We try to determine who the Buffalo Bills may have been interested in trading up for in the 2020 NFL Draft.
Over the weekend, Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane mentioned that they had a trade in place to move up in the 2020 NFL Draft. However, the player they were targeting was selected right before that pick so they didn’t move forward with the deal.
On Saturday, WGR550’s Sal Capaccio tweeted that Brandon Beane had said the Bills had a trade in place with an NFC team about 3-4 spots ahead of them but that player went right before.
https://twitter.com/SalSports/status/1254196392177917952
The general consensus was that the Bills were targeting a cornerback, possibly Trevon Diggs in the second round or Bryce Hall in the fifth round.
However, on Monday morning Beane added a little more detail that they were looking at an offensive linemen.
Beane says on @WGR550 it was an OL the Bills were targeting and about to trade up for with an NFC team, but that he went right before that, so they didn’t do the deal.
— Sal Capaccio 🏈 (@SalSports) April 27, 2020
This narrows it down, based on Beane’s comments, to only one spot which came in the sixth round. The Carolina Panthers had the fifth pick in the sixth round, where the Bills took kicker Tyler Bass, which is exactly four spots ahead of the Bills’ first sixth round pick.
This certainly makes sense in terms of trade partner due to the extensive relationship with his former organization and GM Marty Hurney.
While the New York Giants took Cam Brown, OLB out of Penn State, the three picks before Brown were offensive linemen. Hakeem Adeniji, offensive tackle out of Kansas went to the Cincinnati Bengals, Netane Muti, offensive guard out of Fresno State went to the Denver Broncos, and Michael Onwenu out of Michigan went to the New England Patriots.
Based on these three, and the fact the Bills do have a slight need at offensive guard, Muti or Onwenu would make perfect sense for the team to target. These are two powerful guards that excel in the run game and could have been long term answers at right guard since Jon Felcianio is entering his final year of his deal.
While it was surprising that the Buffalo Bills didn’t make any trades in the 2020 NFL Draft, which is something Brandon Beane has started to gain a reputation for, this didn’t mean the Bills’ GM wasn’t trying to wheel and deal behind the scenes.