After trading Tyrod Taylor, the Bills need a new quarterback. If they want to draft one, they have plenty of capital to do it.
Buffalo traded Taylor to Cleveland for a third-round draft pick, and that means they now have two picks in each of the first three rounds of the draft. They acquired the Chiefs’ first-round pick in last year’s Patrick Mahomes trade, the Rams’ second-round pick in last year’s Sammy Watkins trade, and the Eagles’ third-round pick in last year’s Ronald Darby trade. They previously traded away their own third-round pick for Kelvin Benjamin.
With all those picks, the Bills may package some together to make a run at one of the top quarterbacks in this year’s draft: USC’s Sam Darnold, Wyoming’s Josh Allen, UCLA’s Josh Rosen or Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield. All four of those quarterbacks may be off the board before the Bills’ first pick, No. 21 overall, but they could package picks together to move up and get a quarterback.
The Bills could also stay put and draft a quarterback like Louisville’s Lamar Jackson or Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph.
Nathan Peterman started one game for the Bills as a rookie last year, but he played so badly that it’s hard to imagine he could enter 2018 as Buffalo’s starter. Instead, the Bills are likely eyeing a draft move to acquire their starter of the future, and of the present.