The Buffalo Bills have suffered through terrible luck in 2023. After a promising start, the month of October saw vital starters Matt Milano, DaQuan Jones and Tre’Davious White all suffer significant injuries that have sidelined Milano and White, at the very least, through the end of the season.
That left the AFC contender with gaps to fill. On Tuesday, with minutes left before the deadline, general manager Brandon Beane made a trade to restock his secondary with proven veteran help.
Enter Green Bay Packers cornerback Rasul Douglas. The 29-year-old was freed from his team’s disappointing campaign, along with a fifth round pick, in exchange for a third round selection in next year’s draft. His arrival makes a medium-bold statement about Green Bay’s own, slim playoff hopes and a louder one about the Bills.
It’s a deal that will help shuffle the Buffalo secondary and give the team a cornerback capable of handling outside duties. It’s also a move that unites quarterback Josh Allen with a player he once loudly, uh, expressed his extreme disdain for.
Here’s a video of Josh Allen telling Rasul Douglas he f*cking sucks so that’ll be interesting. pic.twitter.com/7zElUXU53n
— Bills Backers Tampa (@billsmafiatampa) October 31, 2023
So who got the better of this trade?
Buffalo Bills: C+
Buffalo Bills get: CB Rasul Douglas, 2024 fifth round pick
Green Bay Packers get: 2024 third round pick
White was the Bills’ best cornerback. He’s done for the season and may never return to All-Pro form. Here are the rest of the starters beside him and their passer rating allowed in 2023:
- Kaiir Elam: 101.8
- Christian Benford: 105.0
- Taron Johnson: 109.3
- Dane Jackson: 120.8
That’s the kind of group that makes you overpay for a cornerback with proven production, even if he’s failed to live up to his 2021 breakthrough. Douglas hasn’t been great this fall — his rating allowed is an unimpressive 109.0 — but he’s a deep ball deterrent opponents have learned not to test downfield. His average depth of target in an All-Pro caliber ’21 was 11.5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. This year that’s down to 6.6, per Pro Football Reference.
He’s thrived with a change of scenery before and gets to play behind a defensive front that’s generated pressure without blitzing. That might not be as effective without Milano and Jones in the lineup, but it should increase the volume of bad, rushed throws coming his way. If he plays well, he’s under contract for 2024 at a reasonable $11.6 million salary cap charge — a reasonable price and 19th highest among cornerbacks. If he doesn’t, it’s only a $2 million dead cap hit to release or trade him.
That’s all enough to merit an overpay, which is what this feels like. Moving back from the late third round to the early fifth will be a slide of about 50 spots. That’s not a big deal toward the end of Day 3, but the tail of the third round is just about where the pool of reliable NFL prospects begins to dry out. If Douglas can’t be the sideline, man-to-man corner Buffalo needs the team is going to regret not having that pick.
Green Bay Packers: A
Buffalo Bills get: CB Rasul Douglas, 2024 fifth round pick
Green Bay Packers get: 2024 third round pick
Douglas is 29 years old, a veritable senior citizen among one of the league’s youngest rosters. He was also expendable with Eric Stokes practicing and eligible to come off injured reserve soon. That, and a 2-5 record that’s been thoroughly demoralizing, made this an easy decision for general manager Brian Gutekunst.
Green Bay has plenty of holes to fill and its effective estimated 2024 salary cap space, even after moving Douglas, clocks in at only around $34 million. Veteran reinforcements will be necessary, but any turnaround in Wisconsin is going to rely on nailing next spring’s draft — especially if it begins with a top 10 (or top five) pick.
Losing Douglas hurts in the short term, and it will hurt even more when the Lions torch Stokes or whomever over the top for a deep touchdown this winter. But the Packers had more to gain than lose by dealing away the veteran cornerback who revived his career on the frozen tundra. It’s a common sense move and a solid return.
