The Bills must trim their roster to 53 players ahead of the regular season by Tuesday. A lot of tough decisions await Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane.
Most players will get released and potentially land on the Bills’ practice squad. But there’s another option as well: Trades. Since that duo have taken over in Buffalo, dealing players for draft picks has been almost an annual tradition.
Could that happen again in the the coming days? And if so, who could be on the trade block?
With that, here are three trade candidates for the Bills as final roster cuts approach:
Bills offensive tackle Ryan Bates (71) and offensive guard Jamil Douglas. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)
Douglas is likely on the outside looking in on the Bills’ offensive line. He does have some playing experience, but as referenced, the Bills often do make trades at this time of the year for extra draft picks. More than once, they’ve involved offensive linemen.
Bills Vernon Butler (Gannett photo)
Butler is talented and versatile so he would be appealing both to other teams and the Bills if they decided to keep him. However, he’s been sidelined due to injury and now COVID-19 concerns. In his stay on the sideline, others on Buffalo’s defensive line, which was stocked his offseason, have stepped up. Namely Harrison Phillips. That could put Butler on the trade block and the Bills would save near $3 million on the salary cap in moving Butler.
WR Marquez Stevenson
Marquez Stevenson #5 of the Bills. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
A rookie draft pick being traded? It happened as recent as last year with Lynn Bowden going to the Dolphins. But Stevenson has had some highlights this preseason which certainly would have caught some attention. In most years, he would make the Bills because of that… but Buffalo is just so deep at wide receiver.
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