Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane did what most fans were asking him to do at the 2026 NFL trade deadline. He took a big swing on upgrading a position of need with the Amani Hooker trade. The deal cost the Bills a 2027 second-round pick, and they got a fifth-round selection in return. While this move was a good one for the Super Bowl contenders, the Bills' biggest mistake at the 2026 NFL trade deadline was not making more moves.
Bills needed more at 2026 NFL trade deadline
The Amani Hooker trade was a huge move for the Bills. Damar Hamlin is not a starting-caliber NFL safety, and the Chauncey Gardner-Johnson experiment was a massive failure. Hooker will help a great deal, but the Bills were not just one safety away from becoming a much bigger Super Bowl threat than they have been in the last half-decade.
When you look at the 2026 NFL trade deadline and see what one of the Bills' closest competitors, the Jacksonville Jaguars, did, that is the blueprint Beane should have followed. There are several additional spots on the Bills' defense that could have also used an upgrade.
Buffalo's defensive line has been solid this season, but the back seven is in need of work. Yes, Terell Bernard and Dorian Williams both got interceptions against the Minnesota Vikings and have played well the last two weeks, but that was against Carson Wentz and Joe Fagnano, whoever that is.
The Denver Broncos pried away linebacker Daiyan Henley from the Los Angeles Chargers—a team in the same division— for a 2027 fourth- and a 2028 fifth-round pick. So, essentially, the Bills could have flipped that fifth they got from the Tennessee Titans and added a fourth to get a starting-caliber LB to upgrade their defense. Even if Henley wasn't the right guy, we now know that was the price tag, and Beane could have moved for someone like that with minimal draft pick damage.
The Dallas Cowboys made a splash a few weeks before the 2026 NFL trade deadline by sending a 2027 sixth-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for cornerback Joey Porter Jr. His situation was unique because of the contract holdout, but that seems like a framework for a starting CB deal Beane could have also gone after.
In the end, Beane made a decent-sized move, but he is still hesitant to go all in on a roster in a single season, despite the fact that Josh Allen has now crossed the dreaded 30-year-old barrier. The MVP QB still has several years left in his prime, but once that 30 threshold is reached, there are fewer of those elite seasons ahead of him than behind him.
In addition to the players not here, what is Beane going to get for the picks he held onto at the 2026 NFL trade deadline?
In the 2020s, Beane's picks in the first two rounds have been TJ Parker and Davison Ingbinosun (2026), Maxwell Hairston and TJ Sanders (2025), Keon Coleman and Cole Bishop (2024), Dalton Kincaid and O'Cyrus Torrence (2023), Kaiir Elam and James Cook (2022), Gregory Rousseau and Boogie Basham (2021), and A.J. Epenesa (2020).
That's about a 50% success rate, if you judge success by grabbing at least one decent to good starter in the first two rounds.
The most interesting thing to note here, though, is that there was no first-round pick in 2020 because Beane traded it for Stefon Diggs. While that was a bold and important move, unfortunately, that pick became Justin Jefferson.
And maybe that is why Beane is gun-shy about making the massive move. The last time he did, it turned out pretty well for a few seasons, but Diggs' tenure ultimately ended badly, and the pick he gave away became an All-Pro. Despite that fact, the Bills should have swung bigger at this year's trade deadline.