How the Buffalo Bills Won the Patrick Mahomes Trade

 n 2017, the Kansas City Chiefs famously drafted Patrick Mahomes 10th overall. In hindsight, it’s hilarious because that means 9 teams passed on the former MVP and Super Bowl winning QB. It’s actually 10 teams if you include the Bills, who initially held the 10th pick.

It’s hard to be a winner when you are a team who passed on Mahomes, but I think it’s fair to say that the Bills came out of this trade in really good shape. The team has maximized the return they got for the 2017 #10 pick and laid the foundation for last year’s Wild Card team and this year’s division contending team.

Here are the full details of the deal

• Bills acquired three picks – Chiefs’ first round picks in 2017 AND 2018 plus a 2017 third round pick
• Traded Chiefs’ 2018 first round pick (#22) to Ravens to move up (#16)
• Traded Chiefs’ 2017 third rounder (#91) to Rams for a second (#37) and third round pick (#149) in 2017
• Then, traded the newly acquired third round pick (along with a third and a fifth) for the Falcons’ second round pick (#63)

Here are the key players drafted with those picks

CB Tre’Davious White (2017 first round, via Chiefs) – White was drafted with the #27 pick that initially belonged to the Chiefs. He is considered an elite cornerback, and was named to his first All-Pro and Pro Bowl teams in 2019 as he co-led the NFL in interceptions (6). Including Tuesday night, White has missed just two starts in his career.

OT Dion Dawkins (2017 third round, via Falcons) – Dawkins has started 47 of a possible 52 games for the Bills and done so at left tackle, after playing a lot of guard in college. He started all 16 games in 2018-2019 and even caught a TD on both seasons. Dawkins has allowed just 1 sack in 2020 (per PFF).

LB Tremaine Edmunds (2018 first round, via Chiefs and Ravens) – Bills used the Chiefs’ 2018 first rounder, to move up and grab Edmunds. The linebacker has missed just 1 game in two seasons and was named to the Pro Bowl in 2019. For his career, he has 3 interceptions, 3.5 sacks, 21 pass deflections, 2 forced fumbles, and 15 tackles for a loss.

In addition to Edmunds, the Bills acquired a fifth round pick from the Ravens in this trade and drafted CB Siran Neal (#154), who has mostly been a special teams player.

WR Zay Jones (2017 second round, via Rams) – Jones caught 9 touchdown passes in 2.5 years before being traded to the Raiders for a 2021 fifth round pick last October.

It’s hard to label the Bills as winners, when Mahomes and the Chiefs won the Super Bowl last season and these Bills haven’t won a playoff game yet. But the foundation is there. Buffalo at least came away with three starters and also used their own 2018 pick on QB Josh Allen, who up until week 5 was putting up MVP-caliber numbers and has been a huge reason for the Bills success the last two years.