Buffalo Bills: 7 trades the team could explore this offseason
Trade into the top five of the 2018 NFL Draft to select a QB
Stop me if you’ve heard this before – the Buffalo Bills need to draft a quarterback. This has been the biggest positional need of this team since Jim Kelly retired over two decades ago and has continued to plague the franchise.
The team has spent first-round picks on the position in years past in J.P. Losman and EJ Manuel, but neither have panned out. They have taken the likes of Trent Edwards and Nathan Peterman in the middle rounds, as well as signed free agents such as aforementioned Taylor, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Kelly Holcomb, and Kyle Orton – just to name a few.
An overwhelming theme with all of these players is the team has settled. It has been well documented that the Bills wanted Ben Roethlisberger in the Losman draft and would have taken him if he fell, but he didn’t fall and the team didn’t trade up. The team identified they needed a quarterback in 2013 when they took Manuel, but that was widely regarded as an extremely weak class for the position.
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While it has worked for several teams in taking a backup or journeyman QB and turning them into starters, it hasn’t for the Bills. Taylor has been the best of the bunch and the only player of the group to lead them to the playoffs, but his flaws are evident. The franchise has never selected the guy that they wanted in the year they knew it was a strong class.
It is time for that to change.
This draft has several options at the position that can be prolific and all of them have different skill-sets that can appeal to whatever type coach you have. The team also has plenty of draft capital that could be enticing to a team in the top five.
The Giants new GM, Dave Gettleman, has a relationship with both Beane and McDermott as he was the GM when the two were in Carolina. They could be enticed to move back and pick up a left tackle in Cordy Glenn to fix that side of the line. Indianapolis needs desperate in several areas of their roster. Picking up a package of picks and getting Glenn or Lawson could fill many holes for the Colts.
Cleveland has taken the sabermetrics approach to acquire picks to build a team and could potentially do the same this season. Denver could sign Kirk Cousins and be enticed to build upon their win-now roster with more young players and trade back as their biggest need is taken care of in free agency.
There are several options for the team including numerous packages to find their way to the top five, and they should do whatever they can to go up there and take the player they want.
Potential price: 2018 first (21), 2018 first (22), 2018 second (53 or 56), 2019 fourth, Cordy Glenn/Shaq Lawson
Potential trade partners: New York Giants, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Denver