As a way of working around not receiving any compensatory picks over the past several years, Bills general manager Brandon Beane has taken advantage of the August trade market before final cuts. Although Buffalo isn’t acquiring substantial picks in return, it’s gotten something from several of its previous investments.
Since Beane took over in 2017, the Bills have traded away six players in late August before 53-man rosters were due. Rather than having to cut a player they like, Beane has shown he prefers to get something in return to push the investment forward.
| Year | Player | Position | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
2022 | OL | 5th-round pick | |
2021 | DE | 6th-round pick | |
2019 | OL | 6th-round pick | |
2019 | OL | 5th- & 6th-round picks | |
2018 | QB | 5th-round pick | |
2017 | LB | 4th-round pick |
This year, the Bills are up against the salary cap and will need to shed some space, whether it’s through trades or contract restructures, to get cap-compliant for the 53-man roster. They also have some loaded positions where they could be forced to make a tough decision.
Which names could be on the list of trade candidates for Beane to consider this August? Here are 10 players who could be of interest this summer.
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DE Boogie Basham
Post-June 1 cap savings if traded: $1.17 million
Of all the potential candidates, Basham seems like the most realistic. He would have been considered before the Bills signed Leonard Floyd, but now with an established veteran pass rusher, something has to give with the defensive ends. Buffalo has six players who could make the 53-man roster at defensive end, but it’s quite unlikely all six will get there. Basham has remained near the bottom of the defensive end depth chart, notably behind A.J. Epenesa.
Basham has provided some good flashes now and again. Still, there isn’t a level of consistency to his game, and it almost seems like he’s a tweener with a game better suited to the interior but a body frame that dictates he should be rushing from the outside. Basham will also have some of the most appeal to other teams on this list. He has some flashes on film, he was a 2021 second-round pick, and he has another year left on his rookie deal through 2024. The Bills will see what Basham shows this summer, but if they feel like he’s not going to crack their rotation in 2023, holding him and making him a healthy scratch on game days could zap any remaining trade value. Turning 26 in December, Basham might be a sunk cost at this point.
DT Tim Settle
Post-June 1 cap savings if traded: $2.97 million
Along with Basham, Settle is one of the top potential options to be dealt this summer. The Bills agreed to a pay cut and guaranteed some salary for Settle, but several things have changed since they agreed to that. They signed Jordan Phillips and Poona Ford to one-year deals, and they gave a lucrative contract extension to starter Ed Oliver. The Phillips and Ford additions are the most impactful to Settle, as they call into question where he fits into this defensive tackle rotation. Phillips is the backup three-technique to Oliver, and Ford will likely spell DaQuan Jones at one-technique. Settle never fit in well at one-technique in 2022, and his role in this defense could be up in the air.
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Regardless, the Bills would only move on from Settle this summer if they knew they’d have Phillips ready to go for the start of the season. Phillips is still rehabbing from surgery to fix a torn rotator cuff, and the team doesn’t know if he’ll be ready for the start of training camp. Phillips has also been a bit injury-prone over the past few seasons, so perhaps keeping Settle would be an insurance policy. However, the Bills have some intriguing training camp depth in Eli Ankou and D.J. Dale, and removing them from the roster doesn’t carry the benefit of the cap space and draft compensation the Bills would get to trade Settle.
DE A.J. Epenesa
Post-June 1 cap savings if traded: $1.41 million
Epenesa is a similar conversation to Basham because the Bills have six defensive ends who could make the team but would be spreading themselves too thin at other positions by keeping all of them. But it likely comes down to only Basham or Epenesa as trade candidates because there wasn’t a great free-agent market for Shaq Lawson. However, a couple of things could make Basham a better player to trade. Epenesa has been a more consistent pass rusher and run defender than Basham throughout their time in Buffalo, so that would increase Epenesa’s value. The 2023 role for a win-now team is the most significant consideration.
Epenesa is also a free agent at the end of the 2023 season. The return they could get for Epenesa might be equal to what they could get for Basham because the acquiring team knows it’d be getting two years out of a high draft pick. So if return values are close or equal and Epenesa gives them more on the field for 2023, that makes it an easy call. But if a team comes in with an aggressively good offer for Epenesa that’s considerably better than what Basham would fetch, it could alter the decision.
CB Kaiir Elam
Post-June 1 cap savings if traded: $1.33 million
It’s probably a year too early to consider trading a first-round pick like Elam, though there is at least a legitimate argument for doing it this summer rather than waiting until 2024. The Bills have indicated through several actions that they’re unsettled at the second boundary cornerback position. They re-signed Dane Jackson to a fully guaranteed one-year deal. After an offseason of weighing their options, they kept Christian Benford at cornerback rather than moving him to safety. And less important but still notable, they signed 25-year-old boundary cornerback Cameron Dantzler, who has started 26 games over the past three seasons. In the team’s perfect world, Elam would grab hold of the second cornerback job this summer in the preseason; Jackson, Benford and possibly Dantzler would be good depth; and Elam and Tre’Davious White would be the no-doubt pairing for several seasons.
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However, something is holding the Bills back from Elam being the locked-in starter. Beane mentioned that some inconsistencies in practice played into the equation last year but said Elam “cleaned up a lot of that” in games. Even still, Beane concluded his recent answer on Elam with: “We’re going to make everyone earn it. It doesn’t matter where you were selected or what your salary is.” Beane usually would not say something like that for established starters on his team.
If Elam does not progress and is behind Jackson and Benford on the depth chart, the Bills could at least cover that up before the regular season. It would keep Elam’s trade value far higher to an acquiring team, and the other team would see a young cornerback with potentially four years of roster control (including the fifth-year option). If they wait a year and watch him be a backup player, the return value on Elam will decrease quite a bit. Trading him this summer would be a risk in terms of seeing a high pick flourish elsewhere, but if they feel he’s still behind Jackson and Benford and they could recoup a second- or third-round pick for him, it’s something they could consider. The extreme likelihood is they hold on to Elam and see if he can get there in 2023, but it’s at least worth mentioning if the worst-case scenario arrives this summer.
RB Nyheim Hines
Post-June 1 cap savings if traded: $2.9 million
The running back trade market likely won’t be a booming one for the Bills, but Hines has the return specialist element that could help increase his value to other teams. If Deonte Harty, Khalil Shakir or someone else emerges as an equal or better option to return kickoffs and punts, it could put the wheels in motion for finding Hines a home with a different franchise and getting a late-round pick in return. Potentially saving almost $3 million on this year’s salary cap to trade Hines would also boost the idea. The trade notion would get squashed if Hines proves he can become a bigger piece of the offense throughout the summer.
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IOL Ryan Bates
Post-June 1 cap savings if traded: $3.9 million
Several things would have to happen for the Bills to consider moving Bates this summer. Bates would need to lose the starting guard job to either David Edwards or O’Cyrus Torrence, be outplayed by the one who doesn’t win the job and have someone emerge as the top backup center option to Mitch Morse. Bates looks like their best bet should Morse suffer an injury, which increases his chances of sticking around. Still, Bates has an intriguing contract, as he’s signed for a manageable amount through the 2025 season, and a team desperate for a starting-caliber offensive lineman could yield a higher-than-you’d-think draft pick. The odds are in favor of Bates being in Buffalo this season rather than being dealt.
OL David Quessenberry, David Edwards, Ike Boettger or Brandon Shell
Post-June 1 cap savings if traded: $1.18 million (Quessenberry), $1.17 million (Edwards), $966K (Boettger) and/or $940K (Shell)
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I lumped these players together because they are in the same mold of the Bills’ 2023 roster-building. Each offensive lineman signed a low-cost, one-year deal with the Bills, likely hoping to improve his market for 2024, and all four are projected to be backups if they make the roster. Edwards would likely have the most substantial trade value for his experience, but the Bills also might like to keep him as a key reserve at guard. Edwards could be in trouble if he falls behind the group of Connor McGovern, Torrence, Bates and Boettger and if rookie Nick Broeker shows some good potential in preseason. The same goes for Boettger if that all holds up, though his trade value would likely be worse than Edwards’ without as much experience. Quessenberry or Shell would be more likely to move, as the Bills will probably have only one spot on the 53-man roster for a reserve tackle and both are vying for the job. They likely wouldn’t fetch more than a seventh-round pick, but it would be better than nothing if the Bills were going to cut them. Reserve offensive linemen have been the most commonly traded by Beane in August, making up three of the GM’s six late-August moves.
(Top photo of Kaiir Elam: Timothy T Ludwig / Getty Images)
