The Buffalo Bills are looking to be even better in 2018, so here are seven trades the team could explore to help take that next step.
The Buffalo Bills have many roster changes to come.
Beginning with free agency in a few weeks and the NFL Draft in late April, the Bills roster will be heavily shaped in the next two to three months, but the team should also focus on using some of their assets to get the exact players they need via the trade market.
It is the time of the year where we all begin to ponder what trades the team could make, frantically search mock drafts, and guess who will be on the team next season. As we get underway with season two of Brandon Beane and Sean McDermott, there are plenty of holes to fill and decisions to make despite making the playoffs for the first time in 17 years.
We have yet to see how Beane operates running his own draft or the process in which he goes through leading up to it, but we know that he is more than willing to trade away players that he feels doesn’t fit the long-term plans of the Buffalo Bills.
Sammy Watkins, Marcell Dareus, Ronald Darby, and Reggie Ragland have all been moved for picks and/or players and they were all drafted by the previous regime. With his first full offseason as general manager of the Bills, Beane could and should explore several options to maintain the team’s presence in the playoffs.
Trade Cordy Glenn
When the Bills moved up in the second round last season to draft Dion Dawkins, it had appeared the team had identified their future right tackle. However, Dawkins was a starter on the left side at Temple and once training camp started, we found out that was where he would stay in the pros.
Cordy Glenn fought through a foot/ankle injury during the season, beginning with missing time in training camp. Playing sporadically throughout the season, Glenn was ultimately placed on season-ending injured reserve, leaving the door open for Dawkins to take over the starting gig.
After Dawkins took over as the team’s left tackle, there was little to no drop-off. He came in and you didn’t hear his name often – which is good for an offensive lineman. His performance has allowed Glenn to become expendable and he could be lining up at tackle for another team next season.
Teams such as Cincinnati, Houston, Tampa Bay, the New York Giants and others are in the market for a tackle and may be willing to part with a pick to get him. It may be especially enticing to the Giants and Tampa Bay, two teams in the top 10, to include Glenn in a package to trade up.
The major issue with Glenn is his health. When he is healthy he is a top 10 left tackle in the NFL, but over years past he has not been able to stay on the field. His foot injury may keep him out into OTAs and, especially if draft picks are involved, that will decrease his value as teams will not know how healthy he is entering camp.
If the Bills can move on Glenn’s cap hit and look to the future, it could provide them the chance to improve the team in more areas once free agency hits. Glenn’s track record as a top tackle in the league can also help teams in search of an upgrade, especially several teams inside the top 10.
Potential trade partners: New York Giants, Cincinnati, Houston, Tampa Bay
Potential compensation: Fourth or fifth-round pick
Trade Shaq Lawson
We have already seen Beane ship out several picks from the Doug Whaley/Rex Ryan regime, and we could certainly see that trend continue. Defensive end Shaq Lawson has played 21 of a possible 32 games through his two full seasons with the Bills – recording six total sacks in that time (courtesy of Pro Football Reference).
Despite not being great at getting to the quarterback, Lawson is very good at setting the edge and helping against the run. At 6-foot-3 and 269 pounds, Shaq has the size to be an effective contributor on many teams.
However, with this Bills defensive line, they don’t need another run defender. One of the biggest issues with the team is their weak pass-rush – a pass-rush that finished tied for 29th in the league last season. They need a true pass-rusher on the edge opposite of Jerry Hughes.
A very similar situation could play out with Lawson like what happened with Reggie Ragland last training camp. Ragland – the second round pick from the same draft as Lawson – missed his entire rookie season due to a torn ACL and was shipped to the Kansas City Chiefs for a 2019 fourth-round pick during training camp.
He was never a fit for McDermott’s defense due to Ragland being a 3-4 middle linebacker and also not a pick of the current regime. He quickly fell down the depth chart before he was moved to the Chiefs for compensation next year.
It may create another temporary hole on the defensive line, but if the team re-signs Eddie Yarbrough and can draft or sign a pass rushing specialist, they can easily replace Lawson’s production.
Potential trade partners: Oakland, Tampa Bay, Indianapolis
Potential compensation: Third of fourth-round pick
Trade Tyrod Taylor
What we have seen from Tyrod Taylor is what we are going to get. Safe throws, manage the game, and no turnovers. While that did get the Bills to the playoffs this season, it isn’t enough. The goal should be to win a championship, not just get to the playoffs.
Last offseason, the team nearly moved on from Taylor before he decided to restructure his contract and stay for another season. This offseason, the team is faced with a similar decision on what to do. He is owed a $6 million roster bonus shortly after the new league year begins in March. Ian Rapoport reported the team would be willing to pick up that roster bonus and take that hit, even if they were to trade him.
Regardless of the team paying him the roster bonus, the team should move on and get what they can for Taylor. Free agents such as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh McCown, or Sam Bradford could be options for a year or two while the team takes a quarterback in the draft this season.
There are teams that would enjoy having a player of Taylor’s skill-set to help them win now or be the bridge QB for a rookie. While Taylor is what he is as a player, as a person and leader there appears to be few better than him. He would be a great player to take over a team that feels that they are ready to compete now and have a veteran team in place.
While that may be what the Bills are looking for in a veteran QB, they could get a cheaper option that would not cause any potential rift between Taylor remaining the starter and a rookie QB waiting in the wings. The two parties going their separate ways could greatly benefit them both.
Potential trade partners: Denver, Arizona, Cleveland
Potential compensation: Fourth or fifth-round pick
Trade Charles Clay
Charles Clay has at times been underappreciated in his tenure as a Bill, and the amount he was paid to lure him away from the Miami Dolphins in 2015 was scrutinized. However, Clay has been a solid player as both a blocker and receiver for the team when he has been able to stay healthy.
Over his three seasons with Buffalo, Clay has been extremely consistent. He has reception totals of 51, 57, and 49 with receiving yard totals of 528, 552, and 558. Perhaps the worst part about his consistency has been his games played with totals of 13, 15, and 13 (courtesy of Pro Football Reference).
Clay has value still and has the ability to be an effective player in the run game and pass game. With a better QB and more passing-friendly offense he could be a good weapon on another team, but with the state of transition and how much money he is owed, it may be time to part ways.
The Bills could use one of their second-round picks on Mark Andrews, tight end out of Oklahoma to get younger and cheaper at the position, especially if the team finds their way to drafting Baker Mayfield. Other free agent options could be Cameron Brate, Trey Burton, or Niles Paul.
Moving on from another Whaley signing could help free cap space for the team and further bring players in that fit the Beane/McDermott mold. Also with new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, the Bills could be looking to find a player that better fits what they want to do as an offense.
Potential trade partners: Houston, Jacksonville, Baltimore
Potential compensation: Fifth-round pick
Trade for Martavis Bryant
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Bills tried to acquire Martavis Bryant from the Steelers last season to bolster their receiving corps. It would be a good idea for the team to attempt to go after Bryant again due to the emergence of JuJu Smith-Schuster and Antonio Brown still being the best receiver in football.
While the team’s history in trading up/for Clemson wide receivers is not sparkling, all of the pressure is not on Bryant to immediately be the guy. Kelvin Benjamin will begin his first full season with the team in 2018 and is also entering a contract year. While Benjamin is an inch taller than Bryant at 6-foot-5, the two have remarkably different games.
Bryant is speed, speed, and a little more speed. His ability to get behind secondaries is something that this team desperately needs to add to make their offense more complete. Zay Jones appears to be more of a slot receiver and Benjamin is a big body on the outside, so having a speed option for the Bills is something they need to add to solidify the position.
Despite being a special talent, Bryant has his fair share of issues off the field. He missed the 2016 season due to a marijuana suspension and has been suspended by the league on two other occasions. These red flags don’t appear to be what McDermott and Beane look for in a player, but if they were willing to kick the tires on a trade before, why would that be any different now?
This could also be an enticing option for Bryant. Stuck as now the fourth receiving option in Pittsburgh behind Brown, Smith-Schuster, and Le’Veon Bell, Bryant is also playing with an aging quarterback in Ben Roethlisberger. Coming to Buffalo could be the opportunity he covets to establish himself as not only a top two option on a team’s offense, but a premier number one option in the Bills passing game.
In his rookie season of 2014, Bryant put up elite receiving numbers. Bryant recorded 26 receptions for 549 yards and an astounding eight touchdowns over a 10-game span as a rookie. His yards/reception was an astonishing 21.1 yards. In the following two seasons in which he played, he recorded 50 receptions in each, but his touchdowns and yards declined in each season.
All of these stats show that Bryant has the big play capabilities that this team needs. Even if he doesn’t become the top receiving threat for the Bills, he would help provide coverage relief for other receivers and help the run game by drawing defenders out of the box.
Potential price: Third or fourth-round pick
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.
Related Story: Late-round prospects to keep an eye on
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
Trade for Trevor Siemian
The Denver Broncos are in prime position to acquire a new quarterback this offseason. They appear to be the frontrunners for Kirk Cousins and if they miss out on the former Washington QB, they own the fifth pick in the draft and could take one of the top QB prospects available. Either way, there will be change under center in Denver.
One player that the Bills could go after that has experience as a starter and is cheap is Broncos QB Trevor Siemian. Denver took a chance on the former Northwestern QB in the seventh round of the NFL Draft in 2015 and while he hasn’t set the world on fire, Siemian has been a pleasant surprise.
He started one game his rookie season and then went on to start 24 of 25 games combined in 2016 and 2017, throwing for 30 touchdowns and 24 interceptions.
This doesn’t mean the Bills should attempt to take Siemian and make him the franchise guy, but a cost-affordable quarterback with starting experience and success as a starter is a perfect bridge option for the Bills if they take a QB in the draft. Under contract for the 2018 season with just a $1.905 million cap hit, he could help give the team an affordable option that provides cap relief.
In a world where the Broncos sign Cousins, the Bills could ideally trade up with Denver and come away with a rookie QB and an affordable veteran at the same time. If Siemian played for one year under $2 million and was able to give a rookie QB time to develop behind him, it sounds like a win-win for Bills fans.
Next: Four early bold predictions for the team in 2018
Potential compensation: Sixth-round pick