Buffalo trades two stars: Grading the Darby and Watkins trades

Buffalo shocks the NFL, but they fall short of taking a W in the deals

While the NFL was reeling in the shock of Ezekiel Elliott being traded, the Buffalo Bills completed two trades that were completely unexpected.

Buffalo traded away arguably their two best players Friday, sending receiver Sammy Watkins to the Los Angeles Rams and Ronald Darby to the Philadelphia Eagles.

The trade with Los Angeles kicked off the Friday frenzy as Tyrod Taylor’s top receiving weapon walked out the door. Surely Watkins will appreciate going from the winters in Buffalo to the sun in Los Angeles.

From the Rams perspective, it appears they overpaid to get Jared Goff a top-tier wide receiver. Watkins missed half of last season and three games in 2015 with a foot injury, making his presence on game day a question throughout the year.

I also question the Rams cornerback depth without Gaines and beyond Trumaine Johnson. They did add former Bill Nickell Robey-Coleman to play the nickel, but on the outside the depth is weak.

The Bills walk away thrilled with this trade despite Gaines going into the final year of his deal. The second-round pick for an oft-injured receiver is a tremendous value, and head coach Sean McDermott can go into a rebuild happy to have another predictably high-second round pick.

If Watkins stays healthy and gives Goff a legitimate deep threat this grade increases for the Rams but for now with durability issues it’s a solid C+.