By Justin DiLoro / Billswire.usastoday.com
The New York Jets made a franchise-defining move last year on St. Patrick’s Day. General manager Mike Maccagnan sent three second-round picks (two in 2018 and one in 2019) along with New York’s 2018 first-round pick to the Indianapolis Colts for the third-overall pick in last year’s draft.
As history would have it, the Jets selected USC quarterback Sam Darnold, who was the No. 1 target for New York entering the draft period, according to ESPN.
The aggressive move by Maccagnan essentially placed several quarterback-needy teams, including the Buffalo Bills, in panic mode to scramble and position themselves in a good spot to land one of the top-tier quarterbacks on their big boards. After all, there’s only a finite number of NFL-caliber quarterbacks in college.
In reviewing the trade a year later, ESPN highlighted that the Bills were not too happy with this move the Jets. Per the report, the Bills were “furious” about the move:
The mid-March trade was a surprise attack, as they beat other quarterback-hungry teams to the sweet spot in the draft. It was a Shaq-like box-out. The Buffalo Bills, picking 12th, were said to be furious upon learning of the trade. In the end, they wound up trading up to No. 7 to select Allen.
Here’s the thing: Buffalo, supposedly “furious” by this deal, still landed a marquee quarterback, even though he did not play for a big-name college program. And, they definitely did not panic.
Thus, the Bills made their move for Josh Allen. While some reports dangled Allen as the first overall pick in the draft, it was not meant to be. Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield was selected No. 1 by the Cleveland Browns. The next quarterback off the board was Darnold at No. 3 to the Jets. After that, the Bills needed to push their way up the draft board to ensure that Allen would be available. Once it was apparent that the Browns, with the fourth-overall pick, would not trade their selection, it became a race to box-out other teams, just as the Jets did to Buffalo.
After a failed attempt to move up to the No. 5 in the draft order, the Bills locked in a deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While the ambitious move by Maccagnan may not have forced the hand of Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane, it did lay out a much more clear path for who would be available for the Bills. Beane, who has garnered praise by those following Buffalo as an even-keeled and meticulous evaluator, went into overdrive and planned out a route to get the quarterback that he wanted.
It was apparent that Allen was the No. 1 quarterback on the Bills’ radar.
Therefore, he ensured the Bills would be ahead of the Arizona Cardinals in the draft order, solidifying his spot for selecting Allen. The Cardinals were the only other team who Buffalo would have to battle for a quarterback.
Teams’ ranking of players on their big boards is information that is usually secretive. Was Allen the Bills’ top guy throughout the draft process? We will most likely never know. However, March 17, 2018, was the day that the Bills were forced to take a longer look at a quarterback from a small school. In turn, that player, Allen, would become the highest-drafted quarterback in Buffalo’s franchise history.
So far, it’s going according to plan for Buffalo and Allen.