'Major Blow!' Bills GM Brandon Beane Upset Over Compensatory Pick For Tremaine Edmunds

The Buffalo Bills got a fourth-round compensatory pick for former linebacker Tremaine Edmunds after he signed with the Chicago Bears last offseason.

The 2024 NFL Draft is a month away, but the Buffalo Bills' plans took a hit when the NFL revealed the compensatory picks for each franchise on March 8.

Buffalo only received one compensatory pick (No. 133), which it will have in the fourth round after former linebacker Tremaine Edmunds signed a four-year $72 million deal with the Chicago Bears last offseason. Bills general manager Brandon Beane wasn't shy about his displeasure over only receiving a fourth-round pick Edmunds. He also said that he had multiple conversations with the league about the matter and said their projections should have given them a better pick.

"We got a raw deal," Beane said. "We had separate Zooms with the league trying to go through how it was calculated because even by their accounts as we were checking with them through the year, we clearly had a third-rounder. It was a major blow because we had planned for that."

Tremaine Edmunds after an interception vs. the Las Vegas Raiders

Quinn Harris/GettyImages

Teams receive compensatory picks from Rounds 3-7 based on free agents they have lost. How good the pick a team gets is based on the leaving player's average salary in the newly-signed contract, playing time and postseason awards.

Edmunds played in 15 games and accumulated 875 snaps last season for Chicago. He also played up to the contract the Bears gave him, as he had 113 tackles, including five for a loss, seven passes defended and a career-high four interceptions. Edmunds only had five interceptions in his career heading into the 2023 season.

The NFL's official website even projected Buffalo to have a third-round compensatory pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

"Edmunds signed a four-year, $72 million contract with the Bears to take over their starting inside linebacker spot," the NFL site wrote. "Buffalo’s lower-tier signings/departures should cancel each other out, but Edmunds’ move projects to provide a third-rounder."

The Bills have 11 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, but they don't have a third-round pick after they traded it to the Green Bay Packers for cornerback Rasul Douglas and a 2024 fifth-round pick. The third-round has proven to be a great value spot for Beane, as it was when he drafted running backs Devin Singletary and Zack Moss, tight end Dawson Knox, offensive tackle Spencer Brown and linebackers Terrel Bernard and Dorian Williams.

Given the Bills' needs, an additional third-round pick in the top 100 could have positioned them to land a player who can contribute immediately, or it could have been draft capital they could use to trade up. Instead, maneuvering up the draft or landing a player who can help right away could be much more difficult after getting the No. 133 pick for Edmunds rather than one in the third round.