One of the big stories of the 2014 NFL Draft has been the Buffalo Bills acting like a perennial Super Bowl contender that's finally going for broke. Their front office is trading future draft picks away like they’re going out of style, and the Philadelphia Eagles became one of the beneficiaries on Saturday.
Adam Schefter for ESPN reports the Birds have agreed to send running back Bryce Brown to Buffalo in exchange for a conditional fourth-round pick in 2015. It can become a third-round pick in ’16 if certain criteria is met.
I’m serious, you guys!
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A 2012 seventh-round pick, Brown exploded on to the scene with a pair of breakout performances during his rookie season, rushing for 178 and 169 yards in back-to-back games with two touchdowns in each. His skillset hasn’t translated as well in Chip Kelly’s offense though, averaging less than 3.0 yards per attempt in nine of 14 games in ’13.
The writing was on the wall for Brown once the Eagles traded a fifth-round pick to the New Orleans Saints for Darren Sproles back in March.
Still, I would’ve placed Brown’s value closer to a sixth-round selection (at best) than a fourth. Yes, he’s flashed Pro Bowl potential, but he still tends to try to bounce too many runs to the outside. Plus, while he didn’t fumble once in ’13, it was a big issue during his rookie year, and I’m not sure the sample size is large enough to declare it solved.
Props to general manager Howie Roseman for fleecing the LOLBills. They badly overpaid, and with Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller on their roster, unnecessarily I might add.
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Brown rushed for 878 yards and six touchdowns in two seasons with in Philadelphia. The kid still has a ton of promise, but with reigning NFL rushing champion LeSean McCoy still in his prime, it was never going to come to fruition here.