Rumor: Bills want to move up in draft, may move a veteran or two to accomplish it

[tomur67]

I would love to have some SAUCE on my Buffalo wings.

 

[Mister Defense]

On 3/31/2022 at 2:55 PM, Allen2Diggs said:

If we move up in the draft, my guess is that it's for Trent McDuffie.

 

It's time to pair Tre with another great cornerback instead of a revolving door of replacement-level talent.

 

It sure did not seem like a revolving door the last four years, as Wallace was paired with White consistently. 

 

But I agree, McDuffie, or another cb in the first, their biggest need, and then move up in the second round to nab Reese.

 

[buffalo2218]

On 4/14/2022 at 7:01 PM, Rocket94 said:

Was it last year? The Bills were allegedly interested in Quinnen Williams in a trade for draft picks?

I don't think it was last year, both Williams and Oliver were drafted in 2019 iirc

[Special K]

43 minutes ago, tomur67 said:

I would love to have some SAUCE on my Buffalo wings.

 

 

Yep.....the only players the Bills should be entertaining trading up for should be Sauce Gardner, Devin Lloyd, or Jameson Williams, IMO.

[Mango]

On 4/5/2022 at 11:06 AM, TheFunPolice said:

If Josh Allen is the top 5 QB we all think he is, the Bills will be in the playoffs every year, barring injury.

 

Then it comes down to winning in the tournament. For that, you need difference makers, which we have a few of, but could always use more. It will be fun to see what happens this draft just in general, because there doesn't seem to the top QB prospects that cement the first several picks. 

 

 

Drew Brees had 12 seasons with NO where he played at least 15 regular season games. 6 of those NO was .500 or worse. The guy is a first ballot hall of fame. 
 

It isn’t a sure thing to make the playoffs with a top 5 QB, especially when you kick the salary cap can down the road. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t take huge issue with what the Bills are doing with this window. But it shouldn’t be lost on anybody that this is also a risk going forward. 

[DCofNC]

The more I think about it, the more on board I am to either go up got Sauce or move up in the second for Edmunds replacement ( trading Edmunds in the process).

[CNYfan]

58 minutes ago, Special K said:

 

Yep.....the only players the Bills should be entertaining trading up for should be Sauce Gardner, Devin Lloyd, or Jameson Williams, IMO.

My crush is Devin LLoyd.  My wish is he doesn't end up in the AFC East.  

[Special K]

51 minutes ago, CNYfan said:

My crush is Devin LLoyd.  My wish is he doesn't end up in the AFC East.  

 

Unless it’s in Buffalo!!

[NoSaint]

2 hours ago, Mango said:

Drew Brees had 12 seasons with NO where he played at least 15 regular season games. 6 of those NO was .500 or worse. The guy is a first ballot hall of fame. 
 

It isn’t a sure thing to make the playoffs with a top 5 QB, especially when you kick the salary cap can down the road. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t take huge issue with what the Bills are doing with this window. But it shouldn’t be lost on anybody that this is also a risk going forward. 

well, they also had to deal with a full year suspension of their coach, loss of draft picks and quantifiably the most lopsided officiating in the league too…. 

[Norcalbillsfan]

I could see the seahawks wanting to trade back and aquire a load of day 2 picks. Also giants, but for the bills to get that high it's hard to not see us parting with our 2023 1st round pick to get there.

It would be interesting with the loss of Wagner if the seahawks would perk their eyebrows at an edmunds trade.

[Since1981]

If your team is championship caliber than you should move up for specific quality instead of drafting depth. Why draft a 3rd, 4th, 5th if they won’t make the team or are coin flip with a current player.

 

fewer, high pick 1, 2, is the right way to go for this team. Ignore and trade 3+

[Richard Noggin]

31 minutes ago, Since1981 said:

If your team is championship caliber than you should move up for specific quality instead of drafting depth. Why draft a 3rd, 4th, 5th if they won’t make the team or are coin flip with a current player.

 

fewer, high pick 1, 2, is the right way to go for this team. Ignore and trade 3+

I agree with this approach, especially THIS YEAR, and I know many others do as well. Will be difficult to roster late-round picks without sacrificing current depth. And if they're truly promising talents, then we might see them poached off the practice squad (as we saw in 2021). So for the 2022 draft, I agree: go get your guys.  

 

But if a successful org approaches the draft this way repeatedly, YoY, because it continues to be successful, then one could reasonably expect that team's roster to become top heavy and less resilient in the face of injuries, or a lack of progression from premium picks, or the inevitable cap casualties that such a roster construction often leads to. We often point to the Packers and Steelers as examples of draft discipline. And now we have the Rams to represent the polar opposite (but they've hit on day two and three picks, turns out). 

[HappyDays]

56 minutes ago, Since1981 said:

If your team is championship caliber than you should move up for specific quality instead of drafting depth. Why draft a 3rd, 4th, 5th if they won’t make the team or are coin flip with a current player.

 

This mindset only works if you focus exclusively on immediate needs. Just because the Bills have most of their starting roles filled for 2022 doesn't mean they should throw away a bunch of draft picks. The draft is to build for the future. Just in the next couple years here's a sampling of players with expiring contracts - Poyer, Hyde, Edmunds, Oliver, Davis, Knox... Championship caliber also means up against the cap which means more difficult roster decisions every year. We have to keep building the pipeline for sustained success. Anyways it's not very likely that even three top 65 players will be the difference between winning a Super Bowl this year or not.

 

Edited April 19, 2022 by HappyDays

[BADOLBILZ]

41 minutes ago, Since1981 said:

If your team is championship caliber than you should move up for specific quality instead of drafting depth. Why draft a 3rd, 4th, 5th if they won’t make the team or are coin flip with a current player.

 

fewer, high pick 1, 2, is the right way to go for this team. Ignore and trade 3+

 

 

 

I know Beane is a good salesman........but when we get to the point where people are questioning whether 3rd round and 4th round picks can even make the team.........you guys are really letting your imaginations run wild with this "Bills don't have spots for draft picks" narrative.

 

The Bills did have a lot of veteran depth in 2020 and 2021..........that was a function of Beane having plenty of cap room and spending big on reserve players......which made it harder for 6th and 7th rounders and UDFA's to earn a spot on the 53.

 

But those days are over.

 

The Bills are overextended on the cap now.........they are spending future seasons cap space to win now..........and that has lead to them replacing some of their more expensive veteran depth with veteran minimum types who will be quite a bit easier to supplant on the roster.

 

There are very winnable jobs available at RB3, XWR2, YWR2, TE3, TE4, swing OT, reserve guard, reserve center, reserve DT, CB3, CB4, MLB2 and OLB2 and both reserve Safety positions.

 

That's 15 different roster spots that could end up being manned on opening day by someone not currently on the roster.........and that doesn't even account for injury.

 

So they are basically back where they were a few years ago where they very well could have 7-9 rookies on the 53.

[Rocky Landing]

6 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

This mindset only works if you focus exclusively on immediate needs. Just because the Bills have most of their starting roles filled for 2022 doesn't mean they should throw away a bunch of draft picks. The draft is to build for the future. Just in the next couple years here's a sampling of players with expiring contracts - Poyer, Hyde, Edmunds, Oliver, Davis, Knox... Championship caliber also means up against the cap which means more difficult roster decisions every year. We have to keep building the pipeline for sustained success. Anyways it's not very likely that even three top 65 players will be the difference between winning a Super Bowl this year or not.

 

Completely agree with this.

However... i kinda feel like we are in a very similar situation to last year, when there was basically one significant hole to fill (last year it was DE), and beyond that we were basically drafting for backup positions. Last year, six out of eight made the 53 (which is a pretty good record, frankly), and the remaining two were poached off the Practice Squad. And compared to last season, we actually may have fewer backup positional needs to fill.

 

If we finish the draft with only having six, or even five draft picks? Trading up (and losing some future dead cap/weight in the process), could not only mean the right number of draft picks, but the elite player we acquire (whomever Beane thinks that may be) might just be a big piece of the future we want to build.

[NewEra]

On 4/17/2022 at 10:41 AM, CNYfan said:

My crush is Devin LLoyd.  My wish is he doesn't end up in the AFC East.  

Could be hard for the pats to pass on him…but they have huge needs @ CB and WR

[Big Turk]

On 4/17/2022 at 1:11 PM, Mango said:

Drew Brees had 12 seasons with NO where he played at least 15 regular season games. 6 of those NO was .500 or worse. The guy is a first ballot hall of fame. 
 

It isn’t a sure thing to make the playoffs with a top 5 QB, especially when you kick the salary cap can down the road. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t take huge issue with what the Bills are doing with this window. But it shouldn’t be lost on anybody that this is also a risk going forward. 

 

The risk of kicking the can down the road is significantly less risky when the cap will be going up roughly $100 million over the next 5 years

[machine gun kelly]

3 minutes ago, Big Turk said:

 

The risk of kicking the can down the road is significantly less risky when the cap will be going up roughly $100 million over the next 5 years

Agreed.  That’s why Beane is restructuring everyone on the team.  It’s not 2022, but in 23 and beyond it goes up exponentially.

[BillsFanForever19]

When I think of veteran players that could be traded, I think of young talents who were highly touted prospects coming out of college that were drafted on Day 1 or 2 who teams may have liked coming out and may think they can get more out of in their system as opposed to ours. Also these players must be players that won't hurt us terribly to move on from.

 

That being said, the veteran players that I think are the most likely to be moved would be Zack Moss, Cody Ford, and either A.J. Epenesa or Carlos Basham.

 

We aren't going to move starters that we feel good about and would have to replace. If you're trading for a premium asset and then creating a hole you didn't have before that will require a premium asset to replace, you aren't gaining much of anything.

Edited April 19, 2022 by BillsFanForever19

[Awwufelloff]

I would have traded our entire draft to get Sauce. Kid is a game changing talent.