By Budd Bailey, Buffalo Sports Page Columnist
No. 29: April 27, 2017 – The Bills trade a first-round pick in 2017 (Patrick Mahomes) to Kansas City for a first-round pick in 2017 (TraDavious White), a third-round pick in 2017, and a first-round pick in 2018.
NFL teams didn’t know what to make of the quarterback group in the draft class of 2017. Mitchell Trubisky, Patrick Mahomes, and Deshaun Watson all had their boosters and critics. The Bills had Tyrod Taylor as the starter at that point in their history, and he had been good enough in 2016 for the team to believe that quarterback wasn’t an immediate need in the draft.
Therefore, the Bills were willing to talk trade when the No. 10 selection in the first round came up. Kansas City offered to trade up with a couple of 2017 choices and a first-rounder from the following draft. For a team with multiple needs, that sounded pretty good, and the deal was completed.
You can fill in some of the blanks already. The Chiefs took Patrick Mahomes with that 10th pick. After spending a year on the bench learning about the sport, Mahomes tore up the league in 2018. He threw 50 touchdown passes and had more than 5,000 yards passing in leading Kansas City to the AFC title game. Keep in mind that the Bills reportedly were not interesting in picking Mahomes with that 10th pick.
TraDavious White hasn’t missed a start in two seasons at cornerback for the Bills, and the other draft choices were traded elsewhere. This trade will need to be reexamined down the road as the career of quarterbacks Josh Allen and Mahomes play out, but it will move up the list if Mahomes continues to play at his 2018 level.
(Follow Budd on Twitter @WDX2BB)
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