Buffalo Bills Fans Clamoring for Team to Trade for This Player
The new league year will begin on March 14th, which is also the start of free agency across the NFL. The legal tampering period for teams to contact pending free agents i March 11th.
As for the Bills, they have quite the work ahead of them. General manager Brandon Beane has 21 pending unrestricted free agents, with an estimated $50 million over the 2024 salary cap. That means the Bills will have to restructure some contracts just to have enough money to sign draft picks, let alone enough to spend money on free agents.
Gabe Davis and Trent Sherfield will likely leave in free agency, which leaves just Stefon Diggs, Khalil Shakir and Deonte Harty as the remaining starting wide receivers. Harty could be a cap casualty but we don't yet know that.
Wide receiver is a huge need for the Bills, which will likely be addressed early in the 2024 NFL Draft. However, there's one star wide receiver which Bills fans are hoping Beane is in on for a potential trade.
San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk has one year remaining on his rookie contract, but he made news after the Niners Super Bowl loss on Monday, as his brother made some Instagram posts that seemed to voice frustration with Aiyuk's usage and lack of receptions in the big game.
Aiyuk and the Niners will likely talk about an extension but if he doesn't want to return to the Niners, a trade seems possible.
The problem for the Bills is their cap situation. They are $50 million over the cap and have Stefon Diggs, who carries a daunting $31 million dead cap number. Whoever trades for Aiyuk would have to sign him to a new extension and be their new, number one wide out. That would mean big money could be backloaded, but then you're giving up draft capital (likely a first round pick) and still have Diggs and his cap number.
Aiyuk had 105 targets in 2023 but still produced over 1,300 receiving yards. Compare that to Diggs, who has averaged 160 targets per season with the Bills since 2020. Aiyuk's numbers likely get to 120 catches and 1,600-1,800 yards with the Bills if he got that target share.
Plus, Aiyuk is only 25 and would be someone you could rely on for the next five or six seasons, at least.
The Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals come to mind for teams who would be interested and all have more money to play with than the Bills.
Still, Aiyuk is a sure thing and would be a success with the Bills. It likely won't happen but doesn't mean fans still don't want it to happen.
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