Happy NFL Draft Week!
Brace yourselves for the wave of rumors that will come crashing on our shores in the coming days. Prepare to hear from tidbits, insiders, talking heads, and everyone else about who’s going where and at what cost. And, sure, some of it might make you want to roll your eyes. For what it’s worth, I understand why that might be your default. HOWEVA … let’s heed the words of Bills GM Brandon Beane.
In a video feature in which ESPN’s Adam Schefter talked shop with a handful of NFL executives about what it is like to trade up for a quarterback. There’s plenty of incredible insight in the nearly 7-minute video, so check it out. But my eyes bulged out like a cartoon when Beane offered this (emphasis mine): “This year, I can see someone trading up, and all of a sudden you have five quarterbacks in the top six or seven.”
With Beane sitting on the 30th pick, it’s unlikely he is blowing smoke to generate interest in his pick. And with a quarterbacks room featuring Josh Allen at the top of the depth chart, I doubt the Bills are working the trade lines and maneuvering to take a quarterback. Especially not after signing Mitchell Trubisky to a free agent deal to bolster the group. For my money, I’m willing to guess that Beane has heard some things. I just wouldn’t have expected him to share that so freely.
I suppose if anyone knows the cost of doing business when it comes to QB trade-ups, it’s Beane. Because in 2018, Beane and the Bills executed *TWO* trade ups in a draft that net the team Josh Allen with the seventh pick (and later, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds). Edmunds’ excellence aside, the trade-up that will long be remembered is the deal that brought Allen to Buffalo. And if Beane’s suggestion is any indication of what’s to come, some more memorable trades are on the horizon.
In other words, buckle up if you’re a Bears fan.