Buffalo Bills GM explains thinking behind controversial trade with rival Chiefs

On Thursday night, Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane did what he typically does during the NFL Draft: he followed his board.

The board fell in a way that prevented the normally aggressive Beane from trading up to obtain the receiver who Bills fans have been screaming for all offseason. As multiple sources stated prior to the draft, he did not contact teams in the top ten to inquire about the possibilities of trading up. In fact, he did not make a single call to a team to attempt to trade up.

So when pick 28 arrived, several clubs were looking to move up, and the pool of players on whom Beane and the Bills had a first-round rating was depleted.

The Kansas City Chiefs were the team that offered the most for the Bills’ pick. Beane lost a third-round pick in the Rasul Douglas trade last season, and KC offered their third-rounder in exchange. A few minutes later, Beane pulled the trigger and moved out of the first round in a trade with the Carolina Panthers.

When Bills fans learned the Chiefs had finalized a deal to acquire quick Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy, panic set in. Did Beane allow Andy Reid to get a new flashy toy, whom NBC Sports’ Chris Simms described as “a guy with

three rockets up his ass?”

 

 

Beane wasn’t concerned about who the Chiefs were trading up for since he was moving out of the pick, allowing the Chiefs to move up to No. 29 and grab their guy.

“I could picture them taking a receiver, but you don’t really know… But where they were migrating from, I don’t think it mattered who they choose,” Beane explained. “Now we have two 2s, a 3, a 4, and four 5s. I believe this provides us the opportunity to fill some positions or use ammo to move around again, depending on how the board falls.”

The Bills traded picks 28, 133 (round 4), and 248 (round 7) to the Chiefs in exchange for picks 32, 95 (round 3), and 221 (round 7). Buffalo then traded picks 32 and 200 (round 6) to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for picks 33 (round 2) and 141 (round 5).

Buffalo effectively dropped five spots and jumped back into the third round (38 spots from 133 to 95), advanced 59 spots from the sixth round to the fifth round, and advanced 17 spots to the start of the seventh round.

Beane never ruled out trading up for a player he loved, but he refused to give away the team’s second-round choice in the process.

“If we had to go that far, you’re now picking at whatever pick comes first. “You’re going all the way to 128 or something,” Beane explained. “We believe there is good value coming up tomorrow, and… We put a lot of time and work on the board, and we believe it is falling about in line with our expectations. One of the things we stated was that if there is an opportunity to return to the third, we believe there would be some value, or at least the worth of that selection, if we were to move around.”

The Bills will have to make another decision when the clock starts at selection number 33 on Friday. They can stick and pluck. There are plenty of intriguing wide receiver choices, like Texas’ Adonai Mitchell and Georgia’s Ladd McConkey. Alternatively, they can go defensive with someone like Iowa safety Cooper DeJean. Alternatively, Beane can make a minor trade back to add even more draft money and remain aggressive the rest of the way.

“We’ll get a lot of calls for this pick tomorrow at 33,” Beane told reporters. “Our phone is already ringing.” We’ll see what happens with that.