Brandon Beane on Eric Wood's podcast today (salary cap, off-season schedule, & favorite wing spot)

[chongli]

 

This is a really good show where Eric covered a variety of topics in his interview of Brandon Beane in his Centered on Buffalo podcast. My commentary is below.

 

 

 

 

[From the description:

 

Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Bean discusses life after the season ends, the emotional toll of not winning a championship, his belief in Josh Allen as a franchise quarterback, building the roster to compete for a Super Bowl, the reality of salary cap constraints, favorite memories from the Kentucky Derby, favorite wing spot in Buffalo, opinion on the rule of fumbling the ball out of the end zone, how Eric Ciano keeps his job for so long, and predictions for the championship games.

 

00:00 Life of a GM after the season ends

03:24 The emotional toll of not winning a championship

05:14 Resiliency of the team

07:26 Brandon Bean's belief in Josh Allen as a franchise quarterback

10:49 Building the roster to compete for a Super Bowl

15:12 The reality of salary cap constraints

18:52 Favorite memories from the Kentucky Derby

21:00 Balancing work and downtime as a GM

22:39 Favorite wing spot in Buffalo

24:02 Opinion on the rule of fumbling the ball out of the end zone

27:11 How Eric Ciano keeps his job for so long

29:30 Predictions for the championship games.]

 

 

My commentary:

 

Josh [10:49]:

 

Josh may have turnovers and may even cost you some games (like the Jets Week 1: 3 INT's and 1 fumble), but he is a playmaker. He makes way more plays than turnovers. He is like an Elway or a Favre. Eric Wood said he played with a lot of QB's who rarely turned the ball over, but they never had 300 yards and did not win games like Josh. He leads the league all time in fewest playoff turnovers. So when it matters, Josh does not turn it over. Eric is tired of defensing Allen in regard to this issue, because it is not true. Josh was in the top 5 in completions two years in a row, which had ever been done.

Josh and Patrick have re-written the book on how coaches look at side-arm, difficult-angle throws. Their athleticism is amazing and make defending them very hard.

 

Josh is the type of player who puts the team on his back. He goes out and wins the game for you. You have to live with his occasional mistakes. You can't get mad at him when he makes so many outstanding plays.

 

Salary Cap Constraints [15:12]:

 

Start at the division and build a team to match up against all divisional foes. Then who are the other teams that are consistent contenders in the conference (Baltimore, KC, Cincy).

 

The salary cap is absolutely real. The question is are you paying cash now or putting it on credit debt.

 

They had a plan when they reset the cap in 2018. They added some players in 2019 a 2020, then COVID hit in 2020 and the cap went down from $198 million to $182 million, so that screwed them over and they haven't caught up. It should have gone to $210 or $211 million. They had a lot of big salaries (Josh, White, Dawkins, Milano, Stef) and they have had to put more money little by little each year into debt. They try to do it responsibly, but at the same time, the Pegulas told him they want to win. So it is a fine line.

 

Kentucky Derby [18:52]

 

Beane had a great time at Eric's place. Stayed up to 2 or 2:30 asking who's going to bed first. He was treated to a VIP experience at the Derby itself. Had fun at the Dustin Lynch private concert after.

 

Off-season plan [21:00]: 

 

a. Coaches get off next week. They need some downtime.

b. Football staff goes to Senior Bowl next week then comes back and does free agent meetings.

c. Then college scouts come in and they lock themselves in the building for two straight weeks and go through every player on their board. They try to have their board in a good spot before going to Indy. They call the combine the "underwear Olympics" where players aren't in pads, so it is not the same.

d. Week before the Combine is a vacation week for all. Beane's wife is arranging that. It must have a golf course.

 

Brandon Beane's favorite wing spot in Buffalo [22.39]:

 

Bar-Bill, both Cajun and honey barbeque. His wife just picked up some last night in fact. He prefers neither blue cheese nor ranch. Dipping the wing would be insulting it. If he had to, he prefers ranch.

Edited January 27 by chongli

[jkeerie]

Thank you for posting this.!  Very informative.  For the record...I'm with Beane when it comes to dipping wings.  I want to enjoy the wing and sauce...no dipping.  I'm a wing purist in that regard.

[BADOLBILZ]

 

I like Beane but the biggest reason he is in the situation he is with the cap can be traced directly to his terrible personnel decisions in 2018.

 

He spent $100M on total garbage in free agency.........and actually paid out a ton of that even when he should have been cutting bait later in those contracts.

 

He has gotten much more efficient on the job but it's been a gradual climb from terrible to mediocre to improved levels of efficiency.

 

Blaming the cap situation on the cap figure dropping due to covid is a cop-out........but the truth is if he were honest about the fact that he was terrible wrt pro personnel and cap management in his first couple years there would be nothing to gain from that honesty whatsoever.   Just more criticism.    

 

He has basically faked it til' he's made it.........and NOW that he has a better grasp on what he's doing he really needs to put that expensive experience to work and knock it out of the park in the next few offseasons.

 

As I've said before,  Howie Roseman wasn't always a great GM.........he grew into it.    Beane needs to build off of the successes in recent drafts and the more efficient(if not always satisfying) results he's gotten in free agency.    Also needs to be a bit more ruthless, IMO.  

[Aussie Joe]

3 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

I like Beane but the biggest reason he is in the situation he is with the cap can be traced directly to his terrible personnel decisions in 2018.

 

He spent $100M on total garbage in free agency.........and actually paid out a ton of that even when he should have been cutting bait later in those contracts.

 

He has gotten much more efficient on the job but it's been a gradual climb from terrible to mediocre to improved levels of efficiency.

 

Blaming the cap situation on the cap figure dropping due to covid is a cop-out........but the truth is if he were honest about the fact that he was terrible wrt pro personnel and cap management in his first couple years there would be nothing to gain from that honesty whatsoever.   Just more criticism.    

 

He has basically faked it til' he's made it.........and NOW that he has a better grasp on what he's doing he really needs to put that expensive experience to work and knock it out of the park in the next few offseasons.

 

As I've said before,  Howie Roseman wasn't always a great GM.........he grew into it.    Beane needs to build off of the successes in recent drafts and the more efficient(if not always satisfying) results he's gotten in free agency.    Also needs to be a bit more ruthless, IMO.  

I can’t argue with a lot of what you said here … but the 2018 draft navigation from Beane from pick 21 to 7 ( giving up Glenn and a couple of seconds) to pick Josh Allen ( wrong Josh)  will always be a thing of beauty …

 

This alone will get him into the GM Hall of fame .. and will trump his wasted dollars in that years free agency .. 

 

Plus in 2018 …  he also managed to trade Tyrod Taylor and a cap hit for Pick 65 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 27 by Aussie Joe

[BuffaloBillyG]

10 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

I like Beane but the biggest reason he is in the situation he is with the cap can be traced directly to his terrible personnel decisions in 2018.

 

He spent $100M on total garbage in free agency.........and actually paid out a ton of that even when he should have been cutting bait later in those contracts.

 

He has gotten much more efficient on the job but it's been a gradual climb from terrible to mediocre to improved levels of efficiency.

 

Blaming the cap situation on the cap figure dropping due to covid is a cop-out........but the truth is if he were honest about the fact that he was terrible wrt pro personnel and cap management in his first couple years there would be nothing to gain from that honesty whatsoever.   Just more criticism.    

 

He has basically faked it til' he's made it.........and NOW that he has a better grasp on what he's doing he really needs to put that expensive experience to work and knock it out of the park in the next few offseasons.

 

As I've said before,  Howie Roseman wasn't always a great GM.........he grew into it.    Beane needs to build off of the successes in recent drafts and the more efficient(if not always satisfying) results he's gotten in free agency.    Also needs to be a bit more ruthless, IMO.  

That part right there is my pet peeve when it comes to Brandon. This isn't the first time he's pinned the cap issues to the COVID year. And I'm sure there was at some point some truth behind it.

 

I'm certain they had a long term financial plan that COVID tore down. But that happened years ago and it didn't JUST hit for the Buffalo Bills. 31 other teams were hit, too. And by now many if not most have adjusted.

 

I'm sorry, but you can't cry that you're behind the sticks when it comes to salary cap because of the COVID season and also have been responsible for the Von Miller albatross off a contract since. 

 

 

[PayDaBill$]

Ranch? That explains it all. 

Edited January 27 by PayDaBill$

[Nextmanup]

Haven't listened to it, but I can't imagine a lot of inside information coming to the fore in such a context.

 

That's kind of kool aid talk around the kool aid dispenser with these two guys speaking publicly.

 

 

 

 

[Don Otreply]

Prefers ranch? Wtf, Fire his azs!

 

Edited January 27 by Don Otreply

[RyanC883]

Ranch?  This dude is a plant from KC!!!

[BananaB]

Bills are treading water. Way too many vets have been signed to cover the play younger players they brought in. Beane doesn’t like to give up draft picks for proven players but will sign a guy on his last leg after the player he drafted struggles to get on the field. They ain’t improving because of it. 

[SoonerBillsFan]

15 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

I like Beane but the biggest reason he is in the situation he is with the cap can be traced directly to his terrible personnel decisions in 2018.

 

He spent $100M on total garbage in free agency.........and actually paid out a ton of that even when he should have been cutting bait later in those contracts.

 

He has gotten much more efficient on the job but it's been a gradual climb from terrible to mediocre to improved levels of efficiency.

 

Blaming the cap situation on the cap figure dropping due to covid is a cop-out........but the truth is if he were honest about the fact that he was terrible wrt pro personnel and cap management in his first couple years there would be nothing to gain from that honesty whatsoever.   Just more criticism.    

 

He has basically faked it til' he's made it.........and NOW that he has a better grasp on what he's doing he really needs to put that expensive experience to work and knock it out of the park in the next few offseasons.

 

As I've said before,  Howie Roseman wasn't always a great GM.........he grew into it.    Beane needs to build off of the successes in recent drafts and the more efficient(if not always satisfying) results he's gotten in free agency.    Also needs to be a bit more ruthless, IMO.  

He needs to upgrade his scouts.  His DL and WR picks have been abysmal overall.  He MUST find legit WR's this draft and I'll go so far as to say a guy that can push Diggs.  We still don't have Alphas on the DL. And I don't want to hear about Oliver.  He showed up when chasing his 500k bonus.  He completely disappeared against KC when it counted.

Edited January 27 by SoonerBillsFan

[billykay]

8 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

I can’t argue with a lot of what you said here … but the 2018 draft navigation from Beane from pick 21 to 7 ( giving up Glenn and a couple of seconds) to pick Josh Allen ( wrong Josh)  will always be a thing of beauty …

 

This alone will get him into the GM Hall of fame .. and will trump his wasted dollars in that years free agency .. 

 

Plus in 2018 …  he also managed to trade Tyrod Taylor and a cap hit for Pick 65 

 

 

 

 

 

With that pick 65, who did we wind up taking in that spot.

[DapperCam]

12 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

I like Beane but the biggest reason he is in the situation he is with the cap can be traced directly to his terrible personnel decisions in 2018.

 

He spent $100M on total garbage in free agency.........and actually paid out a ton of that even when he should have been cutting bait later in those contracts.

 

He has gotten much more efficient on the job but it's been a gradual climb from terrible to mediocre to improved levels of efficiency.

 

Blaming the cap situation on the cap figure dropping due to covid is a cop-out........but the truth is if he were honest about the fact that he was terrible wrt pro personnel and cap management in his first couple years there would be nothing to gain from that honesty whatsoever.   Just more criticism.    

 

He has basically faked it til' he's made it.........and NOW that he has a better grasp on what he's doing he really needs to put that expensive experience to work and knock it out of the park in the next few offseasons.

 

As I've said before,  Howie Roseman wasn't always a great GM.........he grew into it.    Beane needs to build off of the successes in recent drafts and the more efficient(if not always satisfying) results he's gotten in free agency.    Also needs to be a bit more ruthless, IMO.  

It’s speculation on my part, but we’ve seen Pegula meddle multiple times to buy high price tag free agents on the Sabres (Leino, Erhoff, Taylor Hall, etc). It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if Terry was saying “buy! buy! buy!” and Beane felt like he had to go along with it. Obviously he isn’t going to ever blame ownership publicly, so we wouldn’t know.

 

Even in this interview he said the Pegulas want to win, and it’s a balancing act.

[Low Positive]

12 minutes ago, billykay said:

With that pick 65, who did we wind up taking in that spot.

We traded that to Baltimore to move up to take Edmunds. They then traded to the Raiders who picked OT Brandon Parker. 

[Neo]

14 hours ago, chongli said:

 

This is a really good show where Eric covered a variety of topics in his interview of Brandon Beane in his Centered on Buffalo podcast. My commentary is below.

 

 

 

 

[From the description:

 

Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Bean discusses life after the season ends, the emotional toll of not winning a championship, his belief in Josh Allen as a franchise quarterback, building the roster to compete for a Super Bowl, the reality of salary cap constraints, favorite memories from the Kentucky Derby, favorite wing spot in Buffalo, opinion on the rule of fumbling the ball out of the end zone, how Eric Ciano keeps his job for so long, and predictions for the championship games.

 

00:00 Life of a GM after the season ends

03:24 The emotional toll of not winning a championship

05:14 Resiliency of the team

07:26 Brandon Bean's belief in Josh Allen as a franchise quarterback

10:49 Building the roster to compete for a Super Bowl

15:12 The reality of salary cap constraints

18:52 Favorite memories from the Kentucky Derby

21:00 Balancing work and downtime as a GM

22:39 Favorite wing spot in Buffalo

24:02 Opinion on the rule of fumbling the ball out of the end zone

27:11 How Eric Ciano keeps his job for so long

29:30 Predictions for the championship games.]

 

 

My commentary:

 

Josh [10:49]:

 

Josh may have turnovers and may even cost you some games (like the Jets Week 1: 3 INT's and 1 fumble), but he is a playmaker. He makes way more plays than turnovers. He is like an Elway or a Favre. Eric Wood said he played with a lot of QB's who rarely turned the ball over, but they never had 300 yards and did not win games like Josh. He leads the league all time in fewest playoff turnovers. So when it matters, Josh does not turn it over. Eric is tired of defensing Allen in regard to this issue, because it is not true. Josh was in the top 5 in completions two years in a row, which had ever been done.

Josh and Patrick have re-written the book on how coaches look at side-arm, difficult-angle throws. Their athleticism is amazing and make defending them very hard.

 

Josh is the type of player who puts the team on his back. He goes out and wins the game for you. You have to live with his occasional mistakes. You can't get mad at him when he makes so many outstanding plays.

 

Salary Cap Constraints [15:12]:

 

Start at the division and build a team to match up against all divisional foes. Then who are the other teams that are consistent contenders in the conference (Baltimore, KC, Cincy).

 

The salary cap is absolutely real. The question is are you paying cash now or putting it on credit debt.

 

They had a plan when they reset the cap in 2018. They added some players in 2019 a 2020, then COVID hit in 2020 and the cap went down from $198 million to $182 million, so that screwed them over and they haven't caught up. It should have gone to $210 or $211 million. They had a lot of big salaries (Josh, White, Dawkins, Milano, Stef) and they have had to put more money little by little each year into debt. They try to do it responsibly, but at the same time, the Pegulas told him they want to win. So it is a fine line.

 

Kentucky Derby [18:52]

 

Beane had a great time at Eric's place. Stayed up to 2 or 2:30 asking who's going to bed first. He was treated to a VIP experience at the Derby itself. Had fun at the Dustin Lynch private concert after.

 

Off-season plan [21:00]: 

 

a. Coaches get off next week. They need some downtime.

b. Football staff goes to Senior Bowl next week then comes back and does free agent meetings.

c. Then college scouts come in and they lock themselves in the building for two straight weeks and go through every player on their board. They try to have their board in a good spot before going to Indy. They call the combine the "underwear Olympics" where players aren't in pads, so it is not the same.

d. Week before the Combine is a vacation week for all. Beane's wife is arranging that. It must have a golf course.

 

Brandon Beane's favorite wing spot in Buffalo [22.39]:

 

Bar-Bill, both Cajun and honey barbeque. His wife just picked up some last night in fact. He prefers neither blue cheese nor ranch. Dipping the wing would be insulting it. If he had to, he prefers ranch.

 

 

Sixty two years of waiting and my hopes and dreams are in the hands of a man who both prefers ranch and is willing to say it out loud!

 

My work is done, here, God … take me anytime.

[BADOLBILZ]

4 hours ago, BuffaloBillyG said:

That part right there is my pet peeve when it comes to Brandon. This isn't the first time he's pinned the cap issues to the COVID year. And I'm sure there was at some point some truth behind it.

 

I'm certain they had a long term financial plan that COVID tore down. But that happened years ago and it didn't JUST hit for the Buffalo Bills. 31 other teams were hit, too. And by now many if not most have adjusted.

 

I'm sorry, but you can't cry that you're behind the sticks when it comes to salary cap because of the COVID season and also have been responsible for the Von Miller albatross off a contract since. 

 

 

 

 

It's been annoying listening to Beane's excuses for the terrible mistakes with money and pro personnel in general in his first 2-3 seasons.    I've made that point here probably hundreds of times since then.  

 

But I also give him some credit for cleverly avoiding taking any real responsibility for any of it.   That is the way of the con-man and fans eat that confidence up and bought him a lot of runway.  Smart.

 

And it's not like it's a house of cards with him,  he was just terribly unqualified as a personnel and salary cap man when he got the job and has been faking it til' he makes it in that regard.   As pure executive he was immediately a great hire to steady the ship for the Pegula's.   They needed that aspect of his job more than anything because they were floundering.   And I think his personnel work has greatly improved with experience and I expect that to continue.   But he still has ground to make up because of past mistakes.    

[Aussie Joe]

2 hours ago, billykay said:

With that pick 65, who did we wind up taking in that spot.

They used it to move up from 22 to take Edmunds 

[brianthomas]

10 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

I can’t argue with a lot of what you said here … but the 2018 draft navigation from Beane from pick 21 to 7 ( giving up Glenn and a couple of seconds) to pick Josh Allen ( wrong Josh)  will always be a thing of beauty …

 

This alone will get him into the GM Hall of fame .. and will trump his wasted dollars in that years free agency .. 

 

Plus in 2018 …  he also managed to trade Tyrod Taylor and a cap hit for Pick 65

I thank the Gods we have Josh Allen I really do, but i cant describe this as a 'thing of beauty' when you consider how we previously traded the Patrick Mahomes pick to KC, i just cant. Not with who Mahomes has turned out to be & with how desperate we were for a QB in 2017, & not with where our 2 franchises are now. Josh Allen sure we drafted him so thats all that counts, but we very easily couldve gotten this pick wrong as well & missed out on both & where would we be today? In all honesty, im surprised we did pick Josh & that its turned out as well as it has. Its not too often things go better than expected around here.

But as far as BILLS seasons go, you could argue everything else is par for the course, with the 1 anomaly being how great Josh Allen is. He on his own makes everyone look like geniuses for picking him & he makes the coaches & players around him better too. But at some point & many of us fans are there right now, thats not enough.

 

Maybe i'm being too hard on the GM & team but theres that saying how a broken clock is right twice a day. We got the clock right the one time with Josh, but 6-7 years later, the rest of the clock is still broken it seems, as we still haven't figured out what makes it even tick. And we're all just hoping now that Beane has figured it all out & will make the right moves. Every one of us will have a different level of faith in this staff's ability to do that now. For me, my faith is shaken to its final threads, given the past few years of self inflicted personnel mistakes. But when you have a Josh Allen, anything is possible i suppose. In Beane we hope...

[hondo in seattle]

We can nitpick his successes and failures.  But Beane's overall body of work is good.  He took a franchise mired in mediocrity and turned it into the AFCE champs.  

 

Some worry that McD isn't a good enough head coach to take us further.  I personally worry if Beane is a good enough GM.  He's never given McD a SB-caliber roster.  When we lose in the playoffs, it's either to a team better than us or healthier than us.  Or both.  That's partly Beane's fault.   

 

Beane found us a great QB and has built a good - not great - roster with solid depth.  That's enough to make us competitive.  It hasn't been enough to win us a Lombardi.  

 

I'm hoping Beane has learned from his mistakes and fixes them.  But given our cap situation, I worry that we're going to flounder along at the good-but-not-quite-good-enough level.  

 

 

[Aussie Joe]

20 minutes ago, brianthomas said:

I thank the Gods we have Josh Allen I really do, but i cant describe this as a 'thing of beauty' when you consider how we previously traded the Patrick Mahomes pick to KC, i just cant. Not with who Mahomes has turned out to be & with how desperate we were for a QB in 2017, & not with where our 2 franchises are now. Josh Allen sure we drafted him so thats all that counts, but we very easily couldve gotten this pick wrong as well & missed out on both & where would we be today? In all honesty, im surprised we did pick Josh & that its turned out as well as it has. Its not too often things go better than expected around here.

But as far as BILLS seasons go, you could argue everything else is par for the course, with the 1 anomaly being how great Josh Allen is. He on his own makes everyone look like geniuses for picking him & he makes the coaches & players around him better too. But at some point & many of us fans are there right now, thats not enough.

 

Maybe i'm being too hard on the GM & team but theres that saying how a broken clock is right twice a day. We got the clock right the one time with Josh, but 6-7 years later, the rest of the clock is still broken it seems, as we still haven't figured out what makes it even tick. And we're all just hoping now that Beane has figured it all out & will make the right moves. Every one of us will have a different level of faith in this staff's ability to do that now. For me, my faith is shaken to its final threads, given the past few years of self inflicted personnel mistakes. But when you have a Josh Allen, anything is possible i suppose. In Beane we hope...

Beane wasn’t here for the Mahomes pick … so can’t blame him for that …

 

You can’t also hit Beane over the head because “ he could have got the Josh Allen pick wrong”… he didn’t … and you are surprised they got something of that magnitude correct ? Well … they did …
 

It’s also not very honest to say he has only been right “one time”… he has drafted some good players ….found a few decent guys in FA.. turned around an average ( at best) team he inherited into a top 6 team these past 4 years …

 

Made some absolutely terrible decisions though … signing Star, trading for Benjamin, letting Teller go… Boogie Basham, Ford and Elam…Took a long time to give Josh a functional O Line …and others .. 

 

He has a mountain to climb this offseason … got to replace a lot of guys with minimal cap .. and needs to find 3 good playes ( at leastj) in the draft that impact

this team in 2024. … they have some good pieces still..( Not just Josh) … so I will give them a chance if he can make the right calls ….. if he doesn’t then next year might be the last year for him and Sean ..

 

 

Edited January 27 by Aussie Joe

[Buffalo03]

15 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

I like Beane but the biggest reason he is in the situation he is with the cap can be traced directly to his terrible personnel decisions in 2018.

 

He spent $100M on total garbage in free agency.........and actually paid out a ton of that even when he should have been cutting bait later in those contracts.

 

He has gotten much more efficient on the job but it's been a gradual climb from terrible to mediocre to improved levels of efficiency.

 

Blaming the cap situation on the cap figure dropping due to covid is a cop-out........but the truth is if he were honest about the fact that he was terrible wrt pro personnel and cap management in his first couple years there would be nothing to gain from that honesty whatsoever.   Just more criticism.    

 

He has basically faked it til' he's made it.........and NOW that he has a better grasp on what he's doing he really needs to put that expensive experience to work and knock it out of the park in the next few offseasons.

 

As I've said before,  Howie Roseman wasn't always a great GM.........he grew into it.    Beane needs to build off of the successes in recent drafts and the more efficient(if not always satisfying) results he's gotten in free agency.    Also needs to be a bit more ruthless, IMO.  

What big contracts did he sign players to in 2018? I know Trent Murphy was a bad signing but guys like Robert Foster, Chris Ivory and all that didn't cost a ton of money and I don't think he restructured that much back then. It wasn't until after 2020 that he started to really do that. And that was 6 years ago. You're really gonna blame our cap problem from a situation 6 years ago? That team wasn't good enough to be handing out restructures and big contracts so unless you can show some examples, I have no clue what you're talking about. He had bad cintracts that carried over from the previous regime. You just sound like a Beane hater. His second year as a GM, he made moves to get us in the playoffs and has done it consistently since. You make it sound like it was a gradual process years in the making and he is just now starting to get it. Are you kidding me?

[Aussie Joe]

Just now, Buffalo03 said:

What big contracts did he sign players to in 2018? I know Trent Murphy was a bad signing but guys like Robert Foster, Chris Ivory and all that didn't cost a ton of money and I don't think he restructured that much back then. It wasn't until after 2020 that he started to really do that. And that was 6 years ago. You're really gonna blame our cap problem from a situation 6 years ago? That team wasn't good enough to be handing out restructures and big contracts so unless you can show some examples, I have no clue what you're talking about. He had bad cintracts that carried over from the previous regime. You just sound like a Beane hater. His second year as a GM, he made moves to get us in the playoffs and has done it consistently since. You make it sound like it was a gradual process years in the making and he is just now starting to get it. Are you kidding me?

His worst contract - Star L

[Buffalo03]

Just now, Aussie Joe said:

His worst contract - Star L

Ok. Yeah, but that contract has been off the books for how long? 3 years? Why are we talking about that in 2024? And was Star really THAT terrible?

[Aussie Joe]

4 minutes ago, Buffalo03 said:

Ok. Yeah, but that contract has been off the books for how long? 3 years? Why are we talking about that in 2024? And was Star really THAT terrible?

He was shocking … he also milked the Covid rules to keep his guaranteed money on the books longer than it should have been…I can’t comment whether it still impacts the roster … obviously not in dollar terms but what they were prevented doing when they had to pay his dead cap…

 

 

Edited January 27 by Aussie Joe

[Buffalo03]

6 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

He was shocking … he also milked the Covid rules to keep his guaranteed money on the books longer than it should have been…I can’t comment whether it still influences the roster …

 

 

According to the poster that I commented on, his decisions in 2018 when we didn't really have much to play with from the previous regime, he is saying that that still affects our cap situation today. And that's why we still have cap issues. We have cap issues from guys signed in the last couple years, like Von Miller and Dawson Knox but I completely understand why he gave Von the contract he did at the time and the way Von played up until Thanksgiving last season when we got hurt, it looked like it paid off. It only looks bad now because of what has transpired since the injury. The Knox contract I don't understand. But I feel like he has known what he has doing since the beginning and has had a great plan. It's why we have been successful for the last 6 years. The guy was in Carolina for 17 years and worked his way up the ranks and is one of the best GMs in the business now. Saying that he has been slow to grasp things and he is just figuring it out like the other guy did is just flat out wrong

Edited January 27 by Buffalo03

[chongli]

22 minutes ago, Buffalo619 said:

Vons contract should be enough to get this guy out of here. He’s not good enough. We need an upgrade. 

 

I, for one, was not happy when we signed Von, due to the size of his contract plus his age. I wondered at the time how many good years did he have left. I hoped I would be wrong...

Edited January 27 by chongli

[SoonerBillsFan]

Beane has to get better at this ASAP.  And he needs a revamp of his scouting staff.

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

I'm here for Bar Bill

[Buffalo03]

3 minutes ago, chongli said:

 

I, for one, was not happy when we signed Von, due to the size of his contract plus his age. I wondered at the time how many good years did he have left. I hoped I would be wrong...

And to be fair, the contract up until Von's injury made it seem like he was worth every penny. It only looks bad now because of what happened to Von with his injury. Did Beane overpay for him? You can still make that argument but people should have an understanding of why he did it. It's not like Von was coming off a 2 sack season. He was coming off a 9 sack season and had 8 before he went down in the 2022 season

[Mark Vader]

56 minutes ago, brianthomas said:

I thank the Gods we have Josh Allen I really do, but i cant describe this as a 'thing of beauty' when you consider how we previously traded the Patrick Mahomes pick to KC, i just cant. Not with who Mahomes has turned out to be & with how desperate we were for a QB in 2017, & not with where our 2 franchises are now. Josh Allen sure we drafted him so thats all that counts, but we very easily couldve gotten this pick wrong as well & missed out on both & where would we be today? In all honesty, im surprised we did pick Josh & that its turned out as well as it has. Its not too often things go better than expected around here.

But as far as BILLS seasons go, you could argue everything else is par for the course, with the 1 anomaly being how great Josh Allen is. He on his own makes everyone look like geniuses for picking him & he makes the coaches & players around him better too. But at some point & many of us fans are there right now, thats not enough.

 

Maybe i'm being too hard on the GM & team but theres that saying how a broken clock is right twice a day. We got the clock right the one time with Josh, but 6-7 years later, the rest of the clock is still broken it seems, as we still haven't figured out what makes it even tick. And we're all just hoping now that Beane has figured it all out & will make the right moves. Every one of us will have a different level of faith in this staff's ability to do that now. For me, my faith is shaken to its final threads, given the past few years of self inflicted personnel mistakes. But when you have a Josh Allen, anything is possible i suppose. In Beane we hope...

Here we go again!

 

First, Beane was not here when we traded the pick to Kansas City.

 

Second, there is no way that Mahomes would have had the exact same success in Buffalo than he would have in Kansas City.

He landed with a team with one of the best offensive head coaches in the game, who also does great work with quarterbacks.

He also had players like Travis Kelce & Tyreek Hill on the roster.

Do you really think Mahomes would have survived with the Bills offensive line that Josh Allen had in 2018?

 

Enough with this garbage already! 

[PayDaBill$]

Miller Diggs Knox Elam we spent money and a 1st rd pick & got zip for production.  Can’t have that and be successful 0 return on investment. 

[Doc Brown]

13 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

I can’t argue with a lot of what you said here … but the 2018 draft navigation from Beane from pick 21 to 7 ( giving up Glenn and a couple of seconds) to pick Josh Allen ( wrong Josh)  will always be a thing of beauty …

 

This alone will get him into the GM Hall of fame .. and will trump his wasted dollars in that years free agency .. 

 

Plus in 2018 …  he also managed to trade Tyrod Taylor and a cap hit for Pick 65 

We also pry would've had to give up our 2019 first rounder (Ed Oliver) if not for the Watkins trade where we got the Rams 2nd rounder.  The good obviously outweighed the bad in 2018 but Murphy and Star were horrible free agent signings.  He did better the next year with Morse, J. Brown, and Beasley. 

[RyanC883]

6 hours ago, BananaB said:

Bills are treading water. Way too many vets have been signed to cover the play younger players they brought in. Beane doesn’t like to give up draft picks for proven players but will sign a guy on his last leg after the player he drafted struggles to get on the field. They ain’t improving because of it. 

 

need more Digg type plays

[BillsFan2313]

4 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

It's been annoying listening to Beane's excuses for the terrible mistakes with money and pro personnel in general in his first 2-3 seasons.    I've made that point here probably hundreds of times since then.  

 

But I also give him some credit for cleverly avoiding taking any real responsibility for any of it.   That is the way of the con-man and fans eat that confidence up and bought him a lot of runway.  Smart.

 

And it's not like it's a house of cards with him,  he was just terribly unqualified as a personnel and salary cap man when he got the job and has been faking it til' he makes it in that regard.   As pure executive he was immediately a great hire to steady the ship for the Pegula's.   They needed that aspect of his job more than anything because they were floundering.   And I think his personnel work has greatly improved with experience and I expect that to continue.   But he still has ground to make up because of past mistakes.    

 

Jim Overdorf is the cap guy and if I remember correctly Beane even admitted he isn't a cap guy when he got hired.

[Trogdor]

26 minutes ago, BillsFan2313 said:

 

Jim Overdorf is the cap guy and if I remember correctly Beane even admitted he isn't a cap guy when he got hired.

Jim Overdorf is maybe the most ridiculous person in franchise history. Beane talked about Whaley and the bad contracts that they had to get out from all while Jim was still there. To me it all goes back to Pegula's management hierarchy that doesn't work for the Bills or Sabres. The coach not working for the GM and the GM not controlling contracts is just a recipe for disaster.

[zow2]

I enjoy when Jim Overdorf is brought up.  I knew him way back in the day before he became the executive he is now.  Such a weird dude, lol.  

[Bill from NYC]

5 hours ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

It's been annoying listening to Beane's excuses for the terrible mistakes with money and pro personnel in general in his first 2-3 seasons.    I've made that point here probably hundreds of times since then.  

 

But I also give him some credit for cleverly avoiding taking any real responsibility for any of it.   That is the way of the con-man and fans eat that confidence up and bought him a lot of runway.  Smart.

 

And it's not like it's a house of cards with him,  he was just terribly unqualified as a personnel and salary cap man when he got the job and has been faking it til' he makes it in that regard.   As pure executive he was immediately a great hire to steady the ship for the Pegula's.   They needed that aspect of his job more than anything because they were floundering.   And I think his personnel work has greatly improved with experience and I expect that to continue.   But he still has ground to make up because of past mistakes.    

I absolve Beane from much of the blame for some of the personnel decisions. For instance, do you think that it was Beane's  idea to trade up for Tre Edwards or Kaiir Elam? Or even to draft Ed Oliver at #9? These picks have McDermott written all over them imo, especially given the fact that he gave away Mahomes. Btw I am just as happy with Josh but that is not my point.  We lucked into Josh after McDermott made that rather stupid move..

 

We will find out soon enough who is in charge. Any GM in his right mind would want our 2024 draft to focus on wide receivers for Josh and to reinforce the OL which is aging at (at least at center). Doing this makes sense from a football and an economic point of view. Better receivers and a healthier Josh will draw a lot more fans than a safety, as well as win more games. If we draft a safety in round 1 (which I sadly expect) or even a corner, do you think that this will come from Beane?

I just can't visualize this but as always, jmo.

[BADOLBILZ]

52 minutes ago, Bill from NYC said:

I absolve Beane from much of the blame for some of the personnel decisions. For instance, do you think that it was Beane's  idea to trade up for Tre Edwards or Kaiir Elam? Or even to draft Ed Oliver at #9? These picks have McDermott written all over them imo, especially given the fact that he gave away Mahomes. Btw I am just as happy with Josh but that is not my point.  We lucked into Josh after McDermott made that rather stupid move..

 

We will find out soon enough who is in charge. Any GM in his right mind would want our 2024 draft to focus on wide receivers for Josh and to reinforce the OL which is aging at (at least at center). Doing this makes sense from a football and an economic point of view. Better receivers and a healthier Josh will draw a lot more fans than a safety, as well as win more games. If we draft a safety in round 1 (which I sadly expect) or even a corner, do you think that this will come from Beane?

I just can't visualize this but as always, jmo.

 

 

Thanks to Bills embedded we got to see Beane in action when he was making the picks.    The Cody Ford pick showed his logic at work.   His logic was flawed.   So I assign the picks to him.

[Aussie Joe]

1 hour ago, Bill from NYC said:

I absolve Beane from much of the blame for some of the personnel decisions. For instance, do you think that it was Beane's  idea to trade up for Tre Edwards or Kaiir Elam? Or even to draft Ed Oliver at #9? These picks have McDermott written all over them imo, especially given the fact that he gave away Mahomes. Btw I am just as happy with Josh but that is not my point.  We lucked into Josh after McDermott made that rather stupid move..

 

We will find out soon enough who is in charge. Any GM in his right mind would want our 2024 draft to focus on wide receivers for Josh and to reinforce the OL which is aging at (at least at center). Doing this makes sense from a football and an economic point of view. Better receivers and a healthier Josh will draw a lot more fans than a safety, as well as win more games. If we draft a safety in round 1 (which I sadly expect) or even a corner, do you think that this will come from Beane?

I just can't visualize this but as always, jmo.

Im interested what you think of them taking a S in Rounds 2 or 3?

[BADOLBILZ]

21 hours ago, Aussie Joe said:

I can’t argue with a lot of what you said here … but the 2018 draft navigation from Beane from pick 21 to 7 ( giving up Glenn and a couple of seconds) to pick Josh Allen ( wrong Josh)  will always be a thing of beauty …

 

This alone will get him into the GM Hall of fame .. and will trump his wasted dollars in that years free agency .. 

 

Plus in 2018 …  he also managed to trade Tyrod Taylor and a cap hit for Pick 65 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main reason I like Beane is because he got the organization to go all-in on a QB draft prospect for the first time in almost 60 years.

 

They'd never simply used their very first 1st round pick in any draft......or traded up from that pick......to select a college QB.    

 

Not even Jim Kelly had been their top pick........they hedged their bets by selecting TE Tony Hunter at #12 overall and hoped Detroit or someone trading up at #13 would select one of the QB's to help them narrow their decision at pick #14.

 

Beane had conviction about Josh Allen.   You could argue that he could have had MORE given the luck that was necessary for him to make it to 7.   But at least they had targeted their guy.

 

Other Bills attempts to find a QB were always trades of #1's for veterans(RJ and Bledsoe) or moving up from a second pick(Losman) or trading back from a first pick(Manuel). 

 

The Bills organizational lack of conviction about the QB position was the main reason for their relative futility over their history prior to Josh Allen.