Buffalo Bills had trade in place for second round pick but stayed with Carlos Basham Jr.
The biggest surprise of the 2021 NFL Draft for the Buffalo Bills was they selected defensive end Carlos Basham Jr. with their second round pick after taking defensive end Greg Rousseau with the 30th overall pick in the first round. The second biggest surprise is that general manager Brandon Beane hasn’t made a trade to this point of the NFL Draft.
However, it appears this could have gone very differently had Carlos Basham Jr. not been on the board when the Bills were on the clock. On Friday night, general manager Brandon Beane met with the media and said they had a trade agreed upon with an NFC team for their second round pick but Basham was the one player they were going to stay at 61st overall if he were on the board.
The trade would have essentially moved the Bills back into the third round but brought additional picks back. The Bills didn’t have a fourth round pick this year so it would have made sense this is something they would have targeted or another fifth that would allow them to package a couple in that round to move into the fourth.
It is also interesting to hear that Carlos Basham Jr. was that high on their draft board when considering they had already selected Greg Rousseau in the first round. The defensive end position undoubtedly needed more youth and it felt like a certainty they would add at least one pass rusher. However, for them to draft two in back to back picks seems like a luxury with other needs on the roster.
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However, one thing that is clear is that the Buffalo Bills stay true to their board and really went into this draft with the mindset of best player available. When considering cornerback seems to be a need and there were some good players still on the board at the time, the fact that they selected Carlos Basham Jr. certainly proves their point.