Bills general manager, Brandon Beane had a history of moving up in round one to secure his first player, having done so in three of the five drafts he’s overseen when Buffalo had a first-round pick, including the last two. But lacking much draft capital on the first two days of the draft and needing an influx of youth for the roster, Beane took a different approach.
Staying patient in watching how the board unfolded on night one, it became evident that there would not be suitable player value for their pick at 28. So, Beane elected to slide back four spots from 28 to 32 in a trade with Kansas City.
The Bills landed a third-round pick at 95th overall from Kansas City in exchange for their fourth, 38 picks later (No. 128), and a swap of seventh-round picks in which they moved up 27 slots, almost another full round, from 248 to 221.
“We were checking the whole night around our area and back, and we were just following the board,” said Beane. “Obviously, we came into this draft without a (third-round pick), and we were able to get ourselves back into the third and felt like there would be some value there.”
Instead of having just one pick on day two of the draft, Buffalo now had three to work with.
Beane intended to pick at 32, but former Bills Assistant GM Dan Morgan, now the general manager for Carolina, called Buffalo’s GM and presented an offer in which Buffalo could move up 59 picks from Round 6 (No. 200) to Round 5 (No. 141) just to move back one spot from pick 32 to pick 33.
Suddenly, the Bills had four fifth-round picks, giving them a great deal of maneuverability power for day three of the draft.
“It made sense to go back one and get the pole position (on day two),” said Beane. “And we knew no matter who Carolina was going to take at 32 we still felt there was some good value on the board at 33 which was the first one Friday. So, it made sense to do that.”
Beane’s plan proved fruitful as he addressed Buffalo’s primary positional need on offense, landing a big-bodied outside receiver in Florida State’s Keon Coleman.
