The Bills were involved in one of the trades during the first round of the draft on Thursday night and General Manager Brandon Beane had a pretty simple explanation for why they sent a fourth-round pick to the Ravens in order to move up two spots in the order.
Cornerback Kaiir Elam was the pick at No. 23 and Beane told reporters at a press conference that he “probably would have just waited and see what happens” if cornerback wasn’t such a serious need. He said Elam was the last player left with a first-round grade and didn’t want to see him wind up in another uniform.
“We had a good grade on Kaiir and we were down to one player in the first round on our board,” Beane said, via Matt Parrino of Syracuse.com. “At that point it just made sense. Not sure what those teams would have taken but there was a lot of trade action going on too. . . . I was worried more about someone else trading in in front of us knowing that a lot of people had us pegged for potentially as a corner.”
The Bills have built a formidable roster over the last few years, but Levi Wallace’s departure and Tre’Davious White’s torn ACL made cornerback an obvious spot to address early in the draft. They checked that box and that may let them go for the best player available for their remaining picks.