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Draft grades: Bills trades are 'head scratcher' and experts rip deal with rival Chiefs

ryan miller, rochester democrat and chronicle
·8 min read
2

The Buffalo Bills need a No. 1 wide receiver and were almost on the clock with the No. 28 pick in the NFL Draft.

Then Buffalo traded down twice and its trade partners took coveted wide receivers. The deals left the Bills without a first-round pick, although they have the first selection of the second round and moved up in multiple pick swaps.

Buffalo traded pick Nos. 28, 133 and 248 to arch rival Kansas City in exchange for Nos. 32, 95 and 221. Then the Bills flipped Nos. 32 and 200 for Nos. 33 and 141 in a trade with the Carolina Panthers.

Draft analysts were perplexed and Bills fans were frustrated.

"This is a very, very confusing move by the Bills," ESPN's draft broadcast reacted after Buffalo's trade with Kansas City, which has ended the Bills season in three of the past four years.

Buffalo Bills draft picks 2024: Round-by-round selections and analysis

The Chiefs used the Bills' original pick to select Texas speedster Xavier Worthy, who broke the 40-yard dash record in 4.21 seconds at the NFL Combine. Worthy gives Andy Reid and the back-to-back Super Bowl champions a weapon they hope will fit a Tyreek Hill mold. Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes celebrated the move with two emojis on Twitter.

The last time the Bills traded down with the Chiefs in the first round, Kansas City took Patrick Mahomes at No. 10 overall in 2017.

Buffalo traded out of the first round in the trade with Carolina. The Panthers nabbed physical wide receiver Xavier Legette out of South Carolina.

"The Bills are probably the one as far as a head-scratcher is concerned," ESPN analyst Louis Riddick said. "Legette's profile to me fits exactly what Buffalo needs. That A.J. Brown prototype. That sounds like somebody Buffalo could use."

It is a deep wide receiver class and Texas' Adonai Mitchell, Florida State's Keon Coleman, Georgia's Ladd McConkey and Oregon's Troy Franklin are still on the board.

The Bills have 10 picks in Rounds 2 through 7.

Here is how draft experts graded the pick and Twitter reacted.

Bills trade with Chiefs

For The Win

It’s easy to drag the Bills for trading back without picking up too much in return, but Worthy wasn’t a fit for their offense that badly needs a bigger, more versatile wideout than the Texas star. Of course, giving the team that’s been a thorn in their side in the playoffs the added dimension the Chiefs need while extracting minimal value in return adds salt to that wound. It’s not great, no.

Bills grade: C

Sports Illustrated

This is essentially a pick swap. The Bills move down in round seven which is negligible by the trade value charts but get to move up 38 spots in round four from round three by moving down four spots in round one. That's a big win for the Bills but moving down with the Chiefs hasn't served them well before.

The last time they made a trade in round one had the Bills trading the Chiefs 10th overall in 2017 when they selected Patrick Mahomes. Will this hurt them like it did in 2017? Only time will tell.

Bills grade: B

Bills trade with Panthers

For The Win

Buffalo has plenty of holes to fill after shedding talent this offseason amidst a veteran lineup and salary crunch. The Bills also had a massive need at wideout, so trading back twice for minimal value while other teams drain the pool of talent at receiver is… not ideal.

On the plus side, trading into the first pick of the second round gives the team an extra 20 hours of fielding trade offers and other potential moves backward as more wideouts roll off the board. And if there’s no receiver to be found there are several solid defensive backs who’d be proper picks on Day 2.

Bills grade: C

Twitter reaction to the Bills draft trades

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Buffalo Bills expert draft grades for trades with Chiefs, Panthers