Sometimes trades can become the backbone of a team ascending to contender status.
Buffalo Bills president of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane is no stranger to trades. He’s been one of the most active GMs on the trade market since being hired by the Bills after the 2017 draft.
His previous contemporary, former Sabres GM Kevyn Adams, wasn’t shy about sending away players during the team’s playoff drought. Ironically, right after Adams was fired mid-season, the Sabres went on an historic
run to their first divisional title in over 15 years because of many of the players Adams either drafted or acquired in trades.
And the vast majority of those Sabres trades featured Buffalo moving a star (or established veteran) for draft picks or younger players with the long-term in mind. Think — a “seller” type trade.
That got me thinking.
How have the Bills fared in these specific type of trades?
Here’s a rundown of such trades in the Beane era:
Sammy Watkins Trade
Bills got: CB EJ Gaines, No. 56 overall pick in 2018 draft (used in trade up to select Josh Allen)
Rams got: Sammy Watkins, 2018 sixth-round pick (DT Sebastian Joseph-Day)
Advantage: Bills
Watkins didn’t flame out immediately in Los Angeles yet hardly reached his perceived upside. Joseph-Day has turned into a average defensive tackle. Gaines was serviceable in Buffalo and, most vitally, adding ammunition to get Allen couldn’t be more important.
Ronald Darby Trade
Bills got: WR Jordan Matthews, 2018 third-round pick (DT Harrison Phillips)
Eagles got: Ronald Darby
Advantage: Bills
Matthews only caught 25 passes with one score in his Bills career. Darby’s gone on to have a lengthy, journeyman type career at cornerback. The presence of Phillips in this trade gives the Bills the slight edge.
Marcell Dareus Trade
Bills got: 2018 fifth-round pick (OG Wyatt Teller)
Jaguars got: Marcell Dareus
Advantage: Push
Dareus, at the time of his trade, was the highest-paid player on the Bills. Teller became an All-Pro… with the Browns. Clear push.
Cardale Jones Trade
Bills got: 2018 seventh-round pick (used in trade for WR Kelvin Benjamin)
Chargers got: Cardale Jones
Advantage: Bills
While Benjamin gets ragged on by Bills fans because he didn’t materialize into a long-term answer for the team, he did make a collection of important plays during the drought-busting season of 2017. Jones never threw a pass for the Chargers.
Reggie Ragland Trade
Bills got: 2019 fourth-round pick (used in trade up for TE Dawson Knox)
Chiefs got: Reggie Ragland
Advantage: Bills
Because that fourth-rounder was part of the trade to select Knox, this is a no-brainer win for Buffalo
AJ McCarron Trade
Bills got: 2019 fifth-round pick (which was used in trade up for OG Cody Ford)
Raiders got: AJ McCarron
Advantage: Bills
While Ford was a major disappointment as a Top 40 selection, he did play in a lot of games for the Bills. McCarron threw three passes as a member of the Raiders.
Kevon Seymour Trade
Bills got: WR Kaelin Clay, 2019 seventh-round pick (TE Tommy Sweeney)
Panthers got: CB Kevon Seymour
Advantage: Push
I’ll admit — I had forgotten about Clay’s time on Buffalo’s roster, maybe because he caught exactly one pass for 28 yards in a Bills helmet. Sweeney didn’t amount to much either, and Seymour only spent one season in Carolina, where he made four pass breakups
Eli Harold Trade
Bills got: OL Ryan Bates
Eagles got: Eli Harold
Advantage: Bills
What a player-for-player trade for the Bills. Harold never actually played for the Eagles — he was cut less than a month after this trade was finalized. Bates was a key interior offensive line piece early in the Allen era.
Marshall Newhouse Trade
Bills got: 2021 seventh-round pick (OL Jack Anderson)
Panthers got: Marshall Newhouse
Advantage: Push
The fact Beane was able to turn Newhouse into a draft-pick — even a future seventh — was fine GMing. But this trade didn’t move the needle for either team.
Russell Bodine Trade
Bills got: 2020 sixth-round pick (WR Isaiah Hodgins)
Patriots got: Russell Bodine
Advantage: Bills
Hodgins had a minor eruption on the Giants after his time in Buffalo and only caught four passes for 41 yards as a member of the team that drafted him. Bodine was released by the Patriots before ever playing a regular-season snap for them.
Zay Jones Trade
Bills got: 2021 fifth-round pick (OL Tommy Doyle)
Raiders got: Zay Jones
Advantage: Raiders
Jones felt like a bust when Buffalo moved him. He has gone onto have a respectable career. Doyle served as the Bills swing tackle early in his career but retired from the game because of a rash of injuries.
Wyatt Teller Trade
Bills got: 2020 fifth-round pick (used in trade for Stefon Diggs) + 2020 sixth-round pick (K Tyler Bass)
Browns got: Wyatt Teller + 2021 seventh-round pick (used in trade for LB Tony Fields) + subsequent trades netted CB Martin Emerson, DT Perrion Winfrey, and K Cade York
Advantage: Browns
Undisputed loss for Beane and Co. here, as expected. It wasn’t a total disaster, as it helped the Bills acquire Diggs and directly led to Bass. But the Browns clearly got the better of this deal.
Lee Smith Trade
Bills got: 2022 seventh-round pick (used in the trade up for CB Kaiir Elam)
Falcons got: Lee Smith
Advantage: Falcons
Moving up for Elam was arguably the worst decision of the Beane era, and while Smith only played one season in Atlanta, he played nearly 30% of the snaps, blocked his butt off and caught nine passes for 65 yards and a score.
Darryl Johnson Trade
Bills got: 2022 sixth-round pick (CB Christian Benford)
Panthers got: Darryl Johnson
Advantage: Bills
Wooo-boy. In terms of net value-acquisition perspective, this could be the finest transaction of the Beane era beyond trading up for Allen.
Cody Ford Trade
Bills got: 2023 fifth-round pick (used in trades that netted WR Justin Shorter + CB Alex Austin + the 2024 sixth-round pick used in trade of Stefon Diggs to the Texans)
Cardinals got: Cody Ford
Advantage: Bills
I nearly made this a push — yet getting a selection to get Diggs’ contract off the books gives the Bills an ever-so-slight advantage. Ford only played 29% of the offensive snaps for the Cardinals in his lone season in Arizona, 2022.
Carlos Basham Trade
Bills got: 2025 sixth-round pick (Dorian Strong)
Giants got: Carlos Basham + 2025 seventh-round pick (CB Korie Black)
Advantage: Push
Strong was a serious contender to become Benford 2.0 before his serious neck injury, and Basham did essentially nothing in New York with the Giants.
The Other Stefon Diggs Trade
Bills got: 2025 second-round pick (used in trade up for DT T.J. Sanders)
Texans got: Stefon Diggs + 2024 sixth-round pick (used in trade that netted RB Jahwar Jordan + OG LaDarius Henderson) + 2025 fifth-round pick (that was used in multiple trades that netted RB Woody Marks + QB Graham Mertz + TE Luke Lachey)
Advantage: Texans
Because of the haul Houston received through eventual trade transactions from this swap and Sanders’ lackluster rookie campaign in Buffalo, the Texans win this trade. They also got quality productivity from Diggs in 2024 before his injury.
Taron Johnson Trade
Bills got: 2026 sixth-round pick (used in trade up for CB Davison Igbinosun)
Raiders got: Taron Johnson + 2026 seventh-round pick (used in trade up for RB Mike Washington Jr.)
Advantage: TBD
Because this trade just happened and Igbinosun and Washington have yet to see the field in the NFL, this trade is still to be determined.
Overall, Beane and Co. have done a tremendous job parting with veterans in trades and eventually getting at least decent value in return. The Jones, Teller, and Diggs trades are the only clear-cut “losses” for the organization in these specific type of “seller” trades.
Which players do you think are next to be traded off the Bills roster?
