Shocking Trade Ideas Bills Should Pursue Before 2024 Season (2024)

It's been a season of roster turnover for the Buffalo Bills in 2024. General manager Brandon Beane has done a lot of work to extend the Super Bowl window the Bills opened when they drafted Josh Allen.

There are several veterans who will be playing for other teams this season including Stefon Diggs, Jordan Poyer, Micah Hyde and Mitch Morse.

As a result, the Bills are going to be relying on a lot of young players to either make bigger contributions or learn on the job in the case of rookies like Keon Coleman.

Even with all of the moves this offseason the Bills are still just under a million under the cap, per Spotrac. That doesn't rule out a trade for the Bills sometime between now and Week 1. Whether it's offloading a player who may no longer fit the Bills timeline or taking a chance on a cheap player who may help out the secondary, they could still pull the trigger on a variety of trades.

Here's a look at three options that could make sense.

Von Miller helped the team out by re-negotiating and restructuring his contract to take a pay cut in the 2024 season, but he's still set to cost $15.2 million against the cap in 2024.

Miller didn't come close to being worth that in the 2023 campaign. He played in 12 games due to injury and didn't register a single sack. He played just 32 percent of the snaps and was part of the problem on defense.

His new contract is heavy on incentives that could reportedly help him earn up to $20 million this season, but at 35 years old, the days of Miller being a dominant edge rusher are likely behind him.

Up unitl June 1, the Bills don't have a financial incentive to trade away the aging star. After June 1, they have about 8.8 million reasons to do so. That's how much they save against the cap this season by trading him and spreading the dead cap charge over the next two years.

That's enough money for the Bills to actually have an in-season rainy day fund that would allow them to sign players and potentially acquire a player via trade before the deadline.

Miller's 2024 base salary is just $1.5 million so finding a buyer who believes Miller can rebound might not be as hard as you would think.

But the cap savings might be worth more to the Bills than hoping Miller becomes an effective player again.

One underrated strength that the Bills lost was their depth on the interior of the offensive line. The loss of both Mitch Morse and Ryan Bates on the inside could force David Edwards into the starting lineup. Previously, he was the solid veteran who could play in a pinch.

They don't have that guy anymore and could find themselves in a bind if either of the starting guards goes down for a while.

If they are going to address that need with a trade it might be wise to look at some of the rebuilding rosters around the league. The Arizona Cardinals have made a lot of investments in the offensive line recently as they try to re-tool around Kyler Murray.

Those moves, like drafting Isaiah Adams and Christian Jones and signing Evan Brown could leave someone like Elijah Wilkinson as a luxury they are willing to part with. Wilkinson is 29 years old and has 45 career starts with stops in Denver, Chicago, Atlanta and Arizona.

Not only could he play either guard position, but he could also moonlight as a tackle in emergency situations.

The Cardinals did just re-sign Wilkinson, but with OTAs underway and all of training camp to figure out where he fits, they might be willing to trade him away at some point.

We've already touched on the Bills' Von Miller situation. One of the scariest things for the Bills defense is a lack of depth on the edge.

Greg Rousseau and A.J. Epenesa will be expected to carry the brunt of the load while Miller and Dawuane Smoot are both players who have been impacted by injuries.

It's not easy to find cheap, effective options. They could go the free agent route and target another older player like Jerry Hughes, but going after a younger player on the trade market should be considered an option too.

Joe Tryon-Shoyinka should be an option. His stock with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers declined in 2023 and he's not blossomed into the talent they hoped he would be when they took him in the first round of the 2021 draft.

Tryon-Shoyinka has turned in 13 sacks over the first three years of his career despite playing in every regular season game during that stretch. His role declined with just 51 percent of the defensive snaps in 2023.

A fresh start in a new system might be just what he needs to get his career back on track. his duarbility and youth alone would make him a good addition to the Bills rotation and he might be available for cheaper than you'd think based on his performance.