Woke up Friday morning to a report that the Steelers were going to trade Antonio Brown to the Buffalo Bills. Within two cups of coffee, also known as an hour, that deal was dead, reportedly because Brown indicated he wouldn't go there. It's the latest blow in what's been a bad decade for Buffalo and wide receivers.
Most recently, Buffalo traded a third-round pick to Carolina for Kelvin Benjamin. He flopped and was released last season. They carelessly gave Chris Hogan a low tender in restricted free agency back in 2016 (for $800,000 more, it would have cost a team a second-round pick to sign him), and lost him to New England.
Compounding those missteps is the fact that their own draft picks in recent years have either busted, or gone on to have strong seasons playing for other teams. Had they kept any one of the hits, they wouldn't be in the position of seeking to trade a high pick for a 31-year-old diva wideout who has no interest in playing for them.
| BUFFALO DRAFTED WIDEOUTS, 2008-2018 (ROUNDS 1-3) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | Rd | Pk | Player | Note | |||||
| 2017 | 2 | 37 | Zay Jones | Flopped as rookie, but 56 catches and 7 TDs last year | |||||
| 2014 | 1 | 4 | Sammy Watkins | Producer for playoff teams last two seasons; still just 26 years old | |||||
| 2013 | 2 | 41 | Robert Woods | Averaged 71 catches and 1,000 yards for Rams last two season; just 27 years old | |||||
| 2013 | 3 | 78 | Marquise Goodwin | 962 yards for 49ers in 2017; just 28 years old | |||||
| 2012 | 3 | 69 | T.J. Graham | Bust | |||||
| 2008 | 2 | 41 | James Hardy | Bust | |||||
So Buffalo won't be acquiring Brown, but their interest makes it clear they're not comfortable with just Zay Jones (pictured) and undrafted Robert Foster at the position. It's a wide receiver deep draft, so maybe they'll draft another player early who goes on to have nice career with another team.
--Andy Richardson