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Winners and losers from Bills, Rams, Eagles mega trades

Bill Barnwell

Just when you thought the biggest story of the weekend might be the Ezekiel Elliott suspension, the Bills decided to flip their roster overnight with a pair of out-of-nowhere trades.

Buffalo's new regime of Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane inherited a roster that appeared to top out short of the playoffs, so it's no surprise they've spent most of the offseason trying to undo deposed general manager Doug Whaley's mistakes. The Bills repeatedly traded down during the 2017 draft, grabbing an extra 2018 first-round pick from the Chiefs from their troubles, before firing Whaley the day after the draft.

On Friday, they added to their haul by acquiring a pair of 2018 picks as part of deals with the Eagles and Rams. Those trades amount to the following:

Buffalo Bills get: WR Jordan Matthews, CB E.J. Gaines, Rams' 2018 second-round pick, Eagles' 2018 third-round pick

Philadelphia Eagles get: CB Ronald Darby

Los Angeles Rams get: WR Sammy Watkins, Bills' 2018 sixth-round pick

The dust is still settling, but at first glance, let's run through the winners and losers from these three deals:

Winner

Jared Goff

As the Rams try to build some sort of offensive infrastructure for the 2016 first overall pick, it's hard to imagine them acquiring a better receiver to work with than Watkins, who averaged 80.5 receiving yards per game while healthy in 2015, good for what would be nearly 1,300 receiving yards over a 16-game campaign. While Watkins hasn't lived up to the draft-day trade that saw the Bills trade two first-round picks to move up and acquire him ahead of Mike Evans and Odell Beckham Jr. during the 2014 draft, injuries have been the problem, not talent.


Loser

Sammy Watkins

This was always going to be a huge season for Watkins, who was set to hit unrestricted free agency after the Bills declined to pick up the fifth-year option on his rookie deal for 2018. Last year was a lost season for the Clemson product, given that the Bills repeatedly pushed Watkins onto the field with a clear foot injury before Watkins finally underwent what ended up as two surgeries on his left foot. It seemed likely that the Bills would part company with Watkins after the year regardless of what happened.

It's hard to see how Watkins will be in a better situation for either his short- or long-term future. After being traded to the Rams, who gave up a starting cornerback and a high pick to acquire Watkins, Watkins is likely looking at the franchise tag if he breaks out in 2017. It's not clear that would have been the case in Buffalo, and the tag will cost him millions of dollars versus what he could get on the free market.

He's also now set to play out his contract year with Goff, who was one of the worst quarterbacks in recent memory during his debut season, as opposed to the criminally underrated Tyrod Taylor. Goff should be better during his second season, especially with the arrival of Sean McVay from Washington as coach, but there's a chance Watkins is relying on a replacement-level quarterback to make him millions of dollars.

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[www.espn.com]