Bills GM Brandon Beane Addresses Chiefs Trade Down Backlash: 'You're Always Going to Get Criticized'

There’s an age-old adage in sports, an enduring, unattributable quote whose sentiment perhaps predates organized athletics themselves: “You can’t play scared.” It’s a mindset that urges an individual to operate freely, to take risks that offer a wide range of possible outcomes without dwelling on the negative possibilities. It’s a mentality that Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane operates with frequently, the attitude perhaps most recently manifesting in the form of his decision to trade down with the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Beane sat by the phone throughout much of Thursday night’s first round, discussions with his colleagues around the league not heating up until his pick—No. 28 overall—grew closer. The now eighth-year executive—who has moved up in the first round on four occasions throughout his tenure—opted to let his own pick go on the clock Thursday, looking at his board to see a clump of players with the same value attributed to them by Buffalo’s scouting staff. Not in love with any particular player at that particular spot, Beane decided to trade down, guaranteeing that the team would still land one of its preferred players while simultaneously improving its draft capital.

The strategy was sound. The only issue—to some—was the dancing partner.

Beane executed the trade with the Chiefs, the team that has eliminated Buffalo from the playoffs in three of the last four postseasons (most recently in this January's NFL Divisional Round). The swap included six picks in total; Kansas City moved up from pick No. 32 to No. 28 while giving Buffalo picks No. 95 and No. 221 in exchange for picks No. 133 and No. 248. With their improved choice, the Chiefs selected Texas wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who broke an event record by running a blazing 4.21-second 40-yard dash at this year's NFL Scouting Combine.

The move, perhaps expectedly, sparked backlash from a contingent of Bills fans on social media, who fundamentally disagreed with the idea of Beane helping the Chiefs add a player they felt could bolster their already potent (and demonstrably difficult to stop) offense. During a recent appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Beane addressed the reaction, suggesting that Kansas City may have landed its target regardless of his actions.

“Anytime we trade with someone, if people think you should take a player there—offense, defense, in this case, receiver—you’re always going to get criticized,” Beane said. “It’ll have to play out on the field, ultimately, with the players that we acquired [and] the player that they acquired. It’s not like we traded the player to Kansas City; I get that narrative, like if we had traded Stefon Diggs to Kansas City, ‘well, why would you trade him there?’

“You don’t truly know who someone is going to select when you trade with them. They’re not going to call and say, ‘Hey, we’re trading up, and we’re going to take this player.’ And if you don’t trade with them and you pick a different player, they can still trade up with someone else. I’ve never understood that narrative; I’m sure they didn’t just call the Buffalo Bills to trade up, they probably called some other teams, too.”

Beane’s comments regarding a team not knowing who a competitor is going to take after trading with them evoke memories of the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft, when the Bills traded up with the Jacksonville Jaguars to land Utah tight end Dalton Kincaid. The executive, on several platforms, has spoken about Jacksonville general manager Trent Baalke’s hesitancy regarding the trade, essentially making Beane promise he wasn’t going to take their target before agreeing to the deal.

Beane brought up last year’s draft during his appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, contrasting the bulk of available contributors at the backend of this year’s first round with the comparative lack of surefire options that fell last year.

“When we were there at 28, there were good players on our board,” Beane said. “We felt there were some guys on offense and defense [that were of] similar values; a year ago, we had one guy sticking out in Dalton Kincaid, and so we made the move to trade up, like, ‘We feel if we don’t get him, then we’re going to have to drop back and take a lesser player.’ [This year] we felt we had guys on both sides of the ball. We didn’t want to take a huge leap, so we went from 28 to 32.”

‘Big Baller Beane’ wasn’t done after sliding back four spots, making a late-Thursday trade with the Carolina Panthers to move back from pick No. 32 to No. 33. The move allowed Buffalo to turn pick No. 200 into pick No. 141, an increase of 59 positions.

“Then we’re still looking at our board [at pick No. 32] going, ‘Hey, we’ve still got a little bit up there,’” Beane said. “Carolina was being aggressive and traded up for [Xavier] Legette. We were trying to not go down in value the best we could, but also acquire some more draft capital.”

Buffalo would ultimately utilize pick No. 33, selecting Florida State pass-catcher Keon Coleman. The former Seminole will, perhaps unfairly, be intrinsically linked to Xavier Worthy throughout their respective careers due solely to the Bills’ decision to trade down; Beane understands why this is the case, but is confident in his draft day trade down and subsequent selection.

“[Those criticizing the trade down] don’t have all the facts,” Beane said. “However you put it, we know a lot more as far as where we have guys, guys who are smart, guys who are not smart, guys who fit our DNA, guys who fit our system. They truly don’t know all the facts to be able to tell you whether to trade up or trade back.

“I’ve been more of a trade-up guy than a trade-back; people have gotten onto me in the past for trading assets away. You know how it is. You can’t win. Whatever you do, someone is going to second guess you. This year, we decided to trade back, and that pissed some people off, too, so what are you going to do?”