Brandon Beane SPEAKS OUT on Trade - Massive Buffalo Bills Updates

A few hours before the trade deadline, a report has come out that the Buffalo Bills offered a second round pick in return for Budda Baker. The answer was no from Arizona. By lunch, Brandon Beam was ready to walk away from the trade deadline with nothing. You know, you asked me at 12 noon, I didn't feel great. But a couple hours later, the Bills had the league's interception leader for a 20-27 second. Amani Hooker, a player with five picks this season, more than anyone in the NFL. Then after the trade deadline was over, Bean went to the podium and he let something slip. Yeah, there were conversations of other players today in the range of where we ended up with Amani. Hooker wasn't the only safety they were chasing. In fact, he may not have been their first. Regardless if he was plan A, plan B, plan C, or plan Z, it doesn't matter to me. The Bills made a great trade here at the trade deadline. Brandon Bean let a lot of information out in terms of where the Bills are now going forward. One thing was made clear, the push for Baker was real. Budda Baker spent his whole career in Arizona and heading into the deadline he was open to joining a contender and Buffalo and Jacksonville both checked in. The offer was a quality day two pick per recent reports and the Cardinals ended up declining that offer. Obviously a day two pick means either a second or a third so may have been a pick similar to what Tennessee ended up taking. Nonetheless, according to Jordan Schultz, it was a very strong push as well, and it came right before the Hooker talks picked back up. So word of the offer bounced around from insider to insider, but the deal did not get accepted. Arizona's reason was simple. They didn't want to trade away a franchise icon. And by 4pm, the Cardinals didn't make a single deal. But regardless if you'd rather Baker or Hooker, there's one area where the Bills definitely got the right side And it's the money situation. Baker would have cost a lot more money and his rental. His cap hit is $19.2 million this season against $12 million for Hooker. And for a team with about $4 million in room, that alone might have killed it. B never said Baker's name out there in his press conference, but he came very close. You know, at least a player or two that. Cole probably would have spent more time on the back end had one of those worked out. And that's the tell. Cole Bishop is the safety Jim Leonard has been moving up near the line, and Baker plays that same spot, and he has 3.5 sacks on the season. If you put two of those guys together, one of them ends up having to play deep, and that's not the ideal position for either of them. Sal Capaccio made the same point, saying that Baker would have been a little more redundant next to Bishop. But Hooker is the opposite. He's a deep safety who tracks the ball, which lets Bishop stay where he's best. Bean called that pairing a great marriage with Bishop free to play up near the line and Hooker covering the deep and middle behind him. So if the Cardinals said yes on Baker, that would have put Bishop back into a deep role, which isn't where he's been playing this season. So when the Cardinals shut the door, Bean went back to the team that already told him no once. It started last week during Tennessee's bye with a call to the Titans GM. But it was clear the Titans were not in a hurry. They had just traded Jeffrey Simmons, and they wanted to calm the waters and see how things played out. And on Saturday, Bean ran into the Titans GM at Notre Dame and Miami, and the people around it said it was just small talk, but of course, a couple days later, they ended up making a trade. They texted again on Monday, the day the Bills beat Minnesota 23-6, and that Monday night made the deadline even messier for Bean. He worked the phones from a hotel in Minnesota, and some teams were asking about Bill's players who they weren't about to suit up that night. So apparently there was some sort of deal with a player that it would have been impossible to finish before kickoff. Nonetheless, Tuesday morning, Bean sent a call, what he called a random call, out there to a Titans executive asking who they'd be willing to move. That call was the one that reopened the discussions regarding Hooker. That executive went back to the GM of the Titans, Mike Borgonzi, and Borgonzi went to his owner, and Bean went to Terry Pegula. Bean had three boxes for any deal, a difference maker, a team that's willing to move him, and a salary that he could fit. So Hooker checked all three boxes, and Bean said this one picked up some steam after around one o'clock. And the strange part about this is he said he felt better around noon of the trade deadline day last year than he did this year, but obviously this season. They actually came away with something where last year they ended up with nothing. But in terms of that trade criteria, the last box on that is usually the hardest thing to fill because his deal used up most of Buffalo's cap space. And to make room, the Bills restructured Dion Dawkins' contract on deadline day. Dawkins was out at a community event, so Bean sent the team staffer Ryan Moore to track him down and get the deal done. Obviously, as we know now, the final price was a 2027 second, with Tennessee's 2025 coming back to Buffalo. Tennessee now holds Chicago's first from the Simmons deal and Buffalo's second, which is why they finally said yes. ESPN had the deal at about 2.30 Eastern, so with the 4 p.m. deadline, he had about an hour and 30 minutes to spare. I've heard mixed reviews in terms of the actual price. Pretty well every Buffalo Bills fan is happy that we ended up acquiring Hooker, but of course, like any trade, people will complain or be hyped regardless of the package you send out. But this is the going rate. Out there for a player like Hooker. A day earlier, the Jaguars gave the Falcons a 20-27 second for Jesse Bates. And NFL.com graded this deal an A- for Buffalo. And he had an interesting quote saying he would have pulled the trigger on this trade even if the Bills had a worse record. If we were 4-3. And we have to remember how the back end looked on this team a week ago. Gardner Johnson was supposed to be the answer at safety, but the Bills cut him the day after his suspension ended on November 3rd. And that left DeMar Hamlin standing next to Bishop with Geno Stone and rookie Jalen Kilgore behind them. And the only way to put it is the pass defense has been broken on this Bills team. Under first-year coordinator Jim Leonard, the Bills are 23rd in points allowed, and Buffalo is 30th in the league against the pass. That's a 7-1 team, the first seed out there in the AFC with the worst pass defense in the NFL. And Hooker is exactly the fix for that. His five interceptions are tied for the most in the NFL through nine weeks. He's had 17 in his career, all with Tennessee, since the 2019 draft. For context, only 13 Bills players have had five or more interceptions in a season since 1999. Hooker already has five, with half the season still to go. So when the house is on fire regarding your pass defense, you have to go for the guy that takes the ball away. And Hamlin has given everything for this team, and I respect him for it. But he's been a starter right now since that Gardner-Johnson experiment failed. And with Hooker in, Hamlin can go back to being depth, and Buffalo gets a true starter on the back end for the first time since Gardner-Johnson was suspended. And Bean went straight to a name that every Bills fan knows. Instincts, ball skills. The part about this deal I like most is the contract. Hooker signed for $13.2 million next season and $16.4 million in 2028. And his 2027 money isn't guaranteed until an injury guarantee kicks in this March, so Buffalo can still walk away if this goes wrong. But Bean said it himself, he views Hooker as not a rental. Now whether he plays Sunday is another question against the Jets, because Bean came out and said he has a lot of catching up to do. But regardless of how good of a move this is, a second round pick is not nothing for Buffalo. It's the round where Bean found James Cook with the 63rd pick in 2022. It's also the round where he found Cole Bishop, the safety that Hooker's about to be playing next to. Bean brought up those names himself because he knows what he's giving away in a second round pick. Every year, a contender has a chance at finding a starter in that round who will be on a cheap contract. The question was never just, is Hooker good? Because we know what fit he has Out there on the Bills team. But it's whether or not he is worth giving up a cheap starter for four straight seasons. Bean's answer was yes, and mostly because of the years. Most deadline buys are rentals, 8 or 10 games and a playoff run, and then they hit free agency and then your team can't afford them. But this deal with Hooker gives the Bills this season all of 2027 and all of 2028. Bean also said he didn't want to be reckless right now and have to cut or trade players next spring because of it. He says his own staff splits on it. However, he leans aggressive again, but Josh Allen being in his prime, a second round pick for a starter that's going to be under contract for three years is exactly the types of moves you need to make if you have those Super Bowl aspirations. So one question is, are more moves coming? And of course. No more trades are coming, the trade deadline has passed, and the Bills are unable to make more trades with other teams. He did keep talking to other teams after the Hooker trade, but no deal ended up materializing. However, he did leave the door open for some more moves. Sometimes guys get waived or something. You never know. Things can happen. That's the only road left. Waivers, free agents, and the practice squad with almost no cap room to do it. So the Bills were active out there on trade deadline day, and it felt like the rest of the AFC was as well. Jacksonville added Bates, Jordan Davis for a 20-27 first and a 20-29 second. Kansas City got Josh Downs, and Baltimore got Jacoby Brissett with Lamar Jackson on the IR. That's a first round pick from Jacksonville for a guy that plays defensive tackle. And in the same week, they paid a second for a safety. Every one of those teams are teams that the Bills could see in January. And at least on paper, each and every single one of those teams got better as well. That matters because Buffalo is 7-1 and holds the AFC's top seed right now. And coming up on the schedule, they see the Jets on Sunday, then Miami, then Kansas City on Thanksgiving night. That's three games in 12 nights with a new safety learning all the calls. However, none of that put pressure on him, according to Bean. I put pressure on myself, Matt, at all times. How can I help Joe Brady, Josh Allen, the rest of our team be the best they can be? A year ago, he walked into that same room with nothing, and he admitted he was frustrated. You guys are going to be walking here today, and I was going to make sure you guys put your guns and knives away. But this year, he got the deal, and he came back with his usual line. You're never one player away. You're not. He also called this year one for Joe Brady and his staff, a group that is still coming together. And then he said the part that matters most. So regardless if he was playing A, B, C, or D, Hooker was the better fit than Baker. The deep post lets Bishop stay in the box, and that's exactly where Leonard wants him. You get an extra two years and $7 million saved compared to Buda Baker's contract. Comment down below who you'd rather have, Hooker or Baker. And if you want the initial reaction Ben gave out there on this video, check out this video right here.