The Buffalo Bills have found themselves every year this decade getting so close to finally reaching the Super Bowl, but they have failed every single season. Since they have lost in atleast the divisional round of the playoffs, they get a lower draft pick in the first round and they are forced to watch the top talent go off the board in the following draft.
The last time the Bills had a top ten pick was in 2019 where they drafted DT Ed Oliver. They haven’t picked higher than 23rd overall in the first round (Kaiir Elam - 2022). They currently have the 26th overall pick heading into next month’s draft. However, we have seen Beane trade away Buffalo’s 1st-rounder before the draft, trade up, and trade down. Anything is possible.
Under Beane’s control, Buffalo has involved their original 1st-round pick in multiple ways. They have used it to trade up to get players like Josh Allen, Tremaine Edmunds, Kaiir Elam, and Dalton Kincaid. He’s packaged it to acquire a veteran like Stefon Diggs. He’s also traded back, specifically twice in the same draft back in 2024.
One thing that Beane has never done is make a huge trade to move up in the draft, but in Ryan Wilson’s mock draft from CBS Sports, that’s exactly what the Bills do.
Mock draft has Bills making huge trade up to No. 3 overall
In Wilson’s mock trade, the Bills moved up from No. 26 all the way to No. 3 in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals and they selected Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate.
Yes, you read that right. The Bills jumped up 23 spots to select arguably the best wide receiver in this draft class. Tate is a game changer and you could make the case that he will make an immediate impact to any team that drafts him.
At 6-foot-3 and 195lbs, Tate could be one the next great Ohio State wide receivers to come into the NFL. When you look at the track record of the receivers that have come into the NFL, it makes sense why teams would want to acquire the next big one.
Tate finished his career with the Buckeyes with 1,872 yards and 14 touchdowns. At the combine, Tate ran a 4.53 which was impressive.
Going back to Wilson’s mock trade, it doesn’t show the trade value that the Bills gave up to jump up 23 spots to acquire Tate, but you have to imagine that would affect Buffalo’s draft class this year, next year, and possibly the year after that.
The last time the Bills made a trade for a wide receiver that involved them trading future 1st-round picks was back in 2014 for Sammy Watkins. That pairing didn’t last long as Watkins only played for the Bills for three seasons and was traded prior to the start of the 2017 season.
Could this trade happen? Sure. Should it? Absolutely not. Fans want Beane to make a splash in either free agency or the draft, but not at the cost of them giving up on future draft capital for the next year or two.