Bills GM Beane upset over tanking talk

Aug 15, 2017 - 7:26 PM Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane has heard the buzz that has resonated from unhappy members of the fan base on the heels of the team recently trading away two key players.

While that's par for the course, Beane took issue with the notion that the Bills are tanking after trading wide receiver Sammy Watkins and cornerback Ronald Darby.

"I was very annoyed," Beane told Pro Football Talk on Tuesday. "We would not have tried to get Anquan Boldin on our team if we were tanking. We would not have tried to get Jordan Matthews -- who, if you look at his numbers in his first three years, they're pretty good. We would not have tried to get E.J. Gaines. We would have just tried to get more draft capital if we weren't worried about 2017. We're going to compete our tails off for 2017."

Watkins and Darby were sent packing in two separate trades within minutes of each other on Friday.

Watkins and a sixth-round draft pick in 2018 were shipped to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange Gaines and the Rams' second-round pick in 2018.

Darby, a second-round pick of the 2015 draft, was sent to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for Matthews and a conditional third-round pick in 2018.

The Bills paid a hefty price to draft Watkins in 2014, switching places with Cleveland (No. 9 to No. 4) while also giving the Browns their 2015 first-round pick.

Watkins endured non-stop nagging injuries, and he wound up missing 11 of the possible 48 games he could have played, but also was well less than 100 percent in many others. He caught 153 passes for 2,459 yards and 17 touchdowns as a member of the Bills. By comparison, the man who will probably replace him in the starting lineup -- Matthews, who was the Eagles' second-round pick in 2014 -- has missed only two games in his career and has 225 catches for 2,673 yards and 19 touchdowns.

As for Darby, he had a nice rookie season in 2015, but declined last season, so a change of scenery may do him good. Unlike Matthews, who should be able to earn a starting job, Gaines will be joining an open competition to replace Darby.