ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Just one day after the 2023 NFL trade deadline, teams are gearing up for Week 9 of play. The Bills get back to work as they prepare for this week’s AFC matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. This time around though, some new additions have been added to the team.
On Tuesday, the team signed veteran running back Leonard Fournette to the practice squad. Then just hours later, the Bills announced a trade for cornerback Rasul Douglas as they exchanged draft picks with the Green Bay Packers to officially complete a deal to help bolster the depleted Buffalo defense. Green Bay sent Douglas and a fifth round pick to Buffalo in exchange for a 3rd round pick from the Bills.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane spoke to the media on Wednesday about what the team’s vision was going into the deadline, and how things ended up where they are.
When talking about the first addition, Leonard Fournette, Beane says that the running back has “waited long enough” to join this team.
“I got to know Leonard back in the (2017) pre-draft process… spent a lot of time with him and Christian (McCaffrey) down in Baton Rouge,” Beane said. “Good to see him again. He obviously has had a nice career. He’s won a Super Bowl… at this point, he’s waited long enough, he’s ready to join the team, so I’m excited to get him here.”
Moving on to the defense, there had been some questions as to what the Bills would do going into the trade deadline. With starters Matt Milano, Tre’Davious White and DaQuan Jones out due to injury, Beane knew that something needed to be done. Adding Rasul Douglas is something that he hopes will help the team get back on track.
“He takes the ball away…. He’s had a really unique career.” Beane said. “Not everything was perfect there for him… When he went to Green Bay the light came on for him.” The addition of Douglas certainly helps alleviate the defensive setbacks, more specifically Tre’Davious White’s position.
Overall, the Bills general manager has high hopes for his team. Despite having a 5-3 record on the year so far, Beane emphasized Wednesday he “believes in this team” and that he is very happy with McDermott’s coaching style this season, more specifically with the handling of the offense and defense.
“I believe in this team.” Beane explained. “I believe there’s a lot of good things happen… yes we’ve lost games but we’re not getting our doors blown off or anything like that… This team is still forming its identity and while we know a lot more than what we knew probably four or five weeks ago, I wouldn’t say we exactly know where this team’s going to be. Long season to go… and we’ll see where it ends.”
In regards to the adaptivity from the coaching staff, Beane said “the coaches have done a really good job of getting the next guy… Next man up is easy to say, not always easy to pull off.”