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It seems like the Buffalo Bills have lived as a team on the edge for several seasons. Just one more step and they will reach the Super Bowl. Another chance rolls around in 2024, and roster tweaks may lead the Bills to look for possible trade candidates entering the 2024 training camp season.
Keeping in mind that the idea is trade candidate — and not a player the team needs to, or should trade — edge rusher Von Miller tops the list. Joining Miller are tight end Dawson Knox and linebacker Nicholas Morrow.
First, let's set the main reasons for considering a trade of Miller. He's 35 years old, coming off a sub-par season, and the goal is to win the Super Bowl.
Don’t the Bills need LB Von Miller to win it all?
That’s a reasonable narrative. When you have a player who has “been there,” it can help in the critical moments when big plays are needed. Miller is certainly a playoff asset.
But let’s look at his performances in recent seasons. After five straight years of double-digit sacks, Miller had only eight in 2019. After missing all of 2020 with an ankle injury, he followed up with 9.5 in 2021 (let’s be nice and round it up to 10 for argument’s sake).
In 2022, he totaled eight sacks in an unspectacular season, his first in Buffalo. And last year, he did not record a sack despite appearing in 12 games. Now, Miller will tell everyone listening he shouldn’t have played in 2023. He told si.com he was hurt the whole season— still recovering from a torn ACL in 2022.
“It’s crazy how you get injured, and you come back, and you really shouldn’t have even been playing, and people judge you by a product on the field,” Miller said.
OK, but … how else is a player judge except by the product on the field? Is he saying the Bills’ medical staff failed him, and shouldn’t have let him play?
Miller continued, “I could have easily sat out all of last season, but I couldn’t do my teammates like that. I felt like being later in my career, I didn’t want to sacrifice any of my years. But at the same time, I shouldn’t have been out there. I feel like people are judging me on that, so it’s making me a little bit angry, to be honest.”
But the Bills didn't get where they wanted to be in 2023
So what Miller wants everybody to believe is his 12-game sack-less season helped his teammates. He did it for them. Shouldn’t he have sat out and let a younger and healthier player get those stats? In other words, Miller is saying his mere presence on the field, whether he produces or not, makes the team better. Come on. In the NFL?
Miller’s lack of self-accountability, and high level of self-worth, is not a quality that helps a team win games. Yes, NFL players often “gut it out” and play hurt. It’s an admirable trait — in the short term. Not for 12 games.
Look how this would play out at the quarterback position. Let’s say Josh Allen played through a similar injury and threw zero touchdown passes in 12 games. After the season, if Allen followed the Miller model, he would be “angry” at people who criticized his production-less performance.
Miller claimed to be a team guy while making it about himself. You can’t have it both ways. But if you try, then maybe another organization could use you.
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Now, think of the pirate’s booty the Bills could get for Miller. Looking at the receiver room, Buffalo needs better for Allen. Unless rookie Keon Coleman becomes an instant success, the Bills don’t look strong at that position.
Yes, Dalton Kincaid should be a difference-maker from his tight-end position. But Buffalo needs another wide receiver weapon. Miller could be the trade bait.
Now, having said all of this, the Bills don’t have to deal Miller. Maybe he has one more Pro Bowl season left, even though his last one came in 2019. And if the old Miller shows up at the right times in the season, perhaps the Bills get over the hump.
TE Dawson Knox has trade value, too
Just three seasons ago, Knox’s rather beastly performances put him on the NFL tight end map. He caught 49 passes for 587 yards, and perhaps more importantly, scored nine touchdowns. He had another good year in 2022 with 517 yads and six scores. But last year, limited to 12 games, he didn’t find a key role in the offense.
The emergence of Kincaid put Knox in a supporting role. But other teams might find the value worth a moderate trade offer. A problem for the Bills with Knox is his starting-tight-end contract. The four-year $52 million deal doesn’t wear well for a backup.
The former third-round pick is 27 years old, so he may have two or three good seasons remaining. That’s especially true if he finds a starting role again.
LB Nicholas Morrow could be in trade discussions
If the Bills hang onto Miller, they could deal a different player at the linebacker position. Nicholas Morrow enters his seventh season in the league, but landed on his fourth team in the last four years.
He’s well-traveled, but he stays on the field. He has played in 14 or more games every season, and four times played 16 or more. In 2022, he racked up 116 tackles with the Bears. And last year with the Eagles he had 95 with three sacks.
The Bills added a lot of linebackers this year while Terrel Bernard, Baylon Spector and Matt Milano coming back. Morrow came in as insurance for Milano, who suffered a leg injury last season. Depending on how Milano does in recovery, Morrow might be more likely to become a trade candidate after the season starts.
