4 trades the Buffalo Bills can make during second wave of free agency

Buffalo Bills Trade Target: Cameron Jordan (New Orleans Saints)

While the Buffalo Bills had an elite regular season defense once again in 2022, they were exposed down the stretch and throughout the playoffs as they were unable to create significant pressure against Skylar Thompson and the Dolphins before being picked apart by Joe Burrow and the Bengals.

While they have some very promising pieces and should expect to see improvements in year three from Greg Rousseau, the Bills should focus on adding at least one, and maybe two players who can create pressure on quarterbacks and disrupt high efficiency passing games. This need is only enhanced by the improvements of the Dolphins with the anticipated return of QB Tua Tagovailoa and the anticipated trade of Aaron Rodgers to the rival Jets.

With the division set to be a gauntlet next season, the Bills need to add depth and create a rotation to keep their best pass rushers fresh to be able to create constant pressure deep into games and against elite offensive lines in the post-season.

New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan would immediately upgrade the Buffalo Bills defensive line and ability to create pressure, and would not cost much in a trade. The Saints are in a tight salary cap situation which could get worse in coming years and would see significant savings trading Jordan (potentially $23 million over 2 years) if they trade him after June 1.

Jordan is now 34 years old and is not likely to be playing at an elite level the next time the Saints are competitive. However, for the Buffalo Bills he would provide a disruptive player who had 8.5 sacks last season. Adding him alongside Rousseau and eventually Miller would create matchup nightmares for basically any opposing offensive line.

Trading for Jordan makes sense for the Bills if they can do one of three things. First, they could restructure contracts to make room just for this season, and trade a later round pick to New Orleans, absorbing the larger cap hit for one season with the realization that this will be a move for just one year.

The second option would be to trade for him and restructure the contract adding a year, and maybe a dead cap year which could decrease his overall cap hit this season. The third would be to trade a player with a larger contract back to New Orleans (Ed Oliver?) to offset the cap hit next season providing some relief for both teams.