the defense, especially after Sean McDermott was fired.

With Joe Brady taking over the head coaching role, and Jim Leonhard the defensive coordinator role, those were seen as positive changes.

But the roster had to be fixed, especially defensively, and in the draft, the Bills had a clear plan of attack and executed it to perfection.

For CBS Sports' Zachary Pereles, the Bills' defense got more athletic and better in the draft.

“After several early trades down, the Bills made 10 picks. Six of the first eight were on defense, and that includes second-rounders T.J. Parker and Davison Igbinosun,” Pereles wrote. “Both should contribute immediately and help shore up the run defense, especially.

"Fourth-round pick Kaleb Elarms-Orr ran a 4.47 40-yard dash and could bring some juice to the linebacker group, and fourth-round safety/nickel; Jalon Kilgore adds good physicality, size, athleticism and positional versatility; he ran a 4.40 40.”

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Unfortunately for Bills fans, we won't know the answer to that until midway through the season, but there's no denying the defense, at least on paper, looks better.

With some new starters in Bradley Chubb and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, coupled with several backup/rotation players in free agency and the draft, the Bills have filled out Leonhard's defense nicely.

Now, all that's left is for it to come together, and that is the biggest unknown right now. We have no idea what it will look like.

Training camp will give us a good sense of how much improvement the defense can make, but one thing is for certain -- it has to be better than last year.

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