Buffalo Bills Host Draft Visit With Florida State RB Trey Benson; Potential Fit?

The Buffalo Bills don't have a glaring hole at running back, but a complementary piece may be in order on the draft's second day. Is FSU's Trey Benson a fit?

Florida State Seminoles running back Trey Benson (3). / Matt Pendleton/Gainesville Sun / USA

As the Buffalo Bills trudge forward into the post-Stefon Diggs era, they may find themselves leaning on the strengths of the offense when Diggs wasn’t producing down the stretch.

Therefore, running back James Cook and quarterback Josh Allen are likely to find additional attempts headed their way, both by design, and – in Allen’s case – a result of throwing to less dependable receivers.

An uptick of rushes in neutral game scripts, which Buffalo saw in the second half of last season, could once again be in order. If that’s the case, a strong complementary back makes sense to take the burden off of the Bills’ heavy lifters.

On Thursday, Aaron Wilson reported that Buffalo has an official 30 visit set with Florida State Seminoles running back Trey Benson.

Dec 2, 2023; Charlotte, NC, USA; Florida State Seminoles running back Trey Benson (3). / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

This year’s running back class is unique, in that – while consisting of several future contributors – it lacks both a clear leader of the pack and a first-round talent. The first running back off the board is anyone’s guess, and Benson has made a nice argument for himself with back-to-back 900-yard seasons and the ability to be trustworthy as a minor receiving threat.

Benson’s calling card is his elusiveness. You can make an argument that no back in college football is harder to tackle. In 2022, he had the fifth-most missed tackles forced among running backs (77) despite seeing over 100 fewer carries than each of the four running backs ahead of him.

Like Cook, Benson is an explosive, agile runner that can be trusted to create chunk plays at a high rate. He may also share some of the weaknesses that Cook had, limiting his initial playing time due to inconsistencies in technique.

However, he has experience in both zone and gap rushes and lacks the fumbling problem that cost Cook several teams. 

Where he may make his biggest impact is between the tackles in short-yardage situations. While it isn’t his specialty, Cook is still a work-in-progress here, and with better contact balance and functional power, Benson projects to see some of the carries Latavius Murray (and Allen) saw in 2023. He scored 23 rushing touchdowns in his final two collegiate seasons.

It’s hard to see the Bills spending too much draft capital on a running back, but their interest makes Benson a potential play for the 60th pick, should the team not acquire a third-rounder (or perhaps an early Day 3 pick) to take a rookie back.