NFL analyst believes Buffalo Bills could make a big trade to fix run game
One area that the Buffalo Bills have struggled this season, and it has been a problem for a few years now, is establishing the run. The front office has certainly tried to improve this part of their offense over the years by drafting Devin Singletary in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, Zack Moss in the 2020 NFL Draft, and then James Cook this past year in the second round.
However, this season those three have combined for only 216 rushing yards and 43 of them came on one run by Moss last week against Miami.
Recently, Boom Esiason was on Up & Adams and provided one potential trade idea that could fix this part of the offense. Esiason mentioned the idea of the Bills trading for New York Giants’ running back Saquon Barkley.
After a few injury-filled seasons, Barkley has looked great and is currently second in the league in rushing yards with 317. He also has two rushing touchdowns along with 13 receptions and 91 receiving yards.
Will Saquon Barkley potentially get traded… to the Bills ⁉️⁰⁰@7BOOMERESIASON thinks so 👀⁰⁰📺: @FanDuelTV | @heykayadams pic.twitter.com/HDl4SuOaQO
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) September 28, 2022
Buffalo Bills could be creative with their trade package for Saquon Barkley
In the NFL, big trades like this are usually pretty rare during the season but the Bills and Giants could potentially be in a position to make something work. The biggest reason is that the Giants currently have Joe Schoen as general manager and Brian Daboll as their head coach.
Both were with the Buffalo Bills last year with Schoen as assistant general manager and Daboll as offensive coordinator. A working relationship already built into trade negotiations could help the process along.
Boomer Esiason mentioned the idea of it only taking a second or third round pick to trade for Barkley. However, with Daboll’s familiarity with the players on the roster, a trade package of Moss and a third or fourth may be enough to get it done.
The Giants would get a running back that is under contract for two more years and a player that could step in right away due to his familiarity with Daboll’s playbook.
The biggest challenge to getting a trade done may be Saquon Barkley’s contract. He is under contract only through this year but has a cap hit over $7 million, the sixth highest cap hit among running back this season according to Spotrac.
The Buffalo Bills though have less than $1.5 million in cap space so the front office would need to create cap space to make a trade like this work. It can be done but there would need to be some corresponding moves.
On the surface, it is a move that would seem to make sense and could address one of the few weaknesses of a team that is looking to compete for a Super Bowl. The familiarity between the people with the two franchises certainly helps but the salary cap implications and what the asking price actually is may be too much to get a deal done.
At the very least, it is something to at least monitor over the next few weeks leading up to the deadline.
