Five at Five: 2026 NFL Draft prospects to keep in mind for Buffalo (6.0)

Welcome back, Bills Mafia.

We’re finally under two weeks until the draft is here . . . praise the Lord.

But, we’re not here for church at the current moment. No, we’re here to discuss the other activity that takes up the majority of your time on Sundays in the fall — Buffalo Bills football.

And, since it’s the month of April in the offseason, that can only mean one thing . . . it’s “Five at Five” time yet again here at the Buffalo FAMbase blog.

What collegiate players will be lucky enough to have their name rattled off this evening by yours truly? 

It is an honor after all, don’t you know?

All jokes aside, let’s get right to it with another five-pack of prospects that could pique the interest of your beloved Bills in just a few over a week. Wow, I can’t even say weeks — as in multiple — anymore.

It’s still 12 days away, but we’re really doing it. We’re really getting there, folks.

So, crack a cold one and celebrate by taking a look at today’s daily dose of “Five at Five.”

Jalen Farmer, Offensive Guard, University of Kentucky (6-foot-5, 312 lbs/Age: 21)

If you liked the big boys up front on the defensive side of the ball that we mentioned in yesterday’s edition of “Five at Five” here at the blog, then you’re going to love this hog molly up front at offensive guard — Jalen Farmer — out of the University of Kentucky.

Standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing 312 lbs (as he’s generously listed), Farmer is your classic mauler in the run game, and he also has some chops as a pass protector as well, particularly when he isn’t asked to work too much in open space.

He reminds me a little bit of Buffalo’s current starting right guard, O’Cyrus Torrence, whom the team selected out of the University of Florida just three years ago.

Farmer is also a right guard, which is where he started the last 24 games in the SEC for the Wildcats after transferring from the University of Florida (weird coincidence) following the 2023 season, but there’s no reason to believe that he’s not capable of playing on the left side, too.

He undoubtedly could, which is good news for the Bills.

Are they in need of a guard? I hadn’t heard.

Anyway, despite being so large, the Covington, Georgia, native does a solid job of staying low in and out of his stance, and he packs a solid punch when he gets his hand on the opposition.

However, he needs more refinement in his pass-blocking technique, and he could stand to stay in the film room a bit more as he struggles to pick up on stunts that are developing in front of him. 

Regardless, they don’t always make them like Farmer in terms of size and brute strength, and he actually displayed fairly good athletic ability at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana, in February, which was a bit of a surprise to some considering he showed a propensity of having “slow” feet at times and allowed defenders, particularly blitzing linebackers, to gain the edge on him.

During the league-wide event, Farmer ran an impressive time in the 40-yard dash of 4.93 seconds, had a 10-yard split of 1.79 seconds, and had a broad jump of 9’-0” to go along with a vertical jump of 27”.

It was a solid display of the type of closing speed and explosiveness that Farmer has out of his stance when looking for bodies to destroy while climbing to the second-level of the defense, and it was just another box that the Kentucky offensive lineman checked off this offseason.

He likely won’t hear his name called until early on Day 3, but there’s at least a chance that a team could fall in love with his attributes and select him somewhere on Day 2.

Teams can never have enough offensive lineman, and when you can get a good one out of the SEC, which is arguably the closest thing to NFL competition at the college level, then you should pounce when you can.

Despite the additions of fellow interior linemen Austin Corbett and Lloyd Cushenberry earlier this offseason, along with the re-signing of Alec Anderson, don’t be surprised if the Bills take a stab at grabbing a more long-term solution in the middle rounds of the draft to fill the void left behind by veteran David Edwards at left guard.

It could even come as early as the third round, which might be a sweet spot for Farmer.

Put away your shocked face if this happens, people.

And, don’t be mad — get glad — because having a quality offensive line with tremendous depth is NEVER a bad thing, FAMbase readers.

Don’t ever lose sight of that. 

You wouldn’t want to go back to the days of having terrible protection for your quarterback and clogged lanes for your running backs, would you?

I didn’t think so.

Farmer is a good one, and he’d be awesome in Buffalo. I’m sure Bills Mafia legend and former Kentucky Wildcat — wide receiver Stevie Johnson — would agree.

Also, my memory is a bit foggy, but didn’t Brandon Beane JUST take THREE players out of Kentucky in the past two drafts?

He did?

Oh, really? Hmm . . . he must be a horse-betting man, I guess.

Nonetheless, don’t dismiss this one.

Keyron Crawford, EDGE, Auburn University (6-foot-4, 253 lbs/Age: 22)

Oh, boy.

Another EDGE rusher.

Love the idea or hate it, there’s a pretty good chance that the Bills will take another chance at grabbing a player of the pass-rushing variety at some point in the draft.

That could be in the first round at pick No. 26, or it could be somewhere in the middle rounds.

That’s where a player like Auburn University’s Keyron Crawford figures to come into the picture for teams this draft cycle.

A teammate of fellow EDGE defender Keldric Faulk, who is projected to be a first-rounder by many analysts, Crawford actually outpaced Faulk in terms of production last season.

The Eads, Tennessee, native, who originally started his collegiate career at little-known Arkansas State University in the Sun Belt Conference before taking his talents to the SEC in 2024, finished his senior campaign with the Tigers in 2025 by producing 36 total tackles, nine-and-a-half tackles for loss, five sacks, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and one interception.

For his career between the Red Wolves and the Tigers, Crawford finished with 116 total tackles, 24 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, three forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries, and two pass deflections, as well as the previously mentioned interception.

After having zero sacks and one tackle for loss in his first season with Auburn, the former Arkansas State standout presumably felt more comfortable in his second year with the team after making the jump up in competition to the SEC.

It was a solid showing for the once regional defensive MVP at Briarcrest Christian School, which is actually where he started playing football for the first time as a senior in high school after transferring to Briarcrest following three years of playing basketball as an underclassmen at Raleigh-Egypt High School in Memphis, Tennessee.

With that said, it’s clear to see that the Auburn pass-rusher is raw in terms of his experience on the football field, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

NFL general managers and other front-office members are always intrigued by late-blooming prospects, and Crawford is just the latest iteration of said kind of prospect.

His athletic background on the basketball court is evident on the football field as he’s sudden in his movements and is able to get up the field in a hurry, exploding toward the quarterback with relentlessness. 

At times, he can get a bit “lost in the sauce,” so to speak, while trying to attack the quarterback, and he’ll need to become a more polished rusher who has a plan down in and down out in the NFL.

He’s probably used to setting up defenders on the court, though, so now it’ll be up to defensive line and outside linebacker coaches in the NFL to “school up” the prospect to do the same to opposing offensive tackles.

The sky is seemingly the limit for Crawford, and some team is going to take a chance on him relatively early — not early as in Day 1, but somewhere on Day 2 or in the beginning stages of the fourth round makes the most sense.

If Buffalo doesn’t bolster its pass rush early on in the process during the draft, then Crawford could be a name to watch.

Brandon Beane might very well be enticed. 

Last year’s second-round pick, defensive tackle T.J. Sanders, had a late start to his football career in high school after trying to make it in basketball first, too.

So, who knows? Maybe Beane will fall in love with Crawford’s background, as well.

Remember the name, guys.

Ted Hurst, Wide Receiver, Georgia State University (6-foot-4, 206 lbs/Age: 21)

Savannah, Georgia, native Ted Hurst is a player that has been quite the talk of the town amongst analysts and fans from other league circles this draft cycle.

And, Bills Mafia’s realm amongst the many dimensions of football fandom has been no different.

Simply put, the 6-foot-4, 206-pound wideout is a hot commodity leading up to the draft these days.

But, that wasn’t always the case.

Out of high school, despite being a First-Team All-Region selection his senior year, Hurst was seemingly overlooked by many of the top programs in Division I once he was finished with his time at Sol C. Johnson High School, and as a result he was forced to settle for a Division-II program to start his collegiate career.

That place was Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Georgia, which is where Hurst spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons before landing in Atlanta, Georgia, for the final two years after transferring to Georgia State University.

He was a bit underwhelming at Valdosta despite his physical prowess, collecting just 60 catches for 1,027 yards and 10 touchdowns across 25 games in his two seasons there, but that was likely due to the talent around him more than anything else. 

Once at Georgia State, Hurst nearly exceeded those numbers in his first year with the Panthers, tallying 56 receptions for 961 yards and nine touchdowns in 12 games.

In 2025, he topped each of those numbers outside of his touchdown total, as he recorded career-highs in receptions (71) and receiving yards (1,004), while also adding six touchdowns.

He proved that the jump from the Gulf South Conference of Division II to the Sun Belt Conference of the Division 1 FBS level wasn’t too big.

And, now he’s hoping to make an even greater leap to the NFL.

Scouts and media analysts don’t appear to have any concern about him doing so, however, as his skillset seems very translatable to becoming an impact — or at least quality — player at the next level.

Despite his size, he’s not the best at 50/50 balls and people like NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein believe he could stand to be more physical at the catch point.

However, he still has plenty of redeeming qualities.

The former Blazer and Panther is an athletic freak, as evidenced by his impressive numbers at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine, and he also has plenty of skill on the field . . . he just needs to play up to his size more often.

Regardless, he has speed and agility for days — he ran a 4.42-second time in the 40-yard dash, a 10-yard split in 1.55 seconds, had a 36.5” vertical jump, and a 11’-3” broad jump (similar to Julio Jones in 2011) — and he’s capable of taking one to the house any time he touches the ball, which is strange given his frame and overall size, but it’s a redeeming trait nonetheless.

He’s also a pretty good ball-tracker on deep passes, even if he struggles to win the contested catches some of the time.

If he’s able to get behind the defense in the NFL, though, then that won’t really matter now will it?

Sometimes it’s better to focus on what a player does well instead of trying to harp on all of the things they don’t do so well.

At the end of the day, Hurst has the potential to be a superstar in the league if everything falls into place.

Ultimately, though, the Georgia native might not be available at pick No. 91 in the third round . . . and pick No. 26 would be too rich to pull the trigger on selecting him according to most observers . . . but, if he somehow falls to Buffalo in the third round or with a second-round pick due to a trade back, then Hurst would definitely be in consideration for Brandon Beane.

All aboard the “Wide Receiver Train,” folks. Choo! Choo!

Jaishawn Barham, EDGE/OLB, University of Michigan (6-foot-3, 240 lbs/Age: 22)

Standing at 6-foot-3 and weighing 240 pounds, Barham is a little lighter than you’d like on the edge of a defensive alignment, but he also has the ability to play at off-the-ball linebacker, which is where he spent some of his time in college while at the University of Maryland and the University of Michigan, as well.

Regardless of where he’s lined up, though, Barham is a heat-seeking missile waiting to collide with whatever stands in his path — quarterbacks and halfbacks beware.

He finished his senior campaign last year in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by recording 32 total tackles, four sacks, and a career-high 10 tackles for loss, which was certainly impressive.

The District Heights, Maryland, native can play a little bit out of control at times, but his fiery passion on the field is readily apparent every time that he steps between the lines.

For his career, the electric EDGE defender finished his time between Maryland and Michigan with 193 total tackles, 23 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, seven pass breakups, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and one interception.

It was an impressive career, and one that will likely get him drafted somewhere in the middle rounds on Day 3 or late on Day 2.

He has the versatility and athleticism to be further utilized as a weaponized chess piece at the next level, and the possibility of seeing him in a Bills’ uniform under new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard is enticing.

In fact, I sent Barham to Buffalo in my latest mock draft that dropped on Thursday at the blog — check it out here. 

With that said, he’s far from a perfect or finished product, and there’s a chance that he never really reaches his true potential.

His less-than-ideal frame might prohibit him from being a full-time starter, and instead he may be relegated to being pass-rush specialist only in the league.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s plenty of value in being able to get after the opposing quarterback, even if it is on a limited basis.

However, Barham only had 12 sacks across four seasons in college, so the idea of him becoming a productive “sack-getter” in the NFL is purely based on projection.

But, it’s not hard to see where that projection comes from.

He blew up the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in February by running the 40-yard dash in 4.64 seconds, running a 10-yard split in 1.61 seconds, and also posting a vertical jump of 33” with a broad jump of 10′-3″.

It’s clear — Barham is a quality athlete — and sometimes that translates to the next level.

In the end, though, whether or not he becomes a player that is even close to his full potential will depend on his future fit at his next landing spot.

His NFL trajectory will surely be interesting to watch.

Might we see it unfold before our eyes in a new stadium in Buffalo?

We’ll find out shortly.

Bud Clark, Safety, Texas Christian University (6-foot-1, 188 lbs/Age: 23)

TCU safety Bud Clark is one of the best playmaking defensive backs in the entire 2026 NFL Draft, but he’s also one of the oldest.

Set to turn 24 years old just days after the draft on May 3, Clark spent a whopping six seasons on the campus of Texas Christian University down in Fort Worth, Texas, and no it’s not because he’s trying to become a doctor.

Although, he is quite surgical in diagnosing the opposition before tearing their hearts out by snatching a game-altering interception, which is something he did plenty of as a Horned Frog.

No.

Clark’s extended stay in the Lone Star State was, in part, due to the extra year of eligibility he received that was granted to players after the COVID-19 pandemic, which occurred during his freshman season in 2020, but it was also due to the fact that he was forced to redshirt in 2021 after he suffered an injury that cost him the majority of his season that year.

From that point on, however, Clark stayed on the field and was a consistent performer for TCU as he appeared in 47 games from 2022 to 2025 while registering 41 starts. 

He was a captain in 2024 and 2025, and earned Second-Team All-Big 12 honors in each of those seasons.

For his career, the Alexandria, Louisiana, native racked up 214 tackles, 21 pass deflections, 15 interceptions, three-and-a-half tackles for loss, and one sack, which he picked up in his “Super Senior” campaign last season on top of tallying 56 tackles, seven pass deflections, four interceptions, and one-and-a-half tackles for loss. He also returned one of his interceptions back for a touchdown.

It was a long, but illustrious collegiate career for the former Alexandria High School standout, and one that he hopes to parlay into an equally successful professional stint in the NFL.

Clark has good size for the position at 6-foot-1, 188 pounds, and — although he’s not the most athletic specimen out there — he’s certainly more than sufficient enough in his physical prowess, and he displayed as much at the combine in February when he registered a 4.41-second time in the 40-yard dash, recorded a 10-yard split of 1.56 seconds, jumped a 38” vertical, and also had a 10’-7” broad jump.

It undoubtedly erased any concerns one may have had about Clark’s abilities as an athlete, and they shouldn’t have really had any questions to begin with, especially considering he’s best when patrolling the deep-end of the field from the free safety spot and must be rangy in order to be good — or rather really good — at his job, which he was.

With all of that said, Clark is one of the most tantalizing prospects in this year’s draft class from the safety position despite also being one of the oldest.

Age, for the most part, often tends to lead to further maturity in impending NFL rookies, so it’s likely that Clark’s long layover in Texas has him more prepared to immediately step into a prominent role within the scheme of an NFL defense than maybe some of his counterparts might be.

That could be intriguing to, oh I don’t know, say a team that is in a bit of a state of transition at the safety position currently despite bringing in two new players to the room this offseason?

Does that sound familiar, Bills Mafia?

If it does, then that team might want to snag Clark on draft weekend.

We’ll put in a good word with Brandon.

Writer’s note: Bills Mafia, I truly hope you’re enjoying my work so far this offseason, especially the recent NFL Draft articles. If you do, please consider giving me a follow over on X (formerly Twitter). My handle on that platform is @JGreen_PRsports. I’m really trying to get my work out there, so to anyone who reads and shares — THANK YOU. It is greatly appreciated.