Could the Buffalo Bills be looking to add a former All-Pro running back before the trade deadline?
The NFL trade deadline is a little over three weeks away and the trade rumors are about to pick up across the league. On Sunday night, the Cleveland Browns made a notable trade with the Atlanta Falcons for linebacker Deion Jones.
The Buffalo Bills reportedly could be in the market and recently reached out to another NFC South team. According to Dan Fetes of 13WHAM, the Bills have contacted the Carolina Panthers about running back Christian McCaffrey.
UPDATE: Dan Fetes provided a follow-up after his initial tweet that the Buffalo Bills confirmed with him that they had not in fact reached out to the Carolina Panthers about a trade for running back Christian McCaffrey.
The Bills responded to our report and say they have NOT reached out to the Panthers about Christian McCaffrey. https://t.co/poPmJVh1e5
— Dan Fetes (@danfetes) October 10, 2022
This certainly makes sense for both sides as the Bills are going to be looking to improve a roster that is already good enough for a Super Bowl but if the price is right adding a player of McCaffrey’s caliber would make a great offense even better.
Meanwhile, the Panthers could be in sell mode after the team fired a number of coaches on Monday, including head coach Matt Rhule and defensive coordinator Phil Snow.
This season, Christian McCaffrey has 324 rushing yards, 26 receptions, 188 receiving yards and three total touchdowns.
Buffalo Bills may only be doing their due diligence
The fact that the Bills reached out to the Panthers isn’t overly surprising and it doesn’t mean that a trade is on the horizon or close. This past season, the Bills made a surprising move by signing Von Miller and after the deal, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport provided some detail about how this came together on The Pat McAfee Show.
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— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) March 17, 2022
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The one takeaway from Rapoport’s reporting was that the Buffalo Bills are “always the mystery team”. This means that Brandon Beane is always going to do his due diligence so it isn’t surprising to see the Buffalo Bills be connected to the former Pro Bowl running back.
While Christian McCaffrey hasn’t been as productive recently as he was early in his career, he has a skill set that would seemingly be perfect for this offense. He is an elite pass catcher out of the backfield and is someone that could be lined up over the field, similar to what was expected of James Cook.
In a high passing offense like Buffalo, a player like Christian McCaffrey would make it a nightmare for opposing defenses to stop. If the Bills want to go all-in on a Super Bowl this year, this move makes sense.
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