The Bills have a new G.M. in Brandon Beane and a new coach in Sean McDermott, and they have a clear plan for how to built their roster: Acquire extra picks, and build through the draft.
After trading down in the first round of this year’s draft and trading away Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby yesterday, the Bills have more firepower in the 2018 draft than any other team: Buffalo has six picks in the first three rounds, including three of its own, the Chiefs’ first-round pick, the Rams’ second-round pick and the Eagles’ third-round pick.
That’s the same strategy the Browns used to build their roster, trading away assets to acquire extra picks. It’s too soon to tell whether that’s going to work for the Browns, but the Bills must think it’s a winning philosophy in the long term.
Although the Bills say they aren’t throwing in the towel on this season, their trades make clear that they’re looking to build through the 2018 draft. Buffalo probably won’t be very good this year, but the Bills think they’re going to add a lot of talent next year.