All of the focus for the Buffalo Bills is on Sunday’s game where they return from their bye week and host the Baltimore Ravens. While Joe Brady and his staff have to get this roster ready, Brandon Beane and his staff must have their attention set on what they are going to do to improve this defense before the NFL trade deadline.
Bills fans have been calling for the team to make a trade to improve this defense that is among the worst in the league against the pass (giving up 285.8 yards per game). This is Brandon Beane's chance to make a splash to improve the Bills' biggest weakness, which is something that he failed to do last year when he didn't land a wide receiver at last season's trade deadline.
Brandon Beane faces mountain of pressure to pull of trade to improve Bills
The Bills are a contender, no one can deny that. At the same time, everyone knows what their biggest liability is. With the NFL trade deadline coming up here in less than two weeks, Beane and his staff have to find a way to improve the roster before it's too late.
At the same time, we can want Beane to go all-in and make a splash that will put the Bills on top. His history, on the other hand, shows us that while there are aspirations to improve the roster, there is little confidence that Buffalo will make an impactful move (if one at all).
History shows us Bills' trade deadline moves (and they aren't great)
Since Beane has taken over as the general manager of the Bills, he has made a handful of trades during the season whether it was players coming into Orchard Park, or going out.
In 2017, the Bills had traded away DT Marcell Dareus to the Jacksonville Jaguars for a 2018 6th-round pick as part of the turnaround that Beane and Sean McDermott were doing in the new regime. Then right before the trade deadline passed, the Bills pulled off a trade with the Carolina Panthers to acquire WR Kelvin Benjamin, sending a 2018 3rd and 7th round pick back to Carolina. Benjamin played in just 18 total games and had 571 yards to go with 2 touchdowns. Not impactful whatsoever.
Early on in the 2018 season, the Bills traded OL Marshall Newhouse to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for a 2021 7th-round pick.
In 2019, despite turning things around from their 6-10 2018 season, the Bills ended up shipping Zay Jones to the then-Oakland Raiders for a 2021 5th-round pick.
The Bills would then go the next two seasons in 2020 and 2021 without making a trade, which makes sense considering that they took a big-time leap into their Super Bowl window.
In 2022, the Bills brought back an old friend in S Dean Marlowe from the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for a Day 3 pick. In addition, the Bills also traded away RB Zack Moss and a 2023 6th-round pick for RB Nyheim Hines from the Indianapolis Colts to create more of a spark in the running back room. Hines played for the Bills in just 9 games, with his obvious breakout game being against the Patriots where he had not one, but two kickoff returns for a touchdown to help beat New England.
Then before the 2023 season, Hines tore his ACL in a jet ski accident and he didn't play another down for the Bills as he was released in 2024.
Now we finally get to the best trade deadline move that Beane has made which was acquiring CB Rasul Douglas from the Green Bay Packers (along with a 2024 5th-round pick) in exchange for a 2024 3rd-round pick. Douglas made an immediate impact upon arriving to Buffalo and he became a great CB2. In just 1.5 seasons with the Bills, Douglas recorded 87 total tackles, 2 fumble recoveries, 4 interceptions, and 13 pass deflections. Since his days in Buffalo, Douglas has played for the Miami Dolphins and is currently on the Washington Commanders.
The last trade the Bills made in-season was in 2024 the day after a Monday Night Football win over the New York Jets, when they landed WR Amari Cooper from the Cleveland Browns. The Bills also got a 2025 6th-round pick in exchange for a 2025 3rd-round pick and a 2026 7th-round pick. Buffalo needed help at wide receiver since they didn't have Stefon Diggs anymore, and the receiving room was not helping Josh Allen.
While Cooper had a solid career overall, his brief time with the Bills was forgetful. He played in just 8 games (missing time due to a wrist injury) and he finished the season with 297 yards and 2 touchdowns. In the playoffs that season, he had just 6 catches for 41 yards with no trips to the endzone.
Then finally, at last year's deadline, Beane didn't pull off a move despite Tom Pelissero reporting that the Bills were in on trying to acquire WR Jaylen Waddle in the division from the Miami Dolphins. Buffalo's passing attack struggled, and Beane took a lot of heat and criticism from the media and the fans.
Brandon Beane must now prove that he deserved his promotion
Out of all of these moves, Beane swung and missed a majority of them. The only that truly worked on a consistent basis was acquiring Rasul Douglas from the Packers. He provided stability in a beaten up secondary and brought physicality. Other than that, all of the other acquisitions were misses.
When Beane got his promotion to President of Football Operations the same day that Sean McDermott was fired, it caused a big outburst publicly from the media and fans. There were a lot of people who were angry that McDermott was fired, yet Beane got to stay and get a promotion despite his shortcomings of building up a true championship roster. Had it not been for the drafting of Josh Allen, who knows if Beane would still even be in the building.
With the Bills having a clear problem on defense, Beane has to do whatever it takes to acquire help because if we go through another trade deadline where the Bills don't make a move to improve somehow, the noise is going to get louder for Beane and not in a great way.
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