NFL Draft 2013: Buffalo Bills Trade No. 8 Pick to St. Louis Rams
By Josh Hill
We were expecting a fair share of trades in the first round and while the Miami Dolphins traded up big to get defensive end Dion Jordan, but the biggest trade of the first round came after that when the St. Louis Rams made an inevitable trade and moved into the top 10 to draft West Virginia wide receiver Tavon Austin.
Many people pegged Austin as the most exciting player in the draft this year, and as we watched the time tick away in the draft we were all waiting for a team to shake things up and move up to take the explosive all-purpose threat. That team ended up being the Rams who swapped first rounder with the Buffalo Bills to get the guy they were reportedly “smitten” over.
The Buffalo Bills ended up being the perfect trade partners for the Rams, as despite needing some upgrades all over the roster they decided they were better off moving down the draft order. The move will end up paying off as not the Bills have two second round picks to play with and can now move into position to draft Ryan Nassib, a guy they’ve been coveting for some time.
San Francisco was the NFC West team favored to move up big in the draft, but the Rams emerged late as candidates to shake things up. Tavon Austin is exactly the guy they need to not only replace Danny Amendola but to give Sam Bradford an explosive new edge to the offense. In order to move up, the Rams traded the 16th overall pick in the draft to the Bills along with their second round pick while also swapping third rounders with Buffalo.
Now that they’re sitting at 16th overall, the Bills are in a prime position to grab Nassib and still build in the second round. The Rams were a part of a win-win trade with the Redskins last year and St. Louis has done it again and hit a home run in the draft.