Buffalo Bills NFL Draft: GM Brandon Beane’s history of trading first round picks
By Kevin Devine
2018 – Beane trades up again to select Tremaine Edmunds
After essentially trading Cordy Glenn, a late first round pick and two second round picks for Josh Allen, Beane struck again in 2018, this time sending a first-round pick (#22 overall) and the first pick in the third round (65 overall) to the Baltimore Ravens for the number 16 pick in the draft and a fifth-round pick (154 overall). With the #16 pick, Beane drafted a 19-year-old linebacker out of Virginia Tech, Tremaine Edmunds.
Edmunds was an anomaly from the beginning for the Buffalo Bills. Ranked as a Top 10 overall prospect, Edmunds entered the league with an NFL pedigree. His father Ferrell was a two-time Pro Bowl tight end, and his brother Terrell was drafted in the first round in 2018 as well, at number 27 overall by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tremaine Edmunds, despite his young age and inexperience, started for the Bills from day one, being named a team captain before his second season, and starting for the Bills for five years. In those years, he became a leader of a defense that has consistently been elite.
His two Pro Bowl selections and career year in 2022 priced him out of the Bills range and earned him a four-year $72 million free agent contract from the Chicago Bears this offseason. His departure leaves a significant hole in the defense for 2023.