Bills GM Beane reveals behind the scenes of how draft day trades work

The LA Rams are no strangers to draft-day trades. After all, the Rams entered the 2023 NFL Draft with 11 picks, and over the course of three days emerged with 14 rookie prospects. That was the result of two Day 2 trades, including FMIA's Underrated Trade of the Weekend. And it's the fact that the LA Rams' series of draft day trades have the Rams' front office convinced that the Rams roster is ready (or nearly ready) to take on the 2023 NFL season.

Still, there is always a bit of curiosity that is piqued by the sudden and unexpected appearance of an NFL Draft Day trade. Are these trades always preset, like decision charts, that automatically kick in for two teams during those pressure-cooked moments during the draft? Or are they simply cold calls, and all of the negotiations happen at the speed and thoroughness of a pit trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange?

The complexity of a simple draft day trade

While we haven't been walked through the Draft day gyrations of the LA Rams engaging in a trade, we do have the luxury of recapping how Buffalo Bills General Manager Brandon Beane and Jacksonville Jaguars General Manager Trent Baalke negotiated their draft day trade that resulted in the Buffalo Bills landing tight end Dalton Kincaid out of Utah.

The part that is so interesting to me is the rapidity of how two NFL general managers are able to negotiate a trade of competing NFL teams without the sharing of who either team is targeting in the NFL Draft. Imagine the faux pas of an NFL GM who trades out of a pick, only to watch in horror as the team who traded into that pick choose the very player the original GM had wanted to select?

So it goes on draft day trades, and why they are fewer than you might realize. In this case, the Buffalo Bills traded up to select Dalton Kincaid. The Jaguars did eventually draft their own tight end, Penn State tight end Brenton Strange, with the 61st overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

The LA Rams had to undertake that same process multiple times throughout the 2023 NFL Draft. Those simple draft day trades are not so simple as they appear, it seems.