With the New York Jets and Indianapolis Colts swapping picks in the first round of next month’s draft, the Buffalo Bills have now been put in a tough place to trade up. However, the Bills have the ammo and relationships to still get into the top five.
A wrench was thrown into the Buffalo Bills’ plans last weekend when it comes to the 2018 NFL Draft.
The Jets sent the No. 6 overall pick and three second-round picks to the Colts for No. 3 overall and will most likely draft a quarterback.
Trade! The #Jets acquired the No. 3 overall pick from the #Colts for their No. 6 pick, 37th and 49th overall picks in the 2018 NFL Draft and second-round pick in 2019. Major move.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 17, 2018
After the Bills traded up from No. 21 in the draft to No. 12 in the Cordy Glenn trade, it seemed inevitable that Buffalo would use the draft capital they acquired to move up into the top five to select their next franchise quarterback, and the Colts were the team to partner with.
Instead, it was the Jets who partnered with the Colts to move into the top three and the Bills are left potentially missing out on their franchise quarterback.
Despite having a very good offseason and making trades over the last year to acquire the aforementioned draft capital (Watkins, Taylor, Glenn, Darby trades for example), the pressure is now squarely on the shoulders of general manager Brandon Beane.
It appears his plan all along has been to move all the way up to the top of the draft to get a quarterback, but now he will have to work even harder to get to the top and make sure they get the guy the team wants.
It will certainly be a difficult task to move all the way up from No. 12, but there are options available for the team. With previous and current relationships, Beane can swing deals with the team’s surplus of draft capital.
There are several teams and scenarios in which the team can explore, so let’s take a look at the draft capital, how the top 10 could fall, and potential trade partners/packages.