A big part of my negativity on the trade was I was annoyed we gave up both second rounders to only get the 7th overall pick. I've kind of come around to being OK with it now. Did we overpay by giving up 2 second rounders? I think that is a yes, but some times you have to do that. A lot depends on how enthusiastic they were for Allen.
These were some of the possible options the Bills could have offered: (point values come from a commonly referenced trade chart)
Both firsts - Pick 12 for 1200 points, pick 22 for 780 points, total of 1980
1 first plus 2 seconds - Pick 12 for 1200, pick 53 for 370, pick 56 for 340 - total of 1910
1 first plus 1 second plus 1 third - Pick 12 for 1200, pick 53 for 370, pick 65 for 265 - total of 1835
1 first plus 1 second - Pick 12 for 1200, pick 53 for 270 - total of 1570 - this would have been fair value at this point for the deal with Tampa Bay
Here are the points needed for various picks on that same chart
4 - 1800 points
5 - 1700 points
6 - 1600 points
7 - 1500 points
It has been reported that the Bills had an agreement with both the Browns and the Broncos for a deal - at a minimum, that would have required at least our first pick in each of the first, second and third rounds to get Cleveland to say yes. I doubt Cleveland would have considered any deal that did not include both firsts - they already have three picks in the second round, so no need to stockpile even more in the later rounds - there are only so many rookies you can work into a team at one time.
Basically, I think Beane had arrived at the conclusion that he would be willing to give up 1 first and both seconds to Denver in order to get Allen. Once he decided he would give up that much for Allen, don't think of it as trading for a "pick" but trading for a "player". Presumably, we would not have given up that much for any other elite player on the board like Chubb or Barkley, even though the point value would have been the same. The Bills need for a QB, coupled with the Bills determination that they liked Allen a lot more than Rosen, forced them to pay up. And it's possible they liked Allen better than any QB, including Mayfield and Darnold - neither of whom are sure-fire can't-miss prospects either. So if they were really getting the best QB in a QB rich draft, then that would be a small price to pay.
It's also possible they just got stampeded into making the deal - nearly everyone in Buffalo felt we HAD TO draft a QB high this year, so if there was a chance they'd miss out and settle for some quality guards and linebackers, they would have been lynched for that. Some times the more risky play is actually less risky, at least for the guy sitting as the GM.
Basically, if Josh Allen is the next JP Lossman, this was a horrible move, regardless of how much or little we traded to get him. And if he's the next Jim Kelly, we just got a major steal. Remember what Marv Levy would say when people said the Bills were smart to wait and get Thurman Thomas in the second round - if we were actually smart, we would have traded up into the first round to make sure we got him.