A trade may be just the thing the Bills need to ace this draft

ORCHARD PARK - Acquiring wide receiver DJ Moore in a March trade with the Chicago Bears might end up being the most significant move Buffalo Bills president/GM Brandon Beane makes as it relates to the 2026 NFL Draft. Beane heard the screaming in the fan base and media about the underwhelming wide receiver group he provided Josh Allen in 2025, but beyond the noise, deep down he knew it needed an upgrade. That’s why he felt it was worth bringing in a proven, plug-and-play NFL veteran with tons of production as opposed to perhaps using the second-round pick he sent to the Bears on a hope-he-can-play rookie.

However, by executing the trade, Beane created quite a vacuum because all he has in the critical first two days - at least heading into the draft which commences Thursday - are a first-round pick at No. 26 and a third-round pick at No. 91 .

Unless he does some wheeling and dealing to acquire additional picks, Beane and the rest of the Bills’ hierarchy will be wincing often on Friday as player after player comes off the board in the second round and early in the third. “You want all your picks, but we just didn't feel like there's going to be a player of DJ’s caliber, so we're excited how we already spent a little bit of our draft capital,” Beane said Monday. Beane knows his patience will be tested Thursday, but he’s been in this situation before.

He recalled 2020, the year he made the trade for wide receiver Stefon Diggs that cost him his first-round pick, meaning he only had two picks in the first 127 of that draft, the first of which didn’t come until the second round when he took defensive end AJ Epenesa at No. 54. “Probably do what we did with Stef when I was drafting from my basement (during COVID), just put up some images of him,” Beane joked.