Bills Should Have Waited To Finalize Peters Trade

If anyone thinks that not having a General Manager is generally creating no problems for the Bills, think again. The shots are being called by Russ Brandon, who essentially is one of those non-football business guys who gradually have risen to relevance (then prominence) as a result of the intricate salary cap system. In our view, there’s a fundamental problem with the trade that will give the Bills the 28th overall pick in the 2009 draft -- they should have waited until the Eagles were on the clock at No. 28 to make the trade. It’s a simple procedure. Work out the deal in advance. Insist on secrecy from everyone involved (just like the Browns did when trading Kellen Winslow to the Bucs). And then pull the trigger when it’s too late for anyone picking after No. 28 to leapfrog the Bills and land the player they might be targeting. There’s a chance, however, that there’s a method to the Bills’ apparent madness. If they hope to replace Peters by packaging the eleventh overall pick with the Eagles’ selection at No. 28 for a shot at trading into the top five for Jason Smith or Eugene Monroe, then the Bills would need to have the extra pick in hand before the draft begins. Under the outdated draft trade chart, which doesn’t take into account the ridiculous financial commitment that must be paid to a player taken at the top of round one, a combination of the eleventh overall pick (1,250 points) and the 28th overall pick (660 points) falls between the third overall pick (2,200 points) and the fourth overall pick (1,800 points). Our guess? The Chiefs would be willing to take a couple hundred points less than the chart says they should get, if it means getting out of the crosshairs of the contract paid to the No. 3 overall selection -- which last year landed for Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan a six-year, $72 million deal. Though a left tackle likely would get less than a quarterback at No. 3, the Bills in the end would have to cough up something in the same ballpark as the six-year, $60 million deal that Jason Peters reportedly has received in Philly. The difference, of course, is that the Bills would be paying that money to a player who might become the next Mike Williams, the fourth overall pick of the Bills in 2002 and one of the biggest left tackle busts of all time. Maybe their General Manager will ensure that doesn’t happen again. Oops.