Bills Trade Lee Evans to Ravens: Trying To Make Sense of It All

There isn't a team in the NFL that confuses its fanbase on a more consistent basis than the Buffalo Bills. 

Sure, the Oakland Raiders and Washington Redskins don't disappoint in the head-scratching department, but as least those teams have made the playoffs this millennium.

Today, as you know, the Bills traded wideout Lee Evans to the Baltimore Ravens for a fourth-round pick in the 2012 draft.

I've spent the last few hours thinking about the logic behind the deal, and have branched it into two categories:

From a Front Office/Organizational Standpoint

There is no doubting this: Ralph Wilson Jr. is a cheap owner who seems to be out of touch with reality. He brought the team to Buffalo 50 years ago, kept them there, blah, blah, blah.

I've heard all that.

But the Bills have been operating under their own salary cap for quite some time now.

Let's be real. 

This is not to say that Evans was traded primarily to save Ralph more money, but you'd be foolish to think that his salary figure didn't have anything to do with it. 

Buddy Nix, who to me has been prematurely anointed as a great decision-maker by many of the Bills faithful, is in his first stint as a GM (remember that) and this swap proves he is totally committed to building through the draft.

Thoughts

I am all for a general manager who doesn't want to spend frivolously in free agency and would rather construct his team via the drafting process, but you can't throw away a commodity like Evans for a fourth-round pick.

In the last 10 years, the only fourth-round pick made by Buffalo that ever amounted to anything is Terrence McGee.

Other fourth-rounders?

Try Ko Simpson, Avion Black, Duke Preston, Brandon Spoon, Tim Euhus, Dwayne Wright, Derek Fine, Reggie Corner, Sam Aiken and Marcus Easley. (Thanks Jay Skurski of the Buffalo News.)

In terms of compensation, Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome got the best of Buddy Nix.

Not shocking.

From a Coaching/X's and O's Standpoint

 Through all of this, I still think Chan Gailey knows what he's doing. I have faith he can work with the current players on offense and formulate an underrated, semi-productive attack. 

Nix most likely consulted Gailey on the trade and Gailey gave it his OK because of how Evans didn't exactly fit in the offense.

Gailey is a pretty confident guy, as well he should be. He has done well in the past and last year he made the Bills offense, which was certainly lacking top-end talent, watchable.

The Bills do have a large group of young receivers with potential. Unfortunately none of them are proven. (Sorry—for me, the verdict is still out on Stevie Johnson.)

Based on the 2010 season and what he has seen so far in camp, Gailey must feel that guys like Easley, Donald Jones, Naaman Roosevelt and David Nelson are more than capable of filling the void left by the veteran Evans.

It is really that simple.  

Thoughts

Evans is a great deep threat, no doubting that. But Gailey likes to confuse defenses with creative intermediate routes that stem from varying four- and five-receiver sets and Evans is most effective when he's utilized solely as a home run hitter.

Sure, Evans was a fan favorite and has been with the team since 2004, but really, was he that vital to the offense?

Statistically, no. But how much coverage did he take away from other receivers? That's hard to quantify. 

I guess we'll find out.

As far as the other receivers, there is promise. I like David Nelson and Naaman Roosevelt, and apparently Marcus Easley is the most physically gifted of them all.

But right now, potential is the only thing they have.   

In Summation

To be short, blunt and to the point, the Bills traded Evans to save money while sticking with their "building through the draft" slogan. He wasn't a perfect fit in the offense, but he most definitely could have been productive in it.

They certainly didn't get better, but in the long run they didn't get considerably worse. 

Angry Bills fans can be upset for a few days, even a few weeks. But this move isn't the difference between another top-10 pick next April and a playoff berth. 

We all have much more to worry about. 

Believe me. 

Thanks again, Ralph.