The 2018 NFL Draft came with its usual twists and turns as teams were clamoring to take one of the many quality quarterback prospects. Among them were the Buffalo Bills, who completed a trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to move up and take former Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen.

However, general manager Brandon Beane admits that things did not exactly go as planned. Prior to the trade with Tampa Bay, Beane had attempted to crack the top five by reaching a deal with either the Cleveland Browns or the Denver Broncos, according to Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News:

“I probably talked to John Dorsey more than anybody through the process, but we could not come to an agreement on what was fair,” Beane said. “John calls me and says, ‘All right, here’s what we’ll do,’” Beane said. “We finalized the deal, but it’s contingent on his guy not being there. . . . I was a little bummed when Elway told me, ‘Hey, this is our guy.’ I felt like what I had to offer John was better than anybody else could offer. I felt like I was bidding against myself, basically.”

At first, Beane may have felt that the Bills missed out on their opportunity to draft their quarterback. However, it is clear that Buffalo was ultimately able to get a much better deal in the end. Rather than likely giving up a first-rounder and a bevy of other picks to move up to four or five, they simply shipped two second-rounders to take Allen with the seventh overall pick. The Bills also managed to take former Virginia Tech linebacker Tremaine Edmunds with the 16th overall pick they were able to keep.

Given their huge void under center, few would have batted an eye if they completed a trade with Cleveland or Denver. However, it is clear that sometimes the best deals are the ones that are not made. That was certainly the case for Buffalo this time around.