Bills General Manager Brandon Beane says trading for wide receiver Amari Cooper this week may not be the last move his team makes in its quest to bring a Vince Lombardi Trophy to Buffalo this season.
Beane told Pat McAfee that the Bills were eager to get Cooper from the Browns but would have pursued other moves if the Browns weren’t interested, and that they still might make other moves before the NFL trade deadline on November 5.
“We’re still all-in,” Beane said. “If this didn’t happen, if Cleveland was not ready to do it, we were going to continue to monitor. And listen: We’ve still got a few weeks until the trade deadline. If we feel there’s something else that we need or can get us over the top, we have been all-in all along. I know we lost some names this offseason, some guys who have been captains, it was an offseason of transition, but the mindset here as long as Josh Allen is our quarterback is we’re gonna try and win this thing, and we’re going to do what we can every single year.”
Beane said the Bills have checked in with multiple teams in their quest to add players who can help them win now, and the Browns were the first team to bite. Beane said he respects that other GMs around the league don’t want to give up on their seasons this early, but realistically he’s reaching out to teams that are down in the standings and might want to prioritize gaining future draft picks. Browns General Manager Andrew Berry proved to be a GM who was open to that.
“We were having conversations quietly with a couple other teams just seeing where they were at. Every team is in different spots. Sometimes it’s, ‘If we can win this week, we want to hang in there, we’re only a game back or two games back.’ Definitely had some conversations with Cleveland,” Beane said. “No team wants to give a player away but you’re also looking at the now and the future. We talked again on Sunday night, again Monday, and ultimately I told him let’s touch base after our game Tuesday morning, and things got hot and heavy.”
Things may continue to get hot and heavy for the Bills, and for losing teams with veteran players they’re looking to ship to Buffalo.
