The Buffalo Bills are “on the hunt” for a new wide receiver according to ESPN NFL reporter Dan Graziano. In a tweet late Tuesday, Graziano said the Bills were looking for a receiver following the trades earlier in the day of Emmanuel Sanders and Mohamed Sanu.
The tweet mentioned Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green specifically. Sanu went from the Atlanta Falcons to the New England Patriots for a second-round pick while Sanders went from the Denver Broncos to the San Francisco 49ers for a third-round pick and a pick swap.
The Bills sent wide receiver Zay Jones to the Oakland Raiders a couple weeks ago when he was underperforming. At the time they elevated Duke Williams to their roster from the practice squad, but that just means he wasn’t good enough to make their opening day roster. Adding an NFL-level talent before the trade deadline could give them more offensive juice for a playoff run.
That’s the crux of the conversation. If Buffalo wasn’t in the hunt for the playoffs in Year 3 of the Sean McDermott & Brandon Beane regime, this conversation probably wouldn’t be happening. With the AFC weak and Beane’s propensity to make moves, a mid-season trade would make sense. Beane already did it once during his time as GM, sending a third-round pick to the Carolina Panthers for Kelvin Benjamin when the Bills were similarly in the playoff race in 2017.
While Green is a tempting candidate, he’s on the last year of his deal and might not even be able to pass a physical at this point due to his lingering ankle injury. Bengals coach Zac Taylor has also said the team is not trading him.
Other names listed as potential trade candidates include two divisional players in the New York Jets’ Robby Anderson and the Miami Dolphins’ DeVante Parker. Trades within the division don’t usually happen but the Patriots traded Demaryius Thomas to the Jets earlier this season, so maybe it could happen for the right compensation. Nelson Agholor of the Philadelphia Eagles and Taylor Gabriel of the Chicago Bears are two names that have been floated, as well.