Buffalo Bills: Breaking down the trade of Cordy Glenn to the Bengals
By James Reeve
The Buffalo Bills have agreed to another trade ahead of the new league year, sending left tackle Cordy Glenn to the Cincinnati Bengals.
According to NFL.com and ESPN, a deal to move Cordy Glenn will also see the Buffalo Bills and Bengals swap first-round draft picks and exchange a fifth (going to Cincinnati) and a sixth-round pick (going to Buffalo).
The trade will now see the Bills take a step closer to landing their desired future franchise quarterback, moving up to 12th in the draft, while the Bengals move down to 21st overall.
This trade makes sense for the Bills in more than one way, with the team determined to get a top quarterback of the future in the upcoming draft and wanting to do away with Glenn’s contract.
After being drafted by the Bills in the second round (41st overall) of the 2012 draft, Glenn became the team’s starting left tackle and held down the position consistently until 2016.
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This is when injuries began to creep in, with Glenn missing 15 games across the last two seasons – making just five starts for the team in 2017.
Dion Dawkins, a second-round draft pick in 2017, stepped in effectively and held his own throughout the season as the team finally reached the playoffs for the first time this century.
He will remain the team’s starting left tackle moving forward and allows the team to move on from their former starter with very few regrets.
Glenn is due a $2 million roster bonus this week and, according to Over The Cap, he will carry a cap hit of $11.25 million in 2018, something the Bills do not want to be tied to.
Trading away Glenn’s cap space will allow the Bills to target a top QB in free agency and make the team capable of competing for other free agents that would help improve other areas of the team.
But the biggest bonus from this trade is the 12th overall pick in the upcoming draft, a pick the Bills may not still hold on draft day.
Rumours have circulated that the Bills are looking to trade for Denver’s fifth overall pick, in order to have a strong chance of drafting one of the best QBs available.
Having the 12th overall pick available to trade makes the Bills a much more enticing trade partner than they were when they held the 21st pick.
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Buffalo Bills fans, what do you think of this trade? Are you happy to see them climb up in the draft? Are you sad to see Glenn go? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!