How should the Buffalo Bills navigate the 2024 NFL Draft? | The Exempt List

Yahoo Sports NFL writer Charles McDonald and ESPN contributor Domonique Foxworth discuss how the Bills can best capitalize on the 2024 NFL Draft. Hear the full conversation on “The Exempt List with Charles McDonald” - part of the “Zero Blitz” podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

CHARLES MCDONALD: The Bills have traded Stefon Diggs to the Texans, leaving them with a wide receiver room where Khalil Shakir, who has 700 career receiving yards and 3 career touchdowns, is, like, kind of unquestionably the best wide receiver on their team. And I know, like, they're in a transition year, but you still have Josh Allen, so you should still kind of be gunning for it a little bit, and trying to make the playoffs, and trying to do some stuff.

Should the Bills make like their Julio Jones trade if Marvin Harrison falls to 5, something like that, or Rome Odunze, or Malik Nabers start falling-- should they do what the Falcons did in '11?

DOMINIQUE FOXWORTH: Absolutely not. Obviously, the Diggs trade was not as fruitful as the Tyreek Hill trade. But these teams are in the same place, where their first window is closed, and they are entering their second window. And this second window involves paying a lot of money to your quarterback.

So I would say that what the Chiefs did was the blueprint, honestly, is you got to have a lot of picks and draft a lot of players, because what you need to do is repeat what you just did with that quarterback on a rookie deal just in another position. And the Chiefs did that, like, with Sneed, McDuffie, Karlaftis.

They didn't do it much on offense, but they took shots on offense. It just didn't happen to pan out in a way that they wanted to. But that's how you win now. It's great players on rookie deals. You got to get them, and you're going to miss on some.

So trading away draft picks to climb up to get somebody, to me, is putting all your eggs in one basket. Seems shortsighted, especially when the position where you need help is the deepest position in the draft, receiver. Like, I get it-- if you can get Marvin Harrison, Jr., then I would have to think about it. But that seems unlikely.

Like, there are players who can have that impact. And I think that Marvin Harrison is close to that type of player. I don't see too many more of them in the draft.

CHARLES MCDONALD: Yeah. I lean towards "no" here. And I think also partly because I think even the math on tradeups has changed since the Falcons made that move for Julio, because it didn't cost them three. It cost them two first round picks plus a second and some change.

So if you're going to move from 28 up to 4 or 5, you're three first round picks minimum, plus a second round pick, or maybe you flip them, like, Greg Rousseau or something to keep a first rounder. I don't know, the more you talk it out, I think it gets to be a lot. And also the Bills, wide receiver is not the only position that they need.