ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane is on firmer ground defending his approach to the NFL draft this weekend, a year after facing criticism for failing to upgrade the team’s receiver position.
Beane got ahead of questions long before having to wait until Day 2 to submit Buffalo’s first pick, and before selecting Connecticut receiver Skyler Bell in the fourth round on Saturday.
Beane’s most significant draft decision came in early March.
Rather than risk a high pick on a receiver, and the time it might take for a prospect to develop, Beane took a surer route. He traded Buffalo’s second-round selection, 60th overall, to Chicago to acquire DJ Moore, an eight-year veteran, who’s topped 1,100 yards four times.
Moore’s addition immediately upgrades a relatively no-name receiver group that’s lacked a proven downfield option since the Bills traded Stefon Diggs to Houston two years ago.
Aside from addressing a key need, Moore's addition freed Beane to hone his focus on a defense in transition following head coach Sean McDermott’s firing in January.
Buffalo replaced McDermott by promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who envisioned the defense adopting the same attacking approach as his offense. Jim Leonhard takes over as coordinator and is switching the defense to a 3-4 scheme and the Bills not re-signing several veterans, including linebacker Matt Milano and tackle DaQuan Jones.
“No matter what type of system we’re running or who’s coaching the team, I felt we did need some infusion of youth on this defense,” Beane said. “And I just think it’s more where the iteration of this roster is more than a coaching transition.”
Beane began the draft by completing three trades to back out of the first round and acquire two selections and give Buffalo five of the top 126 picks, after having just two over that span entering the draft. And he used three of those choices to fill two of the defense’s most pressing needs in adding Clemson outside linebacker T.J. Parker (35th), Ohio State cornerback Davison Igbinosun (62) and inside linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr (126).
The Bills then filled offensive depth needs in rounding out their first five picks with Bell (125th) and Boston College tackle Jude Bowry (102). Overall, six of Buffalo’s 10 selections were defensive players.
“The whole time it’s like, don’t forget we got DJ Moore,” Brady said he kept reminding himself through the weekend.
Though Brady has an offensive background, he backed the defense-first approach in the days leading up to the draft.
“It was the best thing for our football team,” Brady said. “Anytime that we stop an opposing offense and get the ball back to Josh (Allen), it helps the offense.”
Beane completed seven trades during the draft, including three on Saturday.
Buffalo was scheduled to have the first pick of the fourth round, before moving back one spot to 102 and acquiring a 2027 seventh-round selection from the Raiders. Buffalo then dealt the 168th pick to Detroit, and acquired picks 181 (Penn State DT Zane Durant) and 213. The Bills then traded the 213th pick to Chicago to add No. 239 (Florida punter Tommy Doman) and 241 (Texas A&M guard Ar'maj Reed-Adams)
The Bills on Saturday also selected South Carolina safety Jalon Kilgore (167) and Missouri cornerback Toriano Pride (220).
Bell finished second in the nation with 1,278 yards receiving at UConn, and was tied for third with 13 TDs.
Bell spent his first three college seasons at Wisconsin, and is reunited with Leonhard, who was the Badgers defensive coordinator and closed the 2022 season as interim head coach.
“I honestly can’t wait to see him. I’m probably gonna give him the craziest hug ever because that’s my guy,” Bell said. “He helped me with my development a lot my freshman year and my sophomore year.”
Igbinosun acknowledged pressing too much in coverage, which led to him being flagged more than dozen times for defensive pass interference in 2024. He spent the following offseason studying tape, which led to him reducing the number of flags to four.
“I realized I wasn’t getting beat, people were not running past me,” he said. “So in 2025, I just relaxed when the ball was in the air, got my head around and made plays on the football.”
Parker welcomed Clemson teammate, quarterback Cade Klubnik, getting drafted by Buffalo’s AFC East rival New York Jets.
“Ain’t no practice now,” the edge rusher said with a laugh, looking ahead to possibly have to face Klubnik. “I don’t have to ease up any more.”
In all seriousness, Parker congratulated the quarterback.
“I’m super excited for him. He’s a hard worker. Unbelievable guy,” he said. “He’ll come in right away and try to be a leader as much as possible.”
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Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane addresses the media during an NFL football news conference Monday, April 20, 2026, in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)
Cornerback Davison Igbinosun, selected in the second round of the NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills, addresses reporters during an NFL football news conference, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/John Wawrow)
Cornerback Davison Igbinosun, selected in the second round of the NFL draft by the Buffalo Bills, addresses reporters during an NFL football news conference, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in in Orchard Park, N.Y. (AP Photo/John Wawrow)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was uninjured and other top leaders of the United States were evacuated from an annual dinner of White House correspondents on Saturday night after an unspecified threat. There did not immediately appear to be any injuries, and one law-enforcement official said a shooter had opened fire.
Authorities said the incident occurred outside the ballroom where Trump and other guests were seated. It was not immediately clear what happened.
The Secret Service and other authorities swarmed the banquet hall at the Washington Hilton as guests dining on burrata salad ducked under tables by the hundreds. “Out of the way, sir!” someone yelled. Others yelled to duck. From one corner, a “God Bless America” chant began as Trump was escorted off stage. He fell briefly — he apparently tripped — and was helped up by Secret Service agents.
A law enforcement official confirmed there was a shooter but no further details were immediately available. All officials protected by the Secret Service were evacuated. Organizers were attempting to resume the dinner.
Some in the crowd reported hearing what they believed to be five to eight shots fired. The banquet hall — where hundreds of prominent journalists, celebrities and national leaders were awaiting Trump's remarks — was immediately evacuated. Members of the National Guard took up position inside the building as people were allowed to leave but not immediately re-enter. Security outside was also extremely tight.
Those in attendance included Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — and many other leaders of the Trump administration.
The event appeared set to resume after the disorder. Servers refolded napkins and refilled water glasses in preparation for Trump's return. Another worker prepared the president's teleprompter for the remarks he was scheduled to make. Guest evacuating the ballroom had to step over many broken plates and glasses.
Outside the hotel, members of the National Guard and other authorities flooded the area as helicopters circled overhead.
Generally, the Hilton hotel, where the dinner has taken place for years, remains open to regular guests during the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and security has typically been focused on the ballroom and rather than the hotel at large, with little screening for people not entering the dinner itself. In past years, that has created openings for disruptions in the lobby and other public spaces, including protests in which security moved to remove guests who unfurled banners or staged demonstrations.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro posted a short video from the hotel after the incident, saying, “I have been taken out of the ballroom after the sound of the shots fired. The Secret Service is now in charge of this building, this hotel. I just spoke to Mayor Murial Bowser. She is on her way and (Police) Chief Jeffery Carroll is on his way. He will be in charge as soon as he gets here.”
Trump's attendance at Saturday's annual dinner in Washington for his first time as president is putting his administration's often-contentious relationship with the press on full public display.
Trump arrived to an event where the leaders of a nation at war mingled with celebrities, journalists and even a puppet — Triumph the Insult Comic Dog — in a dinner that typically generates debate about whether the relationship between journalists and their sources should include socializing together and putting aside sometimes adversarial relationships.
Trump was being watched closely at the event held by the organization of reporters who cover him and his administration. Past presidents who have attended have generally spoken about the importance of free speech and the First Amendment, adding in some light roasts about individual journalists.
The Republican president did not attend during his first term or the first year of his second. He came as a guest in 2011, sitting in the audience as President Barack Obama, a Democrat, made some jokes about the New York real estate developer. Trump also attended as a private citizen in 2015.
Trump entered the subterranean banquet hall of the Washington Hilton to the strains of “Hail to the Chief” and greeted prominent journalists on the dais, also pausing to laud White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt with a cheerful pointing of his finger.
Past dinners have also featured comedians who poke at presidents. This year, the group opted to hire mentalist Oz Pearlman as the featured entertainment.
Between berating individual reporters, fighting organizations like the Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press in court and restricting press access to the Pentagon, the administration’s animus toward journalists has been a fixture of Trump’s second term.
On the eve of the dinner, nearly 500 retired journalists signed a petition calling on the association "to forcefully demonstrate opposition to President Trump’s efforts to trample freedom of the press.”
The WHCA president, CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang, said the organization was fighting for all different forms of the press that have a line in to the American people. “I don't think people realize how closely we are working with the White House,” she said on CSPAN before the dinner convened. “The relationship is important. It can be complicated. It can be intense. But it is robust.”
Welcoming guests, Jiang alluded to the contentious relationship in thanking Leavitt “for everything your team does to work with us every day, whether you like it or not.”
Veteran reporter Manu Raju of CNN, as he entered the Washington Hilton for the dinner, said it was not his role to express his opinion on Trump's relationship with the press. “I'm not an activist,” he said. “My job is not to protest.”
A few dozen protesters stood across the hotel in the runup to the event. One was dressed in a prison uniform, wearing a Pete Hegseth mask and red gloves. Another carried a sign saying “Journalism is dead.”
Journalists often invite sources as guests at the dinner. It will be noticed Saturday whether administration officials who have also expressed hostility to the press will attend, and with whom they will be sitting. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he was invited by the New York Post; Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were NBC guests.
The Associated Press invited a former Trump official that it sued last year. Taylor Budowich, a former White House deputy chief of staff who crafted communications policy, was a named defendant last year when the AP sued the administration after it reduced its access to the president because the news outlet did not follow Trump's lead in renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
“We maintain professional relationships with people across the political spectrum because we are nonpartisan by design — focused on reporting the facts in the public's interest,” AP spokesman Patrick Maks said.
The White House correspondents will also hand out awards for exemplary reporting. That includes some stories that displeased Trump, such as one from the Journal about a birthday message Trump once sent to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The story led to a presidential lawsuit.
AP journalists Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Balsamo, Zeke Miller and Anna Johnson contributed to this report. David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social.
Members of law enforcement respond during the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Guests leave the White House Correspondents Dinner following an incident Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
The National Guard respond to an incident at the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his wife Cheryl Hines pose for photographers at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump arrives to the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin speaks to the media after being removed from the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
People are seen outside of the White House Correspondents Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives at the White House Correspondents Dinner at the Washington Hilton, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
A woman is escorted from the White House Correspondents' Dinner, Saturday, April 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach Fla., Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
