The Buffalo Bills roster is mostly set for the 2023 season after the NFL draft and free agency. As we enter the dog days of the NFL offseason, though, there are still a few tweaks the team can make to give themselves the best chance to finally reach the Super Bowl in 2024. With that in mind, there are two Bills trades out there that could help put them over the edge, and those moves are adding Minnesota Vikings running back Dalvin Cook and Arizona Cardinals wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins.
Like most good teams in the NFL, the Bills have above-average lines on both sides of the ball, a solid defense overall, and, of course, a franchise quarterback in Josh Allen. The team continued to build in these areas through free agency in the draft, although they didn’t do much to address two of the three major offensive skill positions.
Buffalo drafted Florida wideout Justin Shorter in the fifth round and signed free-agent RBs Damien Harris and Latavius Murray. While those moves will surely help this season, they don’t address the roster’s shortcomings at the top of the depth chart.
Stefon Diggs is one of the best players in the NFL, and first-round pick, tight end Dalton Kincaid, will help the pass-catching corps. However, behind them on the Bills roster, Gabe Davis was a disappointment last season, and players like Trent Sherfield, Deonte Harty, and Khalil Shakir are just OK.
Likewise, at running back, Harris is solid, James Cook has potential, and Nyheim Hines is a good third-down back. But there isn’t the juice at the top of the position that the best teams have. That’s why these two Bills trades make so much sense.
2. RB Dalvin Cook, Minnesota Vikings
The Vikings desperately want to get rid of Dalvin Cook, despite the RB rushing for over 1,100 yards and making the Pro Bowl for the last four seasons. Cook will turn 28 in August and make over $10 million next season. With Alexander Mattison in the fold, the Vikings don’t want to pay that much for their franchise RB.
On his side, Cook seems to want out, as he’s not all that interested in splitting carries with a young runner like Mattison.
For any team that can take on Cook’s 2023 salary — which would require some creative cap maneuvering from the Bills — the back is available for precious little draft capital.
Giving up a fourth- or fifth-round pick next season for a team with a roster as stacked as the Bills is relatively inconsequential. And getting a true three-down back who can carry the load and take pressure off of Josh Allen would be huge.
Also, it stands to reason that the only place in the league where Dalvin Cook would be willing to share a lot of the workload is in Buffalo, where the back he would be splitting time with is his younger brother, James.
The Bills spent years wasting first-round picks on running backs like Willis McGahee, Marshawn Lynch, and C.J. Spiller with bad offenses around them and no QB. Now the team has an incredible offense and one of the best QBs in the NFL, so it is time to go all in on a top-notch RB by making this Bills trade.
1. WR DeAndre Hopkins, Arizona Cardinals
In addition to running back, wide receiver is a problem on the Bills roster this NFL offseason.
Stefon Diggs is one of the best WRs in the league, but without a high-end No. 2, he is less effective, and defenses can key in on him. This leads to Allen throwing the ball to other, lesser targets in big spots, and — as Buffalo fans remember all too well — that leads to Diggs throwing tantrums on the Bills' sideline.
Allen needs a high-end No. 2 or a co-No. 1 wideout to go with Diggs, and in general manager Brandon Beane’s defense, there weren’t any in the 2023 NFL Draft or many on the free-agent market.
Drafting a glorified big slot receiver in Dalton Kincaid was a solid contingency plan, but if there is a true WR1 available in a Bills trade, the team needs to pull the trigger.
DeAndre Hopkins is that type of player, even at 31 years old in June. A Diggs/Hopkins/Kincaid/Cook (James of Dalvin) battery would be an embarrassment of riches for the Buffalo offense and would spread defenses ridiculously thin.
It would probably cost a second-round pick and something else to go get Hopkins from the Cardinals. But it does seem like they are in rebuild mode, and the WR seems to want out of that toxic situation.
Additionally, when asked about places he’s interested in moving to, Hopkins has hinted on several occasions that Western New York is one of those places.
A Bills trade for DeAndre Hopkins is just the type of move that could put Buffalo over the top and finally get them back to a Super Bowl, even in a ridiculously crowded AFC.
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