On Monday, the Buffalo Bills made a trade by sending former second round pick Cody Ford to the Arizona Cardinals for a fifth round pick in next year’s NFL Draft. On Tuesday, general manager Brandon Beane met with reporters to discuss a number of topics, including the Cody Ford trade.
While Ford ultimately went to the Arizona Cardinals, they weren’t the only team interested in trading for the offensive guard. Beane said that there were multiple teams interested in Ford but that the Cardinals were the most aggressive.
This was rather surprising considering that Ford has struggled for the most part during his time with the Buffalo Bills. However, his performance in the preseason could have been a factor and the Bills general manager did say that Ford was “one of the best” offensive linemen from the game on Saturday against the Denver Broncos.
Why did the Buffalo Bills decide to trade Cody Ford?
The decision to trade Cody Ford seemed to come down to a few factors for the Buffalo Bills. The most notable was that he was not going to start this year. The team appear set on having Rodger Saffold and Ryan Bates as their starting guards and this created a challenge for Ford.
The other reason that Brandon Beane seemed to note is that they want offensive lineman that can be versatile. While Ford did play right tackle as a rookie, he is probably primarily only going to be a guard for the remainder of his career.
When considering the Buffalo Bills have players who can play both tackle and guard like David Quessenberry or even Bobby Hart, it makes sense that the team would trade Ford. More importantly, they did get what is considered a decent return for a player that hasn’t played at his potential during his time in the NFL.
Grade for the Buffalo Bills trade of Cody Ford to the Arizona Cardinals
On Monday, the Buffalo Bills traded away offensive lineman Cody Ford