Bills Urged to Make Rare Trade With Division Rival For Defensive ‘Eraser’
The Buffalo Bills, one of the two teams along with the Kansas City Chiefs favored to head to the Super Bowl out of the AFC this season, will come off their bye week on a two-game losing streak, after winning their first four straight.
In year that has been described as “Super Bowl or Bust” for the Bills, the team led by reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen finds itself in crisis, falling out of first place in the AFC East behind the suddenly surging New England Patriots. With the trade deadline now less than two weeks away, the Bills will need to make some moves to keep themselves in the hunt for the division title.
In fact, the Bills have dropped all the way down to the fifth seed in the conference. As inconceivable as it may seem, without some significant improvements the Bills are in at least some danger of missing the playoffs altogether.
Former NFL GM Pushes For Safety Trade
On Monday a CBS Sports panel came up with a series of trades that, the panelists said, the Bills “NEED to make ahead of the NFL trade deadline.” But one trade in particular was an attention-grabber, because it would involve the Bills making a deal with their most heated divisional rival, the same team that currently occupies the second seed in the AFC and top spot in the division — the Patriots.
The trade was proposed by former Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon, who was fired from that job in January and has now become a media NFL analyst, but even Carthon admitted that the intra-divisional trade seems unlikely to actually take place.
“I highly doubt it would happen. Let’s let’s just start there,” Carthon — who played nine games at running back for the Indianapolis Colts in 2005 and 2006 — said. But he then went on to outline the trade that would bring New England’s six-year veteran safety Kyle Dugger to Orchard Park.
“I feel like Buffalo needs safety help,” Carthon explained. “You have Demar Hamlin on (injured reserve), and so you’ve been playing with Cole Bishop, you’ve been playing with Taylor Rapp and they are not the type of guys who you call ‘erasers.'”
Dugger Called ‘Eraser’
Since Carthon made his trade proposal, in fact, Rapp appears to have suffered a knee injury that kept him out of practice on Wednesday. That raises the possibility that the Bills will travel to Carolina for Sunday’s game against the Panthers with just one healthy player at the safety position.
“Erasers are guys that can come downhill and take plays away, in terms of being able to fit in run support. But then also having the sideline to sideline range to play over the top in coverage and affect those throwing windows,” Carthon continued.
The “eraser” he has in mind for the Bills is Dugger, a Patriots 2020 second-round draft pick, who was demoted to the second-unit team by new coach Mike Vrabel in training camp, and has yet to capture Vrabel’s attention.
Dugger has played only 44 percent of the Patriots defensive snaps in Vrabel’s debut year an New England head coach, after playing 90 percent under one-and-done coach Jerod Mayo — and 98 percent in 2023, the legendary Bill Belichick’s final season with the Patriots.
Rumors that the Patriots will unload Dugger by the trade deadline have been frequent this season, with the Houston Texans also seen as a potential landing spot, in addition to the Bills.
Insider Warns Jets QB That He Isn’t ‘Safe’ Amid Roster Cuts
The New York Jets waived quarterback Adrian Martinez on Sunday, August 24.
That led to some speculation on social media that undrafted free agent quarterback Brady Cook had won the QB3 role.
Beat reporter Nick Faria of Jets X-Factor told me on “Boy Green Daily”, not so fast.
“Just because it looks like Cook has won the quarterback three battle does not mean he has actually won it,” Faria explained to me. “He could get released, and the team looks elsewhere. They could look across the other 31 teams that are cutting their quarterbacks and say ‘Hey, we will take a proven veteran over a UDFA rookie that we just brought up.'”
“Brady Cook is not safe,” Faria told me.
Update on QB2 Tyrod Taylor
Justin Fields is the No. 1 QB for the NYJ. Tyrod Taylor is the clear backup quarterback.
Taylor underwent arthroscopic knee surgery this offseason, which initially put his status into question heading into the season opener. However, head coach Aaron Glenn said after the game that he is “confident” that Taylor will be ready to go for Week 1.
When Glenn spoke to the media on Monday, August 25, he reiterated that Taylor is expected to be ready to go for the Pittsburgh Steelers game.
The only concern on the Taylor front is his level of rustiness.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini revealed that Taylor hadn’t practiced with the Jets since July.
“Taylor figures to be rusty, considering he hasn’t practiced since late July. Glenn wouldn’t say when Taylor is expected to start practicing. The Jets will have at least five practices before facing the Steelers,” Cimini said.
Cimini highlighted on social media that he didn’t see Taylor at Monday’s practice on August 25.
Will There Even Be a QB3 on the Roster for the Jets?
With Taylor looking like he will be good to go, the question remains, will the Jets even need a QB3 for the 53-man roster?
That remains unanswered.
Considering Taylor’s age, rustiness, and coming off surgery it would behoove the Jets to have a backup plan. Well a backup plan to the backup plan just in case.
Recapping the Brady Cook Experience During Jets Preseason in 2025
The Jets inked Cook as an undrafted free agent following April’s draft out of Missouri.
He appeared in all three preseason games this August for the Jets.
In Week 1 versus the Green Bay Packers, Cook finished 6-of-8 for 62 passing yards, with zero touchdowns and zero interceptions.
In the Week 2 matchup against the New York Giants, Cook was 6-of-11 for 74 passing yards, with one passing touchdown and zero interceptions.
Finally in the Week 3 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Cook was 13-of-19 for 99 passing yards, no touchdowns, and one interception.
All in all Cook completed 66% of his passes going 25-for-38, for 235 passing yards, with one touchdown and one interception.
There were good moments and bad moments. However Cook didn’t do enough to be the unquestioned QB3 which will inevitably lead the Jets to evaluate all of the options that are available to them to see if they can find something better.
