Brandon Beane made an important admission following the trade
The Buffalo Bills trading Stefon Diggs to the Houston Texans on Wednesday had NFL fans scratching their heads.
The Bills packaged Diggs along with a 2024 sixth-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick in exchange for a 2025 second-round pick that was initially owned by the Minnesota Vikings. That’s not much of a return for Josh Allen’s top target in Buffalo’s offense as Diggs has had four straight seasons of 100-plus receptions with the Bills.
It also doesn’t seem like a move that a team in win-now mode should make, but Bills general manager Brandon Beane refuted that notion.
“These moves are never easy — very hard, not made overnight, anything like that — but any time you make a move like this, as I said, very difficult, you’re doing it because you’re trying to win,” Beane told reporters, per NFL.com’s Nick Shook. “Sometimes people may not see that. This is by no means the Bills giving up or trying to take a step back or anything like that. Everything we do, we’re trying to win, and we’re going to continue to do that. It’s April the 3rd, and we’ll continue to work on this roster and make sure we’re ready to play come September.”
Beane revealed that he had previously had opportunities to trade Diggs, who, despite his elite production, caused some headaches within the organization. But he didn’t pull the trigger until a few weeks before the NFL draft, feeling that now “the timing made sense” for both teams.
It can be assumed that the Bills will target a wideout in the draft, a position that has been raved about for having terrific depth in this year’s class.
But there’s no mistake that the Bills took a step back in the short term by trading Diggs. Even Beane agrees with that.
“I mean, are we better today? Probably not,” Beane said, per Shook. “It’s a work in progress, and we’re going to continue to work on that. I just hope people know I’m competitive as hell, and I ain’t giving in, we’re going to work through this and continue to look and I’m confident in guys on the roster, and confident in the staff we have upstairs that helps me, that we’ll continue to find pieces to add, and we’ll be ready to roll when it comes time in September.”