Early Friday afternoon, the Buffalo Bills shocked the NFL world by trading Sammy Watkins and Ronald Darby away. Watkins and Darby were two of Buffalo’s best players, and fans were absolutely startled. Fans immediately began panicking, giving up on a 2017 season that they weren’t optimistic for anyway. While 2017 might not be a fun year for the Bills, perhaps 2018 will be. After this off-season, the Buffalo Bills are building for the future.
The Buffalo Bills Are Building for the Future
While the Darby and Watkins trades were the flashiest, they weren’t the only trades the Buffalo Bills made this off-season. They also traded the 10th overall pick in this year’s draft to the Kansas City Chiefs for their first and a third in that draft and a first in next year’s draft. They’ve actually collected quite a few draft picks for next year’s draft, and they are as follows.
Next Year’s Draft
- Their own first round pick.
- Kansas City’s first round pick.
- Their own second round pick.
- Los Angeles’ second round pick.
- Their own third round pick.
- Philadelphia’s third round pic.
- Their own fourth, fifth, and seventh round pick.
Not only do they have a ton of draft picks, but they’re also set to have $33,847,003 in cap space for free agency. If we’re being completely honest, it’s not like the Buffalo Bills were going to be serious contenders in 2017 anyway. Tom Brady is still around, and their schedule is forcing them to play against the Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Bronocos, Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, and several other really talented teams.
A single draft can completely alter the future of a franchise. Just look at what the Oakland Raiders did in 2014, drafting Khalil Mack, Derek Carr, and Gabe Jackson, and they didn’t have six picks in the first three rounds like the Bills do.
It’s easy to see why some people are saying the Buffalo Bills are tanking this year, and in a way, they’re not wrong. The Buffalo Bills aren’t going to win the Super Bowl this year. They’d be overachieving if they managed to break .500 at all. But with so much cap space and so many draft picks, the future looks bright in Buffalo.
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