The Buffalo Bills hold the No. 9 spot in this year’s NFL Draft. Buffalo has various needs on the roster, and a player selected at that spot will definitely move the Bills closer to their ideal roster.

However, they are also in a great position to move their draft slot in the draft. The direction, at this point, is anyone’s best guess. To complicate matters, they are compelling arguments that the team could move up or down in the draft. In fact, there is a good chance the team could do move in both directions with select draft pick during the three-day amateur extravaganza.

But, how do teams value draft picks for trade purposes?

One manner that many people use, at least as a starting point, is a value chart created by Jimmy Johnson. It’s fairly straightforward–each pick is assigned a value. If a team wishes to acquire a specific draft slot, they will need to make up the difference in value between the two picks by including additional draft capital to complete the deal.

Let’s break out our mental math skills to highlight an example of how a trade could go down. For ease, we’ll refer to each spots value as “points.”

The Bills, with the ninth pick, could become ambitious and decide to move up into the top five of the draft order and swamp with Tampa Bay (again). Buffalo’s ninth pick is valued at 1,350 points, while Tampa Bay’s No. 5 selection is worth 1,700 points. That’s a difference of 350 points. Thus, the Bills will need to make up this number with at least some combination of their remaining draft picks. The Bills could conceivably seal the deal by sending their second-round pick, valued at 500 points, to the Buccaneers. Or, Buffalo could send their third-round pick (220 points), both fourth-round picks (valued at a total of 111 points), and a fifth-round selection (32.2) to make up the difference.

But on top of that, moving up into the top-10 or top-five picks usually takes even more draft capital than just the numbers provided by Johnson’s system.

You can see how Tampa Bay would just take the second-round pick and move forward. If Buffalo were so enamored with a player at that spot, then the Bills would “overpay” for that slot.

The important part with this chart: it’s a guide, not a hardened rule. Reviewing our example, the Bills would make up the difference with the additional later round selections. Still, it’s probably not in the Buccaneers’ best interest to make this deal, unless they are in desperate need of bodies.

Here is the value of each of Buffalo’s draft picks this year:

No. 9: 1,350 points

No. 40: 500 points

No. 74: 220 points

No. 112: 70 points

No. 131: 41 points

No. 147: 32.2 points

No. 158: 27.8 points

No. 181: 18.6 points

No. 225: 1.4 points

No. 228: 1 point

If we take a look back at Buffalo’s trade for Josh Allen, we can see that the team seemingly paid a steep price to acquire the Wyoming product. Here is the 2018 draft value chart. The No. 7 pick, originally held by the Buccanneers, was worth 1,500 points. The Bills original pick, at the 12th slot, was worth 1,200 points. Thus, Buffalo had to make up 300 points. They included two additional picks, No. 53 and 56, to sweeten the deal. Those two picks combined were worth 710 points. That seventh-round pick the Bills received in the deal? It was worth 1.1 points.

Nevertheless, if a team is sold on a player, just like how Buffalo was with Allen, the cost is worth it.

As prognosticators and fans attempt to predict what action teams will take at the NFL Draft, the chart gives an initial point to see if a trade is realistic for draft night.

Here’s a full breakdown of draft pick values ahead of the upcoming draft: