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Bills predicted to trade down and still draft Round 1 difference maker

Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane isn't afraid of draft day moves. A recent mock has him maneuvering for excellent value on a defensive playmaker.
Brian Letscher|
Feb 25, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine.
Feb 25, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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The NFL Draft can be a chessboard of surprising, gutsy moves as teams jockey for position to grab the players they have way up on their boards. Highly regarded general manager Brandon Beane has certainly made his fair share of trades in his seven drafts thus far with the Buffalo Bills, most notably going from 12th to 7th overall in 2018 to snag future MVP Josh Allen.

After a 2024 season in which their defense finished a middling 17th overall, many analysts have the Bills going for a defensive lineman or corner with their first pick at No. 30. In his most recent mock draft, ESPN NFL analyst Field Yates agrees with that thinking but has Beane making a couple crafty moves early on to get excellent value for a player who wreaked havoc on collegiate offensive lines.

Yates has Beane making not one but two trades in the first two days — first moving down from 30th to 38th (New England Patriots) on Day 1 and then back up to the 34th pick (New York Giants) early on Day 2 — with which Yates predicts the Bills will draft wrecking ball DT Kenneth Grant from Michigan.

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Josh Allen
Apr 26, 2018; Arlington, TX, USA; Josh Allen is selected as the number seven overall pick to the Buffalo Bills. | Matthew Emmons-Imagn Images

"At 331 pounds, Grant would help fortify the Bills' run defense up the middle and assist in collapsing the pocket as an interior pass rusher, " Yates wrote, " He had three sacks and 5.5 tackles for loss in 12 games last season."

Grant is absolute beast of a player that is projected to go anywhere from the No. 11 pick onward. If he's still sitting there at the beginning of Day 2, it's not hard to imagine the highly regarded Beane trading back up and drafting a player that can plug some defensive holes.

Kenneth Grant
Michigan defensive lineman Kenneth Grant (78) celebrates a tackle against USC. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Brian Letscher
BRIAN LETSCHER

A Michigan native, Brian graduated from the University of Michigan in another century, where he earned a degree in economics and a Rose Bowl Championship ring while playing football for the Wolverines under Head Coach Gary Moeller. Brian went on to coach Division 1A football for several years before becoming a full-time writer and actor while maintaining an unhealthy interest in sports. He is currently developing a scripted television series, THOSE WHO STAY, based on a series of historical fiction articles he wrote about Bo Schembechler's Michigan football program as they struggle to unite and win the championship - which requires beating #1 Ohio State - during the tumultuous civil rights and anti-war movements of 1969.

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