Bills Receive Bad News After Underwhelming NFL Trade Deadline
It was a rough Tuesday for the Buffalo Bills as the NFL trade deadline passed them by without them making a single big move.
Buffalo’s roster is solid with only a few holes, but it should’ve taken the opportunity to add a veteran player or two that could put them over the top in the AFC this season.
Bills Named Trade Deadline Losers
With the Bills not making any moves, The Athletic’s Mike Jones named them one of his trade deadline losers on Wednesday.
“The Bills needed help on both sides of the ball. Another pass rusher would have been nice, and an interior run stopper was definitely high on the needs list,” Jones wrote. “So too was an explosive pass catcher to give Josh Allen the home run threat necessary to more effectively put opponents away. But Buffalo came away from the deadline with none of those boxes checked.”
Jones is right that the Bills should’ve thought about adding another pass rusher or interior run stopper, but the most significant addition Buffalo should’ve tried to add was a receiver that could stretch the field.
The Bills offense seems at times to be hindered by receivers not being able to stretch the field, and adding a player who could open things up more would’ve helped the offense.
The Bills could have pursued Saints receiver Rashid Shaheed, but New Orleans traded him to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for a fourth and fifth-round pick in 2026.
Shaheed is known for stretching defenses and making plays down the field, which would’ve helped the Bills in a significant way.
The Bills should’ve capitalized on the opportunity with the AFC being wide open this season. The kings of the conference, the Kansas City Chiefs, haven’t gotten off to the best start. They just came to Buffalo this past Sunday and lost 28-21.
Kansas City currently holds a 5-4 record and is sitting in third place in the AFC West at the moment.
Chiefs Also Named Trade Deadline Loser
The Chiefs also didn’t make any big-time moves at the deadline, and Jones had them among his trade deadline losers.
“Although the offense has received a boost in the form of the healthy return of Xavier Worthy and Rashee Rice’s return from suspension, the Chiefs still could have used a sparkplug running back, and some more help for Chris Jones along the defensive front. They failed to secure either,” Jones added.
The Indianapolis Colts decided to take a significant risk with the AFC wide open and traded two first-round picks for New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner.
The Colts have one of the best records in the AFC at 7-2 and have improved with their new addition.
There’s a real possibility that the Bills will have to play the Colts to reach the Super Bowl, and Gardner might make a huge impact in the game. It would’ve been nice for Buffalo to add a receiver to counter the Colts’ move, but it will have to work with what it has for the rest of the season.
The referee’s decision didn’t sit well with the Texans, who believed their quarterback was clearly giving himself up on the slide
CJ Stroud’s night against the Denver Broncos ended with a scare that silenced NRG Stadium on Sunday. Midway through the second quarter of Houston’s 18-15 loss, the Texans quarterback took off on a scramble and began to slide, only for the back of his helmet to slam violently into the turf after contact from Broncos cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine’s shoulder.
Immediately after the contact, the 23-year-old stayed down for several moments as the medical staff rushed in. He then gingerly walked off the field and headed straight to the locker room. Minutes later, the team confirmed what many fans had feared: Stroud had suffered a concussion and would not return for the night.
He had completed 6 of 10 passes for 79 yards before exiting, while backup Davis Mills finished 17 of 30 for 137 yards for the rest of the contest, as the Texans failed to score a touchdown for just the second time all season. They were forced to punt on six straight possessions after the backup couldn’t move the ball.
Hours after the game, however, Stroud’s foundation offered a sigh of relief. In an Instagram Story posted by the CJ Stroud Foundation, a smiling Stroud appeared alongside his mother, Kimberly, with a caption that read:
This brief post was perhaps the only update Texans fans needed after the distressing sequence. Still, the aftermath of the hit sparked heated debate over how it was officiated.
For those out of context, the play on Stroud initially drew a flag for unnecessary roughness. But after review, officials overturned the call, ruling that Abrams-Draine had not made contact with Stroud’s head or neck. That decision didn’t sit well with the Texans, who believed their quarterback was clearly giving himself up on the slide.
“He slid and the guy came up and hit him, and as I see it, that’s unnecessary roughness… He hit the quarterback when he was sliding and giving himself up. If I’m incorrect on the rules, I’ve seen that happen multiple times with our guys and we get the penalty — but for some reason, it just didn’t happen there,”
Star edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. was even more blunt. “Man, it was very unfortunate. I think it was a BS call… We talk about protecting quarterbacks. CJ is a big name in this league. He’s a quarterback that a lot of people love and watch. We love him in here,”
Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair, who last year was ejected and suspended for a similar hit, called the officiating “shocking” and “inconsistent.”
As things stand, the Texans, now 3-5, will monitor their franchise quarterback under the NFL’s concussion protocol before next week’s matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars. But until then, the good news remains that CJ Stroud is fine.
