Should Buffalo Bills Trade Down in Draft? ESPN Analyst Weighs In

The Buffalo Bills have a glaring need at receiver, but should they address it by trading up for one or trading back to draft multiple players at the position?

The Buffalo Bills have a glaring need at receiver in the aftermath of trading Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans and losing Gabe Davis to the Jacksonville Jaguars in free agency.

How Buffalo addresses the receiver position may shape if it can remain among the AFC's best or experiences a dip next season. One wouldn't put it past the Bills to trade up to land one of the elite receiver prospects in the draft, but ESPN writer Bill Barnwell proposed a different idea, saying they should trade down to get more picks and take multiple players at the position.

Jan 21, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs (14).

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"They don't need to add one wide receiver," Barnwell writes. "They need two or three, both now and in the years to come. Tight end Dalton Kincaid is going to be a significant part of the offense -- and Buffalo played with two tight ends at the league's fourth-highest rate a year ago when Kincaid and Dawson Knox were healthy -- but I'm not even sure this is an above-average receiving corps if the team moved up for [Rome] Odunze."

Without Diggs, the Bills don't have a single receiver who's registered a single season with over six touchdowns or 1,000 receiving yards. Saying they need more than one receiver is a fair assessment given their track record. No matter how good Josh Allen is, he needs more than two reliable tight ends in Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox if he's going to go toe to toe with the elite quarterbacks in his conference.

If one of the big three between Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze or even Brian Thomas Jr. falls into a range where the Bills feel comfortable trading up, then they would be remiss not to at least look into what it would cost to make the move. If neither of them is available, though, trading back makes plenty of sense if Buffalo believes it can still land a No. 1 receiver later in the draft.

"With this draft widely regarded as one of the deepest classes for wide receivers in recent memory, the Bills could trade down from this spot and add a couple of useful wideouts," Barnwell writes. "Regaining the third-round pick they sent to the Packers for Rasul Douglas would be helpful, and they also have extra fourth- and fifth-round picks."

Barnwell noting the approach the Green Bay Packers have taken could be a perfect model for revamping Allen's receiving corps. Following their blueprint of getting younger while landing quality receivers and executing the same way they have are two completely different things, though.

Regardless of how Buffalo approaches improving the receiver position, the impetus has to be there to get it right in this year's draft if it's going to be able to remain competitive in a loaded AFC. If Bills general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott can't adequately make up for the loss of Diggs and Davis, they then may not get another shot to fix the problem next offseason.