Teams pass on veteran to draft rookie running backs
Associated Press
Monday, April 25, 2026

ORCHARD PARK — Adding speed, size and depth were one thing. Trading disgruntled Travis Henry proved more difficult than anticipated for the Buffalo Bills during the NFL draft.

With one year left on his contract, the running back remains a member of a team he has no interest in playing for. Henry is unhappy after losing his starting job to Willis McGahee last October and unwilling to spend another year in Buffalo as a backup.

What happens next is unclear. And the Bills’ chances of getting what they feel to be fair value for Henry, a four-year veteran and two-time 1,300-yard rusher, dwindled further after the teams that expressed an interest in making a deal selected running backs in the first three rounds of the draft.

Those teams include Tampa Bay, which selected Carnell Williams with the No. 5 pick, Arizona (J.J. Arrington, 44th) and Philadelphia (Ryan Moats, 77th).

“It did not pan out the way we had hoped,” Bills coach Mike Mularkey told ESPN Sunday afternoon. “We’re still trying to do something with Travis. ... That’s still in the works.”

Bills president Tom Donahoe was scheduled to speak to reporters later in the day.

Henry and his agent, Hadley Engelhard, haven’t returned numerous messages left with them by The Associated Press.

On the plus side, Buffalo continued bolstering its roster with four selections on Sunday.

The most significant addition came when the team took hefty Illinois center Raymond Preston with their fourth-round pick, 122nd overall. Listed at 6-foot-5 and 311 pounds, Preston allowed only one sack in three years as a college starter.

He was the fourth center selected in this year’s draft and has the opportunity to make an immediate impact on a line that lost three players — most notably starting left tackle Jonas Jennings — to free agency last month.

“He’s not a developmental guy,” Bills scout Doug Majeski said. “This is a guy that we’ve liked for a long time.”

Preston could compete for the starting center’s job should the Bills go ahead with plans to shift Trey Teague to left tackle.

“I feel like I’m ready,” said Preston, the son of former Syracuse star and NFL linebacker Raymond Preston II, who played nine years with the San Diego Chargers. “With my father playing, I feel like I have a good perspective on the business of the NFL and the expectations of what playing at that level entails.”

Preston, who is nicknamed, “Duke,” is considered to have strong and quick legs, important in a Bills’ scheme in which they ask their centers to pull and block downfield. In his senior year, he was credited with 74 knockdowns.

He becomes the first true center Buffalo has drafted since choosing Tom Nutton in the seventh round in 1995.

The Bills rounded out the draft by selecting Wake Forest cornerback Eric King in the fifth round (156th overall), Vanderbilt offensive lineman Justin Geisinger in the sixth round (197th) and Louisville running back Lionel Gates in the seventh round (236th).

Buffalo opened the draft Saturday by selecting University of Miami teammates, receiver Roscoe Parrish and tight end Kevin Everett, in the second and third rounds.

King is an undersized cornerback, who fills a depth need. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, he’s a four-year starter who finished with seven interceptions and credited with 39 passes defended.

Geisinger was a four-year starter, who is capable of playing all three line position but is projected to play guard at the NFL level. He’s a strong but immobile blocker, whose draft stock was hampered by a knee injury that forced him to miss two games last season.

Gates, considered a good blocker, played in a rotation with running back Eric Shelton, who was selected in the second round by Carolina on Saturday. Gates had 373 yards rushing and seven touchdowns last season.
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