Bills draft trade scenarios: Team would be best served moving up again
One NFL Draft thought that seems to be gaining traction is the Buffalo Bills trading out of the first round to add extra picks in a year when they probably can land someone just as good six to 10 picks later than where they're slotted now at No. 30 overall.
And while this may be true, it's also important to note the Bills are in win-now mode. Over the last month, general manager Brandon Beane bolstered an already deep roster. So for a team that believes it's so close, why add picks and go for a lesser player as your first pick in the 2021 draft when you can just as easily move up and snag someone who wouldn't be there at 30?
Despite Beane's thorough work, the Bills would benefit immensely from an explosive pass rusher. There aren't that many elite ones thought to be available in this year's draft.
Depending on how the board shakes out on the first night of the draft on April 29 in Cleveland, if someone with the scheme versatility of Georgia outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari is still sitting there at, say, 23, why not call the New York Jets? Unlike the Bills, that team still needs need as many picks as they can get and might be willing to deal, unlike the Steelers, who own the 24th pick and are projected by Pro Football Focus to take Ojulari there.
That's just one of dozens of scenarios.
But the thinking here is that the Bills should be thinking quality over quantity.
Even if they have to give up two more picks in this year's draft to make the move up, would ending up with five total picks be so bad this year?
After all, it's not like there are going to be many openings on the active roster.
Trading down in the draft and adding picks is an understandable maneuver commonly used by teams trying to rebuild, such as the Jets and the Philadelphia Eagles, who already have moved from No. 6 to No. 12.
But the Bills may only be one or two more players from getting over the top. They reached the AFC Championship Game last season with a juggernaut offense run by quarterback Josh Allen, whose breakout season could well have been the top surprise in the league in 2020.
Yet Chad Reuter of NFL.com has proposed a trade with the Eagles in which the Bills move from 30 to 37, which is the Eagles' pick in the second round. The Eagles would get the No. 30 pick but give up picks 123 and 150 to the Bills.
If that scenario unfolds, Buffalo Rumblings has the Bills coming away with Penn State defensive end Jason Oweh at 37.
Oweh, as we documented on March 27, has an incredible upside. He's a 6-foot, 5-inch physical specimen who dazzled with a time of 4.36 in the 40 and a 39.5-inch vertical jump at his Pro Day. Oweh also features an arm length of 34.5 inches and is up to 257 pounds.
Nothing can be ruled out.
But one thing is certain: Beane is not afraid to move around in the draft.
In 2018, he moved up five spots to draft Allen. In the same draft draft, he packaged the Bills' other first-round pick that year in a deal with the Baltimore Ravens to move up six spots and draft linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.
The next year, he moved up two spots in the second round to get offensive lineman Cody Ford.
A year ago, he traded away three 2020 draft picks, including their first-rounder and one more in 2021 to get wide receiver Stefon Diggs from the Minnesota Vikings.
Those aren't the only trades he's made since coming to the Bills in 2017, but you get the idea: Quality over quantity.
It's a formula that has served the Bills well and almost certainly will serve them well again, especially in a year when there won't be room for a lot of rookies.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro.
