Maybe I should've posted this in the "Let's Talk About the Bills" thread, but whatever.
It's true that the Bills got some good players out of trading the 2017 10th overall pick to KC, but they'd hop into Doc Brown's Delorean and draft Mahomes in a heartbeat, dicks in hand.
Also, this gem: "Now they have a proven playoff winner in Allen and an all-star supporting cast to go with him and continue to build around." By his standards, Alex Smith is also a proven playoff winner.
Let's make one thing clear before we go any further: The Buffalo Bills don't need to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game Sunday night to somehow justify a 2017 draft-day trade that enabled the Chiefs to draft Patrick Mahomes, even if he is the best quarterback in the NFL now and on his way to becoming the best of all time.
Both teams did what they needed to do that day, and it couldn't have worked out better for either one.
The Chiefs were much closer to a finished product when they gave the Bills their first-round pick (No. 27) and a third-round pick (No. 91) in 2017 and a first-round pick in 2018 (No. 22) for the Bills' first-round pick (No. 10), which they used to select Mahomes.
Mahomes went on to become the league MVP and lead the Chiefs to their first Super Bowl title since Hank Stram ordered up the 65 toss power trap.
But the Bills were able to turn their haul into a plentiful bounty that includes cornerback Tre'Davious White, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and left tackle Dion Dawkins.
They were not as close to a finished product as the Chiefs were then. But thanks in large part to the value received in that original trade, they are on equal footing now.
Besides, their choice of Josh Allen with the No. 7 pick in 2018, four spots after the New York Jets moved up to take Sam Darnold at No. 3, landed them a quarterback who has blossomed into one of the league's elite.
You don't need the best quarterback in the history of the world to win the Super Bowl. But you do need to put a team around one you can win with, which the Bills might not have been able to do had they stood pat and just drafted Mahomes that day.
Now they have a proven playoff winner in Allen and an all-star supporting cast to go with him and continue to build around.
White became an elite player almost immediately. Ditto for Edmunds. Both have been Pro Bowl selections in each of the last two seasons, and White was an All-Pro in 2019.
Dawkins needed a little more time to find his way, but eventually he emerged to become a key component of a team at or near its athletic peak.
"They got a good player in Patrick," coach Sean McDermott said, via ESPN, "and I think we made out as well with Josh, Tremaine and Tre'Davious -- however you kind of shape that, in terms of picks that became picks. I think both teams fared awfully well."
So before turning this contest into a referendum on that trade, try to think of how good the Bills would be right now with Mahomes but decidely lesser players at left tackle, cornerback and linebacker.
Only one team can win on Sunday, but both won on that day. That much is certain.
Regardless of Sunday night's result, this trade already has gone down in history as one both teams had to make.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro [Reply]
Originally Posted by Bearcat:
The 9-7 Titans made it that far.
True. But both of their playoff victories last year were impressive. They dominated the Pats and Ravens on the road.
The Bills have done no such thing in these playoffs and look very vulnerable.
Between that, their hurting WR corps, and the expected weather (which apparently Allen isn't good in, according to Bills fans) moving in Sunday, I am expecting a dominant Chiefs win.
I'll be genuinely surprised if they're within 10 points at the end of the game. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TomBarndtsTwin:
True. But both of their playoff victories last year were impressive. They dominated the Pats and Ravens on the road.
The Bills have done no such thing in these playoffs and look very vulnerable.
Between that, their hurting WR corps, and the expected weather (which apparently Allen isn't good in, according to Bills fans) moving in Sunday, I am expecting a dominant Chiefs win.
I'll be genuinely surprised if they're within 10 points at the end of the game.
“Let's make one thing clear before we go any further: The Buffalo Bills don't need to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game Sunday night to somehow justify a 2017 draft-day trade that enabled the Chiefs to draft Patrick Mahomes, even if he is the best quarterback in the NFL now and on his way to becoming the best of all time.” [Reply]
"You don't need the best quarterback in the history of the world to win the Super Bowl. But you do need to put a team around one you can win with"
Every chief and bills fan knows this is a distorted truth. Sure you might get a super bowl with a team, but more than likely the "team" teams are going to get beat by the fourth quarter-quarter back.
"They were not as close to a finished product as the Chiefs were then. But thanks in large part to the value received in that original trade, they are on equal footing now."
The chiefs were solid at LT, CB, and LB? I see a lot of the same old problems on today's chiefs that I have seen over the last 10 years. The one difference is we now have a single guy that overcomes the problems with powers given to him by gods.
But I do hope the bills are legit for a long time, it is fun to see them and other newer teams like the chiefs come into the spot light. [Reply]
The Buffalo Bills technically didn't need the draft ammo from the Mahomes trade down to draft Allen. They used their own pick to take him.
Josh Allen is only talked about in connection with that Mahomes trade in 2017 because he was taken a year later. Other than that, the two QBs aren't connected in any way. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RealSNR:
The Buffalo Bills technically didn't need the draft ammo from the Mahomes trade down to draft Allen. They used their own pick to take him.
Josh Allen is only talked about in connection with that Mahomes trade in 2017 because he was taken a year later. Other than that, the two QBs aren't connected in any way.
Yes, as far as the trade goes there is zero connection.
The issue is the Bills organization sold their fans on the trade with the notion that the 2017 QB class was inferior to 2018 and that they were going to get a better prospect than the one they traded away. [Reply]
I mean Derek Carr was third in MVP voting in 2016 and then regressed back into oblivion. Josh Allen was terrible his first two years and then exploded onto the scene this year. I would say his trajectory will be more likely to be like Carr than anything but I guess we will see. We have seen so many one year wonders lately at QB and then they come down to earth, where Mahomes has done it for three years. Regression for 2021 for Allen is what I would predict at this time, they better hope to cash in on it this year. [Reply]
