Ultimately, the Buffalo Bills took care of business Sunday.
Their 26-11 victory over the Miami Dolphins was far from easy, but by the end of it, the Bills did what was expected and improved to 5-2 on the season, maintaining their 1.5-game lead on the New England Patriots in the AFC East.
The Bills have started 5-2 for three consecutive seasons, the first time since a six-year stretch from 1988-93 that they’ve been at least three games above .500 through seven games.
Still, the unconvincing nature of the performance, particularly in the first half, makes Tuesday's NFL trade deadline all the more interesting to consider. The Bills are virtually guaranteed to make the playoffs – Football Outsiders gives them a 97.1% chance, but this season is about more than that.
After an appearance in the AFC championship game in January, the goal for the Bills has always been Super Bowl or bust. General Manager Brandon Beane now has seven games worth of evidence to determine just how close to that goal his team truly is. Beane has never been shy about making trades, but his only true deadline day deal came in his first year on the job. In 2017, with the Bills also 5-2, he traded third- and seventh-round draft picks to Carolina for wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin. Defensive tackle Marcell Dareus was moved to Jacksonville days before the 2017 deadline.
That year, Beane sensed the Bills had a chance to end their embarrassing playoff drought, so he went ahead and made the move. It worked, too. Benjamin certainly did not have an overwhelming impact in Buffalo, but he caught a touchdown pass in the blizzard game against Indianapolis, and the Bills wouldn’t have made the playoffs without that win over the Colts.
This year, with the AFC being so wide open, Beane might feel like the time is right to make another move. The news Monday morning that Titans superstar running back Derrick Henry might miss the rest of the season because of a foot injury factors in here, too. Henry is in the middle of an MVP season, and if he is lost for the year, the impact will be felt conference-wide.
If Beane is going to make a deal, the financials must work. Buffalo has $4.078 million in available space under the salary cap as of Monday morning, according to records kept by the NFL Players’ Association.
Beane is well-stocked with draft ammunition to make a deal. Buffalo owns nine picks in the 2022 draft, theirs in rounds 1-7, as well as an extra sixth-rounder from Carolina (or the Las Vegas Raiders, whichever pick is better) in exchange for defensive end Darryl Johnson Jr., and an extra seventh-rounder from Atlanta in exchange for tight end Lee Smith.
Here are five questions Beane must consider ahead of the 4 p.m. Tuesday deadline:
1. What’s Cody Ford’s future?
When rookie Spencer Brown was unable to play Sunday against the Dolphins because of a back injury, the Bills juggled three starting spots. Daryl Williams flipped from right guard back to right tackle, while Jon Feliciano moved from left guard to right guard and Ike Boettger came off the bench to play left guard. In all that movement, Ford stayed on the bench. A second-round draft pick in 2019, Ford has fallen out of favor with the coaching staff. Does that mean the Bills would trade him? The smart money says they’re not actively shopping him.
As referenced above, the Bills have plenty of draft picks in 2022. Another sixth- or seventh-rounder wouldn’t mean much, especially since that player wouldn’t have a very good chance at making the team. Ford’s value is at an all-time low, so it’s hard to imagine the return in any trade for him being much greater than that.
Right now, Ford gives the Bills experienced depth on a cheap, rookie contract. Beane also has been burned in the past cutting bait on an offensive lineman too quickly. He traded Wyatt Teller to Cleveland for a air of Day 3 draft picks during the 2019 preseason, and Teller has developed into an All-Pro with the Browns. While Ford hasn’t shown anything to suggest that would happen if he were to be moved, the Bills don’t want to find out the hard way he had the potential in him.
Additionally, Feliciano suffered a strained calf against the Dolphins, and is currently listed as week to week. Ford may be needed in the short term.
2. Either way, is the interior of the offensive line good enough?
Coach Sean McDermott was blunt in saying the Bills lost the battle at the line of scrimmage in the first half against the Dolphins. That led to a frustrating first two quarters offensively. The guard situation has been pretty unsettled for most of the year, with Ford and Boettger competing in training camp, only for Williams to be moved there when Brown got inserted into the starting lineup. While Feliciano has held down a starting job, his play has been uneven at times, too. Protecting Josh Allen is obviously huge, and the offensive line needs to do its part in opening better holes for the running game. Particularly in short-yardage situations, the Bills are not performing well enough. Adding a guard could address that.
3. Can Devin Singletary and Zack Moss carry the running game?
Singletary got off to a good start to the season, but has cooled considerably. He’s failed to top 30 rushing yards in any of the last three games. Moss, meanwhile, is averaging just 3.7 yards per carry and is coming off an eight-carry, 19-yard game against the Dolphins. The Bills are never going to be a run-first team, but there will be moments where some semblance of a rushing attack is needed. Henry’s injury could complicate the trade market for running backs, but that position usually has a glut of options. Beane will have to determine if any of them would be an upgrade over Singletary and/or Moss.
4. Is the depth at cornerback sufficient?
Levi Wallace’s status as the No. 2 starter opposite Tre’Davious White is perpetually in question, but depth is also a concern. The only true backup to White and Wallace on the outside is second-year man Dane Jackson, who has just 12 games of NFL experience. Whether for someone to challenge Wallace for a starting job or simply add depth, cornerback could be a position Beane considers making an addition.
5. Is the defensive line set?
Each week, the Bills make multiple players with the ability to be regular contributors inactive. That speaks to the depth that has been amassed, but also leads to a fair question – would that depth be put to better use in a trade? Would moving Jerry Hughes or Mario Addison to free more playing time for rookie Boogie Basham make the current roster any better? Could the Bills find a taker for defensive tackle Vernon Butler Jr., which would potentially free cap space needed to facilitate another move? Even despite all the resources sunk into the defensive line, is Beane satisfied with the production from the pass rush?
That’s a lot of questions. We’ll get the answers by 4 p.m. Tuesday.
"You know us, we're always looking to improve our football team any way we can," McDermott said Monday. "This time of year in particular. Brandon heads that up pretty much without me in terms of the different things he looks at. So, we do have conversations, but overall ... we're going to try and find any way we can to improve our football team."
