The Bills swung a trade with the Eagles for running back Bryce Brown on the final day of the draft, but Brown wasn’t their first choice for additional help in the backfield.
General Manager Doug Whaley told the team’s website that the Bills tried to trade back into the second round in order to add a rookie back to C.J. Spiller and Fred Jackson. The object of their affection was Ohio State running back Carlos Hyde and the Bills called the Dolphins about moving the 57th pick. The Dolphins were open to a deal, but the Bills didn’t have enough to offer.
“What we were told by Miami was the 49ers deal was more appealing because they didn’t have to drop down as far because San Francisco still had a pick in the second round so that made sense to them and it made sense to us,” Whaley said.
The 49ers picked Hyde and the Bills moved on to trade for Brown to round out their backfield for the 2014 season. What it will look like beyond that is up in the air as both Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller can become free agents after the season. The Bills have said they will try to re-sign Spiller, but their interest in other backs suggest that they’d like to have options in case things don’t go the way they want on that front.