Buffalo Bills posturing for quarterback in 2018 after trades

Are the Buffalo Bills posturing for a quarterback in the 2018 NFL Draft after the big trades on Friday? It certainly looks like it…

The Buffalo Bills appear to be taking the ‘tank’ approach to the 2017 NFL season along with their AFC East foes, the New York Jets.

The Bills were looking at competing for second place in the AFC East at best before making some big trades on Friday, but after the deals they made, it’s hard to imagine them winning more than five or six games this season.

In addition to losing Stephon Gillmore in free agency, the Bills traded Ronald Darby on Thursday to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for wide receiver Jordan Matthews and a third round draft pick.

That’s a pretty nice value for the Bills, getting a rental on Matthews and getting the third round pick, but that wasn’t the only trade they made.

The Bills also dealt wide receiver Sammy Watkins, a former top draft pick, to the Los Angeles Rams for cornerback E.J. Gaines and a second round pick.

We also can’t forget that the Bills traded their first round pick this year to the Kansas City Chiefs to move way down in the first round of the draft so Kansas City could jump up and get Patrick Mahomes.

Buffalo now holds the following selections in the 2018 NFL Draft:

1st round (own)
1st round (Chiefs)
2nd round (own)
2nd round (Rams)
3rd round (own)
3rd round (Eagles)

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That will give them at a minimum six selections in the top 100 of the draft, plus if they get any compensatory selection for the loss of Stephon Gillmore, and potentially four of those picks could be top 40 selections.

To me, that seems like the type of draft capital that one would accumulate to prepare for either a complete rebuild or to get your quarterback of the future.

The Bills may be doing a little combination of both.

The 2018 NFL Draft figures to be loaded with quarterbacks, starting with USC’s Sam Darnold and Wyoming’s Josh Allen. The Bills will presumably have the opportunity to start fresh, or they will be able to make a serious run at a veteran like Kirk Cousins if they want to make a trade there rather than draft someone.

The options are definitely available now to the Bills, but what will happen for them next? Will they keep quarterback Tyrod Taylor?

This is definitely a team to keep an eye on as the preseason progresses.