Buffalo Bills: Grading the team after the trade deadline

The Buffalo Bills remained quiet at the trade deadline. That may not have been the best course of action given the way the season has gone.

The NFL trade deadline was this Tuesday and the Buffalo Bills didn’t make a move.

However, the team did add several players via free agency.

The lack of a trade was a bit surprising considering the team is 2-6 and the goal seems to be toward continuing to build the team through the NFL Draft. Picks seemingly could have been acquired for players like LeSean McCoy and Kelvin Benjamin, but both remain on the roster.

Cody Williams of NFL Spin Zone went through each NFL team and gave a grade for how they performed at the deadline. He gave the Bills a grade of “D.” Here is his explanation:

"It’s pretty clear that the Buffalo Bills aren’t going to make anything happen with their roster as it’s currently constructed. Therefore, it would’ve been nice to see them make moves to try and sell off pieces in regards to building through the draft for the future. They did no such thing, though, and now their prospects are questionable moving forward still."

I can agree with this to a point. The problem is that the team may have offered players up in trades, but the returns could have been too low. If that was the case, I can’t blame Brandon Beane.

A player like Benjamin may not even be wanted by another team and McCoy could have been kept around since he is under contract in 2019 as well. If the team likes his leadership and no other teams were offering high picks, better to keep him around.

There is also the chance that the front office thinks the team would be much better if Josh Allen was healthy. Or if the quarterback position wasn’t dealing with so much turnover in general. That would also prevent the front office from trading away key pieces.

There are still eight games left to play so it is entirely possible that the Bills rack up a few wins right away and change the narrative of the season.

I find it hard to even offer up a grade without a move being made. I would need more information on what was being offered up in return when Beane made calls to other teams.

And if the concept of culture is still being used as a main focus of pride for this team, keeping the group intact after a rough stretch doesn’t hurt.