In order to fill all their holes, the Buffalo Bills need a lot of draft picks. They should think about trading down in the NFL Draft.
The Buffalo Bills have a lot of question marks on their roster, but not a lot of opportunities to fill them. Head coach Sean McDermott has talked about wanting to build a roster brick by brick, but there isn’t a lot of material to work with.
They only own six picks in the 2017 NFL Draft, tied with the Atlanta Falcons for the fewest selections. But unlike that team, they aren’t coming off a Super Bowl appearance. Nor do they have an explosive passing game or a young and improving defense.
The Bills need to improve their cornerback group and receiving core, as well as find a long-term solution at quarterback. Their linebacker situation is way too weak to head into a regular season with. It might even be smart to look at down-the-road replacements for LeSean McCoy and Kyle Williams. That’s a lot of needs, with not enough NFL draft picks to cover all of that.
It’s safe to assume the 2017 Buffalo Bills will look a lot different than their 2016 version. Coach McDermott values versatility and will create a scheme to fit his players. Contrast that with Rex Ryan, who sought out players who fit his scheme, and stuck with it even as teams racked up record yardage against the Bills.
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No matter the result, this team will have a lot of turnover than last year’s — which means a lot of positions need to be filled.
They’ve already done a lot of work in free agency.
With the signings of Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Corey Brown and Andre Holmes, they’ve established quality depth in some critical positions. General Manager Doug Whaley is good at filling holes this way (see Lorenzo Alexander or Zach Brown last year), but he can’t keep putting band-aids over gaping holes.
The Buffalo Bills need to find long term solutions and they can be found in this year’s NFL draft.
But how can they do that with only six picks? The answer: trade down using their number ten pick.
I know, that might initially sound like a bad idea. Why pass up on game-changing talent like Reuben Foster or Corey Davis just for more mid-round picks? Because the Bills need a lot of quality players, and some team will be desperate enough to give them more.
Especially when you have a problem like this:
For context, Bills have NFL’s second-fewest players (59). They also have fewest draft choices (6). Not great combo at this point of process. https://t.co/BafQJz9qmR
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) March 17, 2017
Other teams have pulled off that plan, too. Both the Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans got a horde of draft picks in exchange (with the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles, respectively) for their high first-round selections.
While it hasn’t panned out for Cleveland yet, Tennessee tripled its win total this year and nearly made the playoffs.
That can happen to Buffalo if McDermott and Whaley have a shared vision for what they want this team to be. If a team like the Denver Broncos or Minnesota Vikings wants to trade up to grab premier talent, should the Bills really say no?
It’s not like you can’t get quality players in later rounds either. The MMQB highlighted this class as being deep at running back and secondary, with solid selections at receiver and tight end. The Bills could theoretically trade back to the end of the first, nab LSU’s Tre’Davious White, draft East Carolina’s Zay Jones in the second round, then use multiple lower round picks on safeties and a quarterback.
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By that point, you will have a potential starting corner and receiver, or at the very least good backups behind your starters. They can draft multiple defensive backs to remake the secondary how Sean McDermott likes it, or even find some decent linebackers. Or they could get an additional late round pick to nab Chad Kelly and see what he’s capable of.
Trading down to find quality contributors that might not become superstars isn’t the splashy thing to do, but the Buffalo Bills left behind the Rex Ryan era for a reason. Getting the attention of SportsCenter and winning the offseason doesn’t make a playoff berth happen.
Finding the right guys at lower rounds does. Just ask the New England Patriots; they’ve done pretty well with their sixth-round draft pick at quarterback.
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Do you think trading down is a good idea for the Buffalo Bills? Leave your comments below!