ORCHARD PARK - According to Tom Pelissero of The Ringer, the Buffalo Bills are going to trade backup center Sedrick Van Pran-Granger to the Indianapolis Colts.
Pelissero reports the Bills are getting sixth- and seventh-round picks in the 2027 draft to complete the deal.
The team has not confirmed the transaction, but if the report is accurate, it’s a move that many saw coming because there really wasn’t a place on the 53-man roster for Buffalo’s 2024 fifth-round draft pick.
When Connor McGovern went down with a hamstring injury on Aug. 8, veteran Lloyd Cushenberry - who was signed as a free agent in the offseason - immediately moved into the starting lineup ahead of Van Pran-Granger and he stayed there the rest of camp and the preseason.
Because Van Pran-Granger does not have flexibility to play the guard spots, it was clear that he would either be waived in the hope that the Bills might get him back on the practice squad (which probably would have been difficult) or finding a trade partner.
Van Pran-Granger was a stud for four seasons at Georgia, but from the moment he was drafted, he has been nothing more than McGovern’s backup. He did get to start games at the end of the 2024 and 2025 seasons when the Bills were resting their frontline players, but otherwise played very little, accumulating just 217 offensive snaps and another 131 on special teams.
The Bills are most likely going to keep veteran Austin Corbett on the roster. He lost out in the battle to start at left guard to Alec Anderson, but Corbett has experience across the line and can be the backup guard and could play center in a pinch if needed.
Leading up to the 2024 draft, Dane Brugler of The Athletic graded Van Pran-Granger as a late third, early-fourth round pick, but he wound up lasting until the fifth round at pick No. 141.
Brugler’s evaluation was that, “Van Pran-Granger has NFL play strength, especially in the run game, and his coaches rave about his leadership and smarts, but he might struggle when caught in any situation that calls for him to play in space. He is equipped to compete for immediate starting reps in the right situation.”
The Colts were looking for someone to back up their starting center, Tanor Bortolini, after guard Dalton Tucker and Jimmy Morrissey both performed inconsistently.
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 37 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills trade former fifth-round pick to Colts
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