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The Bills have a roster loaded with talent that is poised to push for a Super Bowl bid in 2021. Typically such teams are adding pieces, not moving on from them.
Despite that, Bleacher Report named defensive end Jerry Hughes as the Bills’ player that team should consider trading this offseason. Here’s the case B/R makes:
This was a tossup between veteran Buffalo Bills edge defenders Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison. Either should be on the block if the team gets a good vibe from any or all of their three young pass-rushers: rookies Gregory Rousseau (first round) and Carlos Basham Jr. (second round) and sophomore A.J. Epenesa (second round).
Hughes and Addison are a combined 65 years old and coming off a season in which they tallied just 9.5 sacks in 30 games. They’d save $6.4 million by trading Hughes and $5.4 million by dealing Addison, who is a year older and likely less attractive on the trade market.
They wouldn’t likely fetch too much for either considering their age and finances at play, but freeing up more reps for those young guys could make a deal worth it.
Trading Hughes, in comparison to Addison or others on the Bills roster, would certainly fetch Buffalo a better return. He’s played much better in recent years. Even so, there’s truthfully little reason for the Bills to consider trading Hughes.
Hughes, set to be 33 next season and in the final year of his contract, still could have a few more seasons left in him. Pass rushers have been known to play at a decent level until their mid-30s, and as of now, there’s little reason to think Hughes can’t do that.
That’s because, not only is Hughes the longest-tenured member of the Bills, he’s never missed a single game in Buffalo since he was traded to the Bills in 2013. Even if Hughes does eventually take a rotational spot behind younger options in a year or two, his leadership and experience would be much more valuable to the Bills, while their roster is this deep, than any draft pick would be.
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