Two Bills Drive

'In a nutshell: The trades are just two more examples of first-year head coach Sean McDermott moving to clear players from the previous regime and shaping the roster in his vision.'

'The Bills now have two picks in the first, second, and third rounds of the 2018 NFL Draft.'

'Beane was asked if he still would’ve made one trade had the other fallen through. He said, “It’s hard to say if I wouldn’t have, but with both getting similar traction the last couple of days and once I saw both of them as far down the road as they were getting, I kind of said I want to do them together if I can. If somebody had backed out, I don’t know.”'

'"The timing is never what you want it to be, but if we wanted to do this it had to be done sooner rather than later."'

'According to WKBW Sports Director Joe Buscaglia, both Matthews and Gaines have cap hits under $2 million, and both their contracts expire after this year.'

'The Bills gave us a little hint of what could have been on the horizon with the Watkins and the Darby trades with what they did on draft day by acquiring an additional first round selection for 2018 — perhaps as future ammo — to what their true intentions really were. And with Taylor essentially being on a one-year prove it deal, while both Wood and Kyle Williams are on the final year of their contract, the complete overhaul into the future is also knocking on the door.'

'Parting with Watkins was certainly a surprise, but the current front office did not draft the Clemson product and clearly has a different direction charted for the team’s receiving corps. Watkins appeared in 37 games for the Bills posting 153 catches, almost 2,500 yards and 17 touchdowns. Injuries have kept him out of 11 of the team’s last 32 games.'

'Darby, a former second-round pick of the Bills, had two solid seasons for Buffalo, but was seen as an ideal match for a man-cover scheme. With the Bills shifting to more of a zone coverage scheme defensively, Darby’s on field value for Buffalo may not have been as high as it might be for other NFL clubs.'

'“We were not actively shopping either of these guys,” Beane said. “We’re not actively shopping anybody, but L.A. became very serious about Sammy and Philadelphia got very serious about Ronald and the timing worked out. As I realized the timing worked out I was able to acquire Jordan (Matthews) to help fill in for Sammy and add E.J. Gaines to help fill in for Ronald.”'

'The Eagles were desperate for help at cornerback which made them pull the trigger. And Roseman admitted he was concerned about the Eagles ability to re-sign Matthews after 2017 as he could become a free agent next spring.'

'The Bills now have a pair of first, second and third-round picks in the 2018 draft. They have Kansas City’s first-round pick next spring in addition to their own. They have the Rams second-round pick and the Eagles third-round pick in addition to their own choices in those respective rounds.'

'Well, I guess the good thing about it is [they get" target="_blank"> here with three games to play. Learn the offense and get some real, live snaps with the quarterbacks in a live game. I think that helps them out.'

'“It was fun to just get out there and play again,” said Peterman. “It’s been a few months since I’ve seen live action. So, it was good to get out there and play a game I love.”'

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'"In addition to that, I thought there were a lot of good things on the football field, a lot of good moments. That said, good teams don't beat themselves and we beat ourselves numerous times tonight, and we've got to get that corrected in order to go where we want to go."'