Draft: Could the Bills be a potential trade partner?

After Stefon Diggs trade, Buffalo needs an elite wide receiver…

While the Las Vegas Raiders hope to trade up for a quarterback during the first round of the NFL Draft, the team and fanbase need to be prepared for a scenario where that doesn’t come to fruition and they strike out on one of this year’s top passers.

Right now, the expectation is that the top three picks of the draft will be quarterbacks, likely taking Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels off the board. Even if the Washington Commanders or New England Patriots strike a deal with the Minnesota Vikings, the Commanders and Patriots would still be in the quarterback market. Also, either squad would presumptively get the Vikings’ 11th overall selection, two spots ahead of the Raiders.

Additionally, the New York Giants (sixth overall) and Denver Broncos (12th overall) are in the market for a new signal-caller. So, while it would be a surprise, there is a chance that six quarterbacks are off the board before the Raiders even get a chance to take one. And regardless, it’s reasonable to assume four get drafted and Las Vegas isn’t thrilled with its options at 13.

In that scenario, the Silver and Black could pivot to the second round for a signal-caller and look to trade back on night one to add some more picks in the middle rounds. To a certain degree, they’d benefit from the run on quarterbacks.

The Buffalo Bills shocked the NFL world on Wednesday morning by trading All-Pro wide receiver Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans for a 2025 second-round pick. That leaves the Bills with Curtis Samuel, Khalil Shakir and Justin Shorter as the team’s starting receivers, according to OurLads.

In other words, Buffalo now needs a true No. 1 wideout which will be difficult to get with the 28th overall pick. So, if the Raiders are looking to trade on draft day, Tom Telesco could pick up the phone and see what Brandon Beane is willing to offer.

Especially if there’s an early run on quarterbacks, moving up to pick 13 could put the Bills within range of Malik Nabers, Rome Odunze or Brian Thomas Jr. While the order may vary, those three are widely the second-, third- and fourth-best wideouts in this year’s draft class.

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While the Los Angeles Chargers (fifth overall) could use a receiver, Jim Harbaugh has talked about building through the trenches and the team needs an offensive tackle. As mentioned above, the Giants are in the quarterback sweepstakes, and they have several defensive needs. The Tennessee Titans (seventh overall), Atlanta Falcons (eighth overall), Chicago Bears (ninth overall) and New York Jets (10th overall) all have quality pass-catching duos and have already added to their receiving corps this offseason.

So, there’s a good chance that at least one of those three wide receiver prospects slide down the board, and the Raiders don’t need a first-rounder at the position with Davante Adams and Jakobi Meyers on the roster.

That pivots the question to, ‘What can Buffalo offer Las Vegas to make the trade?’

To get this out of the way and be the bearer of bad news, Josh Allen is not on the table. Beyond the fact that it would be incredibly dumb to trade a top-tier quarterback who is still under 30 years old, the Bills would take on over $111 million of dead cap with a pre-June 1 trade and about $28.7 million post-June 1, per Over The Cap.

Buffalo still has a playoff-caliber roster, so any trade would likely involve draft picks. Using the trade value chart, the 13th overall pick is worth 1,150 points and 28th overall (Bills’ first-rounder) is worth 660 points. That means Beane would need to come up with 490 points, assuming he and Telesco swap those two selections.

A perfectly balanced trade would mean the Bills send their second-round selection (60th overall valued at 300 points) this year and a third in next year’s draft, valued at 190 points per The Huddle Report.

That keeps the Raiders in the first round to potentially draft a quarterback while equipping the front office with another Day 2 pick to build up the supporting cast and adding a top-100 pick in 2025. Meanwhile, the Bills get a top target for Allen and still have nine other selections to fill out the roster or execute another trade to get back into rounds two or three.

Will it happen? We’ll see, but don’t be surprised if it does!