Bills Trade WR Lee Evans To Ravens

The Buffalo Bills dealt WR Lee Evans to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for a 4th-round pick.  Bills GM Buddy Nix provided a head-scratching explanation for making the deal, and one current Bills player blasted the move via Twitter.

The Bills traded Lee Evans to the Ravens on Friday in the midst of the NFL's first preseason games.  Evans is a leader and a five-time captain for the Bills.  The move frees up $3.25 million in salary Evans was scheduled to make in the second-to-last year of his contract, but GM Buddy Nix pointed to another reason for making this move.

"We have six or seven really promising young receivers.  We'd like to see those guys develop and we want to give them that opportunity.  Unless somebody got hurt, you were going to have a good player that you were going to have to let go."

Six or seven promising receivers?  Outside of the electric Steve Johnson, the Bills have Roscoe Parrish (Miami), Buster Davis (former Chargers 1st-round bust out of LSU), Donald Jones (Youngstown St), David Nelson (Florida), Felton Huggins (Southeastern Louisiana), and Marcus Easley (Connecticut).  That's not exactly a star-studded group.  You couldn't pick most of these guys out of a lineup or walking down the aisle in Walmart.

CB Drayton Florence wasn't a fan of this move.  He posted several critical messages about the trade on Twitter.  "Sad day for the bills," Florence wrote.  "Are we trying to win now or later????"  This move warrants more than just the four question marks that Florence typed.  I picture Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome on the other end of the phone call saying, "Uh, really?  A 4th-round pick for Lee Evans?  Um, sure.  That sounds like a good deal."

This is a great deal for the Ravens.  They get a legitimate deep threat to start opposite Anquan Boldin.  The Bills lost one of their two top receivers and only got a 4th-round pick and limited cap relief.  That's just not good enough.