Buffalo Bills: Grading Every In-Season Trade of the Brandon Beane Era
Trade season has come and gone. Now lies an equally dangerous threat: trade grades season.
Amateur and professional markers will no doubt be quick to judge the deals that have emerged from the NFL's annual trade deadline, which landed on Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET. While they're no doubt a source of content, instant trade grades, no matter the occasion, are often a futile, quickly-debunked exercise. In a sport built by the very concept of "any given Sunday," they're even more futile on the football front.
With that in mind, Bills Central takes a look at not the Buffalo Bills' trade for Rasul Douglas but rather the previous in-season deals of the Brandon Beane era ...
Marcell Dareus (99) played seven seasons in Buffalo
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2017: Marcell for Tell
BILLS GET: 2018 fifth-round pick (became G Wyatt Teller)
JAGUARS GET: DT Marcell Dareus
Beane's changing of the guard began with the trading of Dareus, whose Western New York legacy is difficult to grasp.
The third overall pick of the 2011 draft certainly made the final stages of the Bills' millennium-opening playoff drought more palatable (including a 10-sack season in 2014) but legal troubles brought his hefty contract extension ($60 million guaranteed, most for a non-quarterback at the time) into question on more than one occasion. Dareus' status as No. 3 in 2011 only complicates the matter further, especially considering the next three picks were A.J. Green, Patrick Peterson, and Julio Jones.
Near the 2017 deadline, Beane was able to send that massive deal south for a fifth-round pick that eventually became Teller. While the future All-Pro Teller lasted just one year in Buffalo (traded in a late summer deal to Cleveland for a pick that yielded current Bills kicker Tyler Bass), Beane's ability to get Dareus' deal off the books was a solid introduction to in-season trading. Grade: C+
The Bills were unable to save the career of former Carolina Panther Kelvin Benjamin
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2017: Benjamin Discussion
BILLS GET: WR Kelvin Benjamin
PANTHERS GET: 2018 third-round pick (became S Rashaan Gaulden), 2018 seventh-round pick (became LB Andre Smith)
Beane wasn't done amidst his first fall at the helm: five days after dealing away Dareus, he traded for former first-round choice Kelvin Benjamin, a first-round receiver who was struggling to recapture his rookie spark after a torn ACL wiped out year two.
Alas, Benjamin's time in Buffalo not only perpetuated one of the most intriguing "what if" stories in recent NFL memory but is also best-remembered for then-"Monday Night Football" analyst Anthony "Booger" McFarland's quip about his weight. Benjamin partook in the Bills' surprise run to the postseason but Buffalo gave up the savior act by the following winter, releasing Benjamin amidst a notable decline in production and effort.
The Benjamin trade was made with good intentions and it helps that neither Gaulden (currently in the CFL) nor Smith (reserve in Atlanta) have done much with their own careers. But it still stands as a curious chapter in Beane's otherwise decent history. Grade: D+
2018: Why, Mr. Anderson?
BILLS GET: 2021 seventh-round pick (became G Jack Anderson)
PANTHERS GET: RT Marshall Newhouse
The Bills went back to bartering with Carolina the following fall, dealing the well-traveled Newhouse for a future pick. It's one of Beane's more inconsequential deals on his resume: Newhouse, who was mostly used as a package blocker in Buffalo, lasted three seasons with three different teams while Anderson, currently stationed on Indianapolis' practice squad, failed to make the team out of training camp. Carolina gets the better end of the deal purely by default. Grade: Inconclusive
2019: Zay No Way
BILLS GET: 2021 fifth-round pick (became OT Tommy Doyle)
RAIDERS GET: WR Zay Jones
Jones was one of the last picks of the prior regime in Buffalo (second round in 2017 mere weeks before Beane's arrival) and was effective enough (leading the team in receiving in 2018) but hardly worth the trouble beyond the field which culminated in a 2018 arrest in a dispute with his older brother Cayleb (charges were later dropped). It was perhaps enough of a victory for Beane that he was able to get something, even if the pick in question became the oft-injured project Doyle, for the embattled Jones, who was shifted to Oakland in the middle of the 2019 campaign.
It should be noted that Jones has since reclaimed the narrative of his NFL career and has spoken openly about his issues away from the field, including those with mental health. He has since moved on to Jacksonville and has become one of the most noteworthy offensive contributors for the surging Jaguars, tallying a career-best 823 yards last season. Grade: C
Hines (20) made an instant impact in the Bills' return game
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2022: Pine for Hines
BILLS GET: RB/Ret. Nyheim Hines
COLTS GET: RB Zack Moss, 2023 fifth-round pick (became TE Will Mallory)
Moss undoubtedly had his moments out of the Bills' backfield after arriving from Utah as a third-round pick in 2020. But when Isaiah McKenzie took on a larger role as a traditional receiver, they slightly suffered in one of the more underrated aspects of their recent success: the return game.
To that end, they moved Moss and a day-three pick to Indianapolis for Hines, who was looking for a bit of a career rest after losing snaps behind Jonathan Taylor to Deon Jackson.
Though Hines has been sidelined due to a jet ski accident (an incident that remains engaged in legal affairs), the trade has paid off for each of the former AFC East rivals: Moss has been efficient when asked to take on bigger duties in the wake of Taylor's contract dispute while Hines gave the Bills their field position edge back, even running back two for scores in the emotional regular-season finale victory over New England last season. Grade: B+
