Grading the trade: The Buffalo Bills offload some surplus depth to win in the margins
The Buffalo Bills offloaded one of their offensive line depth pieces for a modest return.
The Buffalo Bills and the rest of the NFL are churning through cuts. But every once in a while, a trim becomes a trade.
That’s exactly what Bills general manager Brandon Beane managed to execute this morning, when the news broke that Buffalo was shipping out depth offensive lineman Sedrick Van Pran-Granger to the Indianapolis Colts. The deal included a pick swap of 2027 sixth and seventh round draft choices. How did Buffalo do with this exchange? Let’s start here: good business is good business.
Buffalo Bills’ trade of OL Sedrick Van Pran-Granger helps Buffalo win in the margins
Van Pran-Granger’s pathway to playing time was blocked by several hurdles. It made him a redundant 53-man roster piece and, by extension, a long-shot to make the Bills’ roster. Leveraging that situation into some extra value, regardless of how slight it may be, is the definition of “good business” for an NFL franchise.
A pick swap of a seventh and sixth round pick doesn’t seem like much. It certainly isn’t an explosive, earth-shattering compensation package. In a perfect world, you send a player out and get a pick back without the swap. But the alternative for moving on from Van Pran-Granger is getting nothing at all. Or keeping a third-string center with others on the roster who could also do it. It’s a sensible move. It’s smart business. The Bills, in the midst of their winning window, need as much of that as possible.
GRADE: B+
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