Trade up? Trade down? With no pick in Round 2, how will Beane approach draft?
As things currently stand, Bills GM Brandon Beane does not have a second-round pick in this week’s draft. He made use of that capital on DJ Moore, but the Bills still have work to do on the roster.
When the second round of the NFL draft starts up on Friday, Brandon Beane may just sit and look at pictures of DJ Moore. Maybe it’ll be the wide receiver hauling in a big catch or even scoring a touchdown. Moore won’t be in a Bills uniform yet – unless Beane has someone use AI or Photoshop – but the visualization will still help Beane pass the time.
It’s a little trick the Bills' general manager has done before.
“(I’ll) probably do what we did with (Stefon Diggs) when I was drafting from my basement,” Beane said, reflecting on the 2020 Covid draft. “Just put up some images of (Diggs).
Bills general manager Brandon Beane is seen Monday at One Bills Drive. As of Tuesday evening, the Bills do not have a
second-round pick in the NFL draft after Beane dealt it to the Bears for wide receiver DJ Moore. Derek Gee, Buffalo News
“We’ll probably do the same with DJ, just to remind ourselves, all right, this was an asset that we used for this known commodity in the NFL.”
As things currently stand, Beane does not have a second-round pick in this week’s draft. He made use of that capital on Moore, but the Bills still have work to do on the roster. Bringing a receiver like Moore to Buffalo helps the Bills in other ways, but Beane knows any trade means giving up something.
“Listen, you want all your picks,” Beane said Tuesday. “You want to be selective when you do it. But we just felt in most drafts, and especially in this draft, we just didn't feel like there's going to be a player of DJ’s caliber to trade that 2.
“So, we're excited how we already spent a little bit of our draft capital, and now we just have to hopefully hit some – hit some needs, get some good players, whether they're starters, key backups, whatever that is. There are still spots that we can add, again, whether it's a starter or a depth player on either side of the ball.”
The Bills pick in the first round at No. 26, and then have to wait until No. 91 in Round 3. With their fourth-round pick at No. 126, it’s a slow start to this year’s selection. The Bills then have four more picks after that: Nos. 165, 168, 182, and 220.
Would Beane make another trade to get back into the second round? It was a question that kicked off his Tuesday’s news conference after some light chatter about the Sabres.
“A trade? You know, I'll always listen, yeah,” Beane said. “Obviously, we have our pick in (Round) 1. Don't have the 2, which we got DJ for. So, yeah, we'll see. We'll see what's there.
“As always, it's no different – even if I had three 2’s, if someone's offering me something that makes sense to go back, we’d do that. It's harder to go up. But I would think with us, you'd never say never.”
Beane is no stranger to making trades during the draft, and what could push things in the direction of a trade back for Buffalo this year is the number, or lack thereof, of players that the Bills have given a first-round draft grade.
“I would say we're on the lower end of it, without saying the number of true first-round grades,” Beane said.
He later added: “And, no, I don't have anywhere near 26 first-round grades.”
If the clock starts for the Bills in Round 1 when their first-round grades are all gone, it will be hard for Beane to stay put. He traded down twice before drafting wide receiver Keon Coleman two years ago.
Of course, any trade needs a partner. Beane and his staff study the tendencies of the other 31 clubs to get a better feel and more realistic mock drafts. Scouts make their mock picks based on that research, which can help the Bills prepare for anything once the draft gets rolling on Thursday. They work through all sorts of situational drafting.
“You're trying to create as close to a scenario that you could face on Thursday, and then make decisions,” Beane said. “And in this case, all right, we get to pick 26. All right, is this something we're fired up to take the player, or is this something we would prefer – there will be a player there that we like that can help us – but is it something we prefer to trade back and get that player in Round 2 while adding some additional comp? So that's kind of the conversation.”