Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Bills hold the 27th overall pick in this year's NFL Draft. If they stay at that spot, there's a good chance all of the players they have with first-round grades will be off the board.
While he wouldn't give specific numbers right now, general manager Brandon Beane said "it's not great" when asked how many players the team has first round grades on in this year's draft class.
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Beane said if their first round is wiped out by then, they'd be open to trading back, especially if it starts getting well into their second-round grades.
The general manager was speaking to reporters on Tuesday at One Bills Drive, as Bills players continued their offseason workout program, which began on Monday.
On the flip side, Beane didn't rule out the possibility of the Bills moving up in the draft order.
"When it starts to get to Pick 20, five, six, seven picks out, I think we'll start to know whether we think there's going to be someone there that we should try and stay for, move up for, or move back and gain more picks," said Beane.
The Bills are scheduled to have only six picks in this year's draft, which begins Thursday night, April 27. Trading up would, obviously, make that number even thinner, while trading back would give him more picks to use as the weekend goes on.
"If I was in Vegas right now, putting money down, I would say if we were going to do anything, it would be more likely to go back than go up," Beane said with a chuckle. "But listen, you're talking to a guy who gets antsy at times and goes up and gets guys. Vegas probably would still go against what I just suggested would happen."
Not only does having only six picks impact the capital Beane has to move around the board, he also has to keep in mind the financial situation of the roster. The Bills will need to be mindful of making sure they have plenty of players who can contribute earlier on in their careers while on rookie deals, since so many others are already being paid high-end salaries.
Even that won't eliminate any possibilities, including a move up.
"I think you've got to listen to the board a little bit," he said. "I'm going to try and be as patient as possible with only six picks. It's a little different than walking in there with 10, for sure. In an ideal world, we're not doing that. But if there's a guy we've put a lot of work in and there's a lot of conviction on the personnel staff and the coaching staff, and we all have a shared vision, you know we're sitting here in the third round and this guy's got a really good second-round grade, then maybe we move up. I think it's easier the further we go down, because it doesn't cost as much capital. If we got nuts in the first round and tried to make a big leap, the could really clean out a good portion of our picks."
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