The Buffalo Bills traded No. 1 wide receiver Sammy Watkins, starting left tackle Cordy Glenn and six draft picks to move into position to select quarterback Josh Allen out of Wyoming with the seventh overall pick of the 2018 NFL draft.
The sequence of events, orchestrated by General Manager Brandon Beane over the course of three trades, changed the trajectory of the franchise and helped turn a longtime league laughingstock into a bona fide Super Bowl contender.
Allen, 24, finished second in NFL MVP voting last season after leading the Bills to 13-3 record, their first division title in 25 years and an appearance in the AFC Championship Game. He rewrote the franchise record book, completing 69.2% of his pass attempts for 4,544 yards, 37 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a passer rating of 107.2. He also rushed for 421 yards and eight touchdowns on 102 carries and caught a 12-yard touchdown pass.
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Buffalo moved up twice in the first round of the 2018 draft, only months after quarterback Tyrod Taylor helped the Bills to a 9-7 record and surprise playoff berth, which snapped the longest postseason drought in North American professional sports at 17 years.
The Bills lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 10-3, in the wild-card round.
Beane then traded Taylor to the Cleveland Browns for a third-round pick (No. 65) – which was later used to trade up to draft linebacker Tremaine Edmunds at No. 16 (but that’s a different story) – and began climbing the draft board to select his new quarterback.
In early March, Beane traded Glenn, a first-round pick (No. 21) and a fifth-round pick (No. 158) to the Cincinnati Bengals to move to No. 12.
The Bills also received a sixth-round pick (No. 187) in the deal, which became former Clemson wide receiver Ray-Ray McCloud, now a returner for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On draft night, Buffalo then shipped the No. 12 pick and two second-round selections (Nos. 53 and 56) to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for No. 7.
The Bills had obtained the No. 56 pick and cornerback E.J. Gaines from the Los Angeles Rams during training camp in 2017 for Watkins and a sixth-round pick (No. 195 overall). Gaines spent the 2017 season with the Bills, then had an injury-plagued season that limited him to six games with the Cleveland Browns in 2018. He returned to the Bills and missed the 2019 season with a core muscle injury, opted out of the 2020 season because of Covid-19 and has been released.
The Bills also received the Bucs’ compensatory pick in the seventh round (No. 255), which became former North Carolina wide receiver Austin Proehl, who was waived before the start of his first season and has yet to appear in an NFL game. He signed a reserve/futures contract with the San Francisco 49ers in January.
Allen became the third of five quarterbacks drafted in the first round, after Baker Mayfield (No. 1) and Sam Darnold (No. 3) and before Josh Rosen (No. 10) and Lamar Jackson (No. 32).
In a re-draft, Allen might be the first quarterback off the board.
Here’s what became of the assets Beane leveraged to land the Bills’ franchise quarterback:
Aug. 11, 2017
Bills received: 2018 second-round pick (No. 56, part of Allen trade) and cornerback E.J. Gaines.
L.A. Rams received: Wide receiver Sammy Watkins and 2018 sixth-round pick (No. 195, defensive tackle Sebastian Joseph-Day).
Sammy Watkins, wide receiver
Then-Bills GM Doug Whaley had traded two first-round picks and a fourth-round pick to the Browns to move up to draft Watkins out of Clemson with the No. 4 overall pick in 2014.
It proved a disaster.
The picks sent to Cleveland: No. 9 in 2014 (which was then traded to the Minnesota Vikings, who selected UCLA linebacker Anthony Barr, a four-time Pro Bowler and one-time Allen hurdle), along with Nos. 19 and 115 in 2015 (center Cameron Erving and safety Ibraheim Campbell, respectively).
Watkins (6-1, 211) played in all 16 games his first season but hasn’t played a full season since. He surpassed 1,000 receiving yards just once, in his second season.
Watkins spent one season with the Rams, finishing with 39 catches for 593 yards and eight touchdowns in 15 games before leaving in free agency. He spent the last three seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, recording 129 catches for 1,613 yards and eight touchdowns in 34 regular season games. He caught five passes for 98 yards in the Chiefs’ victory in Super Bowl LIV.
Watkins signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens on April 2.
Round 6, pick 195:
Sebastian Joseph-Day, defensive tackle, Rutgers
Joseph-Day (6-4, 310) was inactive throughout his rookie season in 2018 but has started 31 of 32 games the last two years.
He has 99 tackles, six tackles for loss, three sacks, nine QB hits, four pass breakups and a forced fumble.
March 12, 2018
Bills received: 2018 first-round pick (No. 12, part of Allen trade) and sixth-round pick (No. 187, Ray-Ray McCloud).
Cincinnati Bengals received: Left tackle Cordy Glenn, 2018 first-round pick (No. 21, center Billy Price) and fifth-round pick (No. 158, defensive tackle Andrew Brown).
Cordy Glenn, left tackle
Glenn (6-6, 345) was the Bills’ starting left tackle for six seasons after being drafted with a second-round pick (41st overall) out of Georgia in 2012. He signed a five-year, $65 million contract extension in 2016, when Whaley was the GM, but injuries limited him to 11 games that season and just five in 2017, which allowed rookie Dion Dawkins to earn the starting job.
Glenn started 18 of 19 games for the Bengals, 13 of them in 2018, before his relationship with the team soured. Glenn missed much of the 2019 season with a concussion suffered in the preseason and was suspended and fined $200,000 for conduct detrimental to the team after he reportedly refused to attend meetings and practices despite being cleared to play.
Glenn returned for the final six games, helping the Bengals, which had been 0-10, to a 2-14 record. He was cut in March 2020 after the Bengals were unable to trade him. He had a workout with the Philadelphia Eagles in September but has been out of the league since.
Round 1, pick 21:
Billy Price, center, Ohio State
Price (6-4, 310) won the Rimington Trophy as the best center in college football and started 10 games his rookie season, missing six with a foot injury, before losing the starting job to Trey Hopkins in 2019.
Price started eight games at left guard in 2019 and just one game at center last season.
Hopkins tore his ACL in Week 17, which could make Price the presumptive starter heading into training camp.
Round 5, pick 158:
Andrew Brown, defensive end, Virginia
Brown (6-3, 290) spent much of his first three seasons on the Bengals’ practice squad and as a reserve, recording 17 tackles, a sack and three QB hits in 18 games, with one start.
The Houston Texans signed him off Cincinnati’s practice squad in November. He had one tackle in three games. The Indianapolis Colts claimed him off waivers in March.
April 26, 2018
Bills received: 2018 first-round pick (No. 7, quarterback Josh Allen) and seventh-round pick (No. 255, wide receiver Austin Proehl).
Tampa Bay Buccaneers received: 2018 first-round pick (No. 12, defensive tackle Vita Vea) and two second-round picks (No. 53, cornerback M.J. Stewart, and No. 56, cornerback Duke Dawson).
Round 1, pick 12:
Vita Vea, defensive tackle, Washington
Vea (6-4, 347) has started 29 of 34 regular season games and has become one of the best nose tackles in the NFL, often commanding double teams for what’s been the stingiest run defense in the league the last two seasons.
He has 7.5 career sacks, 73 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and 19 QB hits. He also caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Jameis Winston in 2019.
Vea got off to a strong start last season but was lost to a fractured ankle in Week 5. He returned from injured reserve and played in the team’s victory in Super Bowl LV.
Round 2, pick 53:
M.J. Stewart, cornerback, North Carolina
Stewart (5-11, 200) lasted just two seasons with the Bucs, starting five games as a rookie and once in 2019 before being claimed off waivers by the Cleveland Browns in August 2020.
Stewart appeared in all 16 games last season, finishing with two interceptions, three pass breakups, 22 tackles and a sack. He had a team-high 10 tackles and an interception in the Browns’ 48-37 wild-card victory against the Steelers.
Round 2, pick 56:
Duke Dawson, cornerback, Florida
The Buccaneers traded this pick to the New England Patriots for a lower second-round pick (No. 63) and a fourth-round pick (No. 117), which they used to draft two starters, former Auburn cornerback Carlton Davis and former Pittsburgh safety Jordan Whitehead, respectively.
Dawson (5-10, 198) did not play in a game for the Patriots. He spent the first half of his rookie season on IR with a hamstring injury and the second half inactive. The Patriots won Super Bowl LIII.
In August 2019, New England traded Dawson and a seventh-round pick to the Denver Broncos for a sixth-round selection. Dawson had 27 tackles, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery in 26 career games, four of them starts, before tearing an ACL in Week 14 last season.
Davis (6-1, 206) has started 40 of 41 career games. He has 168 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 41 pass breakups, five interceptions, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Whitehead (5-10, 198) has started 41 of 45 games. He has 219 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, two sacks, 17 pass breakups, three interceptions, a forced fumble and two fumble recoveries.
They all have Super Bowl rings.
