Brandon Beane press conference 12/31

[Mark92]

6 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

A reminder.........the salary cap is VERY, VERY malleable.

 

McBeane's self-imposed lack of 2018 cap room had nothing to do with their inability to stock the roster.

 

If they wanted a player last offseason they could have can signed him to a very low first year base and back-fill the remaining years with higher base salaries.

 

Teams are even keeping signing bonuses down by guaranteeing a season or two of large base salaries.............so they don't end up burying dead money in years 3-5 if they decide to cut bait.    It also makes the players easier to trade.

 

Essentially what McBeane has done is re-institute Ralph and Littman's "cash to the cap" approach.   That allowed Ralph to pocket an extra $20M-$40M every year during the drought.

 

Since they took over Ralph's painfully frugal enterprise the Pegula's had one brief foray into bigger spending with the Clay, Harvin, McCoy, Dareus, Glenn contracts.

 

They overpaid due to need for Clay and gave away a lot of unnecessary money to McCoy(whose Eagles contract ran thru 2017) and gave Terry Pegula's buddy Todd France(Dareus agent) a sweetheart deal which Dareus abused...........but they weren't BY ANY MEANS in any tough situation long term wrt the salary cap.     They might have had only $60M-$70M to spend in FA this year instead of $90M and $90M instead of $120M in 2020.  

 

The narrative that the Bills were in cap difficulty is a fallacy.

 

? Anybody can play with numbers to prove their point.  Car salesmen do it for a living.   The bills were in cap HELL when Beane took over.  He decided to strip the team down to get out of it faster....... hence 2018.  Believe what you will and move numbers around to prove to yourself that Beane is incompetent while the rest of us will enjoy the fruits of his labor this off-season.   My guess is that you'll be doing the same next off-season.  

[Tcali]

On 12/31/2018 at 1:48 PM, 3rdand12 said:

he drafted sammy watkins and EJ Manuel. Both were reaches. 

 He might have drafted Maybin. not sure.

 

wait

 what was the question ?

and walt patulski

4 hours ago, Albany,n.y. said:

"Cutting or trading away the players is what creates the dead money. They could have kept Dareus for the same amount of cap space they used for Star."

 

Dareus was a problem in the locker room & off the field.  Late for meetings, drugs, drag racing, etc.    They couldn't have kept Dareus and preached process.  

 

I haven't heard any negative stuff about Star off the field.

dareus has done wonders for jax

[Hapless Bills Fan]

On 12/31/2018 at 4:02 PM, NewDayBills said:

I'm going to be pretty depressed if we keep McCoy. Hopefully he is just posturing, but then again, who would take that contract on? If someone offered a 7th in 2021 I'd take it.

 

I don't know if you've observed this, but from what I can tell McCoy appears to have become a bit of a player-coach and mentor to Allen on the field

 

Several times now, I've seen Shady gesturing to Allen in what looks like a signal - before ALLEN takes off and runs. 
I have seen Shady signalling or gesturing to Allen before the snap and Allen making adjustments

Shady has become a willing blocker, and you know, he's not FredEx but he ain't bad either.  He gets 'er done.

It appears to me that Allen is learning from some of Shady's moves, and not just dance moves.   Allen didn't have moves like that at the start of the season when he ran!
Shady is the one who pulled Allen out of the pile and kept him away after Kiko's late hit, preventing injury and ejection.

 

If the Bills feel Shady contributes enough in some capacity to be worth the $3.8M difference between cutting him and keeping him, I don't have a problem with it

Beane has squandered almost as much money on players who have contributed way less (eg Coleman's $3.5M guaranteed, yeah I'm still salty on that)

[Jay_Fixit]

On 12/31/2018 at 4:03 PM, Ittakestime said:

 

Wood extension

Benjamin Trade

AJ McCarron Contract

Corey Coleman Trade

Making Richie take a paycut

Holding onto McCoy

Trent Murphy Signing

Star Signing

Vontae Davis Signing

Boldin Signing

 

I'm sure there is more too.

 

Couldn't imagine someone being this bad in less than two years, but these are just the facts

 

Do not let this guy be in charge of spending the money.

 

Beane sits there and acts like the whole issue was inherited.  All he has done since being here is overpay and sign absolute crap.

This is a terrible post.

[Victory Formation]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I don't know if you've observed this, but from what I can tell McCoy appears to have become a bit of a player-coach and mentor to Allen on the field

 

Several times now, I've seen Shady gesturing to Allen in what looks like a signal - before ALLEN takes off and runs. 
I have seen Shady signalling or gesturing to Allen before the snap and Allen making adjustments

Shady has become a willing blocker, and you know, he's not FredEx but he ain't bad either.  He gets 'er done.

It appears to me that Allen is learning from some of Shady's moves, and not just dance moves.   Allen didn't have moves like that at the start of the season when he ran!
Shady is the one who pulled Allen out of the pile and kept him away after Kiko's late hit, preventing injury and ejection.

 

If the Bills feel Shady contributes enough in some capacity to be worth the $3.8M difference between cutting him and keeping him, I don't have a problem with it

Beane has squandered almost as much money on players who have contributed way less (eg Coleman's $3.5M guaranteed, yeah I'm still salty on that)

That's a very interesting perspective, suppose I should be more open to Shady returning on a restructured contract after reading your post. Good thoughts.

[FeelingOnYouboty]

I’m stunned at what a great teammate McCoy has been since he’s gotten here especially this year when his production dropped off.

 

He didn’t even want to be in Buffalo at first but he’s been a consummate professional and team leader. I’d bring him back but I’m definitely bringing in a young guy who can replace him as well.

[Ittakestime]

8 hours ago, Jay_Fixit said:

This is a terrible post.

 

Why, because you don't like to see the facts right in front of your face?

[teef]

2 minutes ago, Ittakestime said:

 

Why, because you don't like to see the facts right in front of your face?

no.  it's probably because it's actually terrible.

Edited January 2, 2019 by teef

[Ittakestime]

6 minutes ago, teef said:

no.  it's probably because it's actually terrible.

 

All I did was list the signings and trades Beane has made since coming here.  Do you not like his work?

[teef]

3 hours ago, Ittakestime said:

 

All I did was list the signings and trades Beane has made since coming here.  Do you not like his work?

i still give the grade a very much incomplete.  this off season is where we are going to really see their final plan take form.  it may not be completely finished come september, but we'll have good idea.  i think anyone who is too much on an extreme in regards to this staff is just wrong for now...positive or negative.

Edited January 2, 2019 by teef

[Tenhigh]

23 hours ago, The Bills Blog said:

I also found it odd that Beane rebuked drafting for need, yet, objectively, he clearly did just that last year.

 

Players on this team (Alexander) are going to be disappointed when we don't use half of our cap space and don't sign any big-ticket free agents.

I think they have to spend like 90% of available cap money. 

[dave mcbride]

On 12/31/2018 at 11:13 PM, Ethan in Portland said:

Did you all listen to Beane? 

 

1. I won't draft for need. What utter BS! He gave away multiple picks and players to draft a QB and MLB for need.  Not one media member jumped on this.  There is nothing wrong with drafting for need.  Moving up and giving away picks is the issue.  And it would be fine if he said, not draft for need except QB.  Just total BS and a media that is so lame to not call him out.

2. The salary cap situation is mostly on Beane. He created most of the dead money.  Dareus, Glenn, McCarron, TT, Coleman.  These are all on Beane.  Not one media member asked him about this.  Beane admitted he put a non-winning team on the field in year two of his regime.  That is insane in today's NFL.  

 

If he got it right with Josh Allen then it may be worth a lost season.  But so far I don't trust his talent judgement.  

Beane said last year what everyone recognizes as basic common sense: that QBs don't fit into this calculus if you don't have one. Also, there were more than a few people had had a top-five grade on Allen anyway (he was of course extremely polarizing). With regard to Edmunds, they didn't draft for need; they traded up (which should not be conflated with drafting for need!) for a guy who a lot of teams had top ten grades on--including, presumably, the Bills.

Edited January 2, 2019 by dave mcbride

[TroutDog]

On 12/31/2018 at 6:57 PM, Binghamton Beast said:

 

And anyone that doesn’t understand this is a fool

 

Yeah, 6-10 always sucks but sometimes measures have to be taken.

This is spot on. The individuals calling for heads to roll simply don’t get it. It was abundantly clear what was happening since the end of last year. 

 

To be honest, they faired better than I would have expected this year. I love what’s happening at OBD. 

[JerseyBills]

On 12/31/2018 at 5:09 PM, Buffalo_Gal said:

That is absolutely nuts (the $70M in dead cap money). Honestly, the fact that they could field a team that won 6 games (and it "coulda" been 8 if just 2 plays went differently ) with the cash remaining (about $107M) is pretty amazing.

Exactly. Which is why I never understood the McBeane hate. They essentially sacrificed this year for the long term success of the team. 

Edited January 2, 2019 by JerseyBills

[Hapless Bills Fan]

Is it just me or does he kind of contradict himself a bit?

He starts out saying they want to fill holes before the draft, so that they aren't drafting for need, they won't draft for need.  Well enough.

2:50 in he's talking about how he's got to do a solid job this offseason to improve our offense.  He goes on to say, bring back guys, look at guys who are cut, FA "and hopefully fill some holes in the draft".

 

Maybe it's just me.

 

At least he owned it that he needs to improve the offensive personnel.

[YoloinOhio]

1 hour ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Is it just me or does he kind of contradict himself a bit?

He starts out saying they want to fill holes before the draft, so that they aren't drafting for need, they won't draft for need.  Well enough.

2:50 in he's talking about how he's got to do a solid job this offseason to improve our offense.  He goes on to say, bring back guys, look at guys who are cut, FA "and hopefully fill some holes in the draft".

 

Maybe it's just me.

 

At least he owned it that he needs to improve the offensive personnel.

I would take anything he or any GM says from now until the draft with a giant grain of salt. By that I mean he’s probably purposely contradicting himself. 

Edited January 2, 2019 by YoloinOhio

[Hapless Bills Fan]

7 minutes ago, YoloinOhio said:

I would take anything he or any GM says from now until the draft with a giant grain of salt. By that I mean he’s probably purposely contradicting himself. 

 

a fair point.

[YoloinOhio]

spoiler: the two words are “That’s Fixed”

[JimS]

14 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I don't know if you've observed this, but from what I can tell McCoy appears to have become a bit of a player-coach and mentor to Allen on the field

 

Several times now, I've seen Shady gesturing to Allen in what looks like a signal - before ALLEN takes off and runs. 
I have seen Shady signalling or gesturing to Allen before the snap and Allen making adjustments

Shady has become a willing blocker, and you know, he's not FredEx but he ain't bad either.  He gets 'er done.

It appears to me that Allen is learning from some of Shady's moves, and not just dance moves.   Allen didn't have moves like that at the start of the season when he ran!
Shady is the one who pulled Allen out of the pile and kept him away after Kiko's late hit, preventing injury and ejection.

 

If the Bills feel Shady contributes enough in some capacity to be worth the $3.8M difference between cutting him and keeping him, I don't have a problem with it

Beane has squandered almost as much money on players who have contributed way less (eg Coleman's $3.5M guaranteed, yeah I'm still salty on that)

They are good Friends as well. There was an Instagram story on Halloween where Shady was out trick or treating and commented on a Bills jersey coming at him with his number on it and he said "there's another one Josh" and panned over and Josh was walking with him and his son. Josh just shook his head and smiled. So, they do hang out outside of work too.

[SDS]

2 hours ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

Is it just me or does he kind of contradict himself a bit?

He starts out saying they want to fill holes before the draft, so that they aren't drafting for need, they won't draft for need.  Well enough.

2:50 in he's talking about how he's got to do a solid job this offseason to improve our offense.  He goes on to say, bring back guys, look at guys who are cut, FA "and hopefully fill some holes in the draft".

 

Maybe it's just me.

 

At least he owned it that he needs to improve the offensive personnel.

 

I think fans get wrapped around the axle with the BPA/need business.

 

My interpretation has always been drafting for need means taking a guy you DON'T want to take (at least at that time) just because he plays in a position of need on your team. The proverbial "reach".