ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Bills have maneuvered over the past year to acquire one of the NFL's largest collections of early-round selections in April's draft, but general manager Brandon Beane said Friday that does not mean he will trade up and pick a quarterback.
"I know everyone assumes we're going higher than 12," he said. "I don't know what we're doing. I honestly don't."
The Bills have two selections in the first round (Nos. 12 and 22), the second round (Nos. 53 and 56) and the third round (Nos. 65 and 96). They acquired the No. 12 pick this week by trading left tackle Cordy Glenn to the Cincinnati Bengals, and they dealt starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor to the Cleveland Browns for the No. 65 pick.
With only 2017 fifth-round pick Nathan Peterman and veteran AJ McCarron, signed Wednesday, under contract at quarterback, the Bills are considered to be in the market to select a QB early in the draft.
Beane, however, insisted Friday he is keeping his options open.
"There are some players that are going to be at 12 -- whether it's quarterback or another position -- that I know would not have fallen to 21," Beane said, referring to the No. 21 overall selection Buffalo traded to Cincinnati. "I'm excited about that. There are some guys that we were talking about right before we went to the combine with our scouts, and I'm like, 'We're wasting our time with this guy. He ain't falling to 21. This guy is a top-10, 12 -- he ain't getting past 15.'
"We're in the range for those guys [now]. And that's not necessarily quarterback."
The Bills were one of the last teams with a need at quarterback to dip into the free-agent market at the position, signing McCarron to a two-year deal with a base value of $10 million.
"We took it slow," Beane said. "I know everybody was jumping on guys quick. I went with the more methodical, 'Let's make the right decision, let's not get into chase mode.'"
The lesser amount of McCarron's deal relative to other free-agent quarterback contracts signed this week led to McCarron being labeled a "bridge" to fill the starting role until a draft selection would be ready. But Beane said Friday that "bridge is not in [his] vocabulary" and he does not view McCarron simply as a placeholder.
McCarron's deal was one of five free-agent signings Wednesday for the Bills, who also inked defensive tackle Star Lotulelei to a five-year, $50 million deal and defensive end Trent Murphy to a contract worth $21 million over three years.
"We're very low on money," Beane said Friday. "We could do some lower-level things, but nothing that's going to hit the ticker."