15 takeaways from Brandon Beane’s end of season press conference
The Buffalo Bills are putting the finishing touches on the season that was. In doing so, there’s one thing that separates players and front office members alike from locker cleanout day and freedom from football for a few months in the offseason: A trip to the podium.
On the latter, Bills general manager Brandon Beane concluded his 2020 season on Wednesday by chatting via video conference for about an hour. He reviewed the season that was and previewed some of what the future might hold.
In an effort to pull out some of the more interesting or important things mentioned, here are 15 takeaways from Beane’s end of season presser:
What was said about Josh Allen
Like Bills head coach Sean McDermott on Tuesday, there was no way Beane was going to chat without being asked about quarterback Josh Allen. In regard to the GM, the headline topic of discussion wouldn’t be the on-field stuff, though. It’s the off-field stuff, a.k.a. his contract situation.
It was previously reported on Jan. 9 that Allen could receive a “massive” extension from the team this offseason. Beane said he wouldn’t comment on specifics, but he certainly did mention something that indicates that the Bills wouldn’t be afraid to pay their QB.
After a breakout season, Beane said he thinks Allen could be even better in the future.
“Very proud of Josh,” Beane said. “I think he’s shown people what he can do in this league and I don’t think he’s reached his ceiling.”
If that’s the case, Beane is not going to be scared of backing up the Brinks truck when the time for an extension comes up.
Not a Super Bowl team
Beane was brutally honest about one thing. Just because you’re one game away from the Super Bowl, it doesn’t mean you are a “Super Bowl team.” While that might be pretty strong of a statement, there’s is no debating it: That is the truth.
“I still think we need to be very honest with where we’re at. We’re still not a Super Bowl team. There’s one team happy at the end of the year. We made a great step last year and another step this year, but we still have to go further. The goal here is to win that game [the Super Bowl], and until we get in that game to compete for it, we can’t win it,” Beane said.
The GM was also very praiseful of the Kansas City Chiefs after their roster beat up his, 38-24, in Sunday’s AFC Championship game.
“They’re the gold standard. This is three-straight AFC Championships they’ve been in, in a row, and now back-to-back Super Bowls,” Beane said. “They’re the gold standard of the AFC and maybe the league, we’ll find out here next week.”
“They were clearly better than us. We have work to do,” he added.
Projected salary cap struggles causing regret?
The 2021 salary cap is going to be a problem for the Bills. But it’s a league-wide issue as COVID-19 will cause a drop to the cap for next season. The NFL already announced that the cap “floor” or the lowest it could possibly be, will be $175M. Usually each year it grows and prior to COVID, Beane said most teams expected it to be near $210M. That’s a massive difference.
In discussing that, Beane did interestingly admit, flat-out, he wouldn’t have done certain roster moves had he known what was coming.
“It’s one of those things you wish we knew a year ago, maybe we wouldn’t have made every move that we did. Maybe we wouldn’t have been so aggressive in some areas,” Beane said.
Naturally Beane did not name names. We can guess what some of those could be in free agency. High-profile free agents added last offseason include Mario Addison, Quinton Jefferson, and Vernon Butler… along with not cutting Trent Murphy who was a potential salary cap casualty at the end of training camp. Interesting, all these players are defensive linemen as well.
Don’t expect a big move
The Bills made it to the final four of the NFL season. Because of that, they clearly do already have a good roster and therefore, don’t have to make some kind of massive move to shake things up.
Unfortunately for fans, that makes for a more boring offseason and considering all of that, Beane all but said he’s not going to be making any earth-shaking deals or signings this offseason like he has in the past.
“We’re going to have to draft well, that’s first off,” Beane said. “This is not going to be a free agency that we can be as aggressive. We’ve been aggressive with that because we built up the resources.”
“Now we’re getting to the point where we don’t have to go out and add pieces from free agency. We’ll have to see how many of the guys we can retain. We’ll fill in some holes here and there. But I would not anticipate and blockbuster moves of Stef Diggs,” Beane added. “It’s really going to be plugging some holes.”
Again, makes total sense.
Stefon Diggs a year later
Well, it has not been a full year since Stefon Diggs was traded to the Bills, but we’re one season into it. Upon reflecting on acquiring the wide receiver, Beane called the deal he made with the Minnesota Vikings the same as many do.
“I thought it was a win-win,” Beane said.
Upon discussing the Diggs journey to Buffalo, Beane made one interesting note. Once Beane was able to actually sit down and talk to the wideout (COVID made that hard at first), the GM said that Diggs did not just point to the Vikings and say it was all their fault. Diggs evidently took blame, too.
From there, Beane said the Bills told him Buffalo would be giving him a “fresh start” and the rest is history.
“He was just golden from start to finish,” Beane said.
Unprompted running game mention
The Bills did not have a good rushing attack in 2020. Observers of the team do not need numbers to prove that. Everyone saw it. Improving in that area seems like it’s going to be a point of emphasis for Beane this offseason because in an unprompted manner, Beane mentioned doing just that when aske what his “focus” would be on this offseason in terms of improving this offseason.
“Maybe a little more balance on the run game,” Beane said. “The ability to run it when you have to.”
“Things like that which will help your offense because you’re not always going to be able to track meet everybody up and down the field,” Beane added.
Believes the Bills missed a Star
According to Beane, the Bills missed Star Lotulelei in 2020. In the first half of the year, Buffalo struggled against the run, in particular, and pointed to reasons as to why, Beane said losing Jordan Phillips in free agency a year ago and then not having Lotulelei was the reason for some of that in his mind.
“I know he’s not a 10 sack guy and things like that, but what he provides, not only for the run game, but for our linebackers to roam free, I think it took those guys a little time,” Beane said.
But it’s not just the running backs
Of course the running backs do play a part in rushing the ball. Beane said that they can miss the hole among other issues. The GM did say the blocking has to be better.
“I think it’s unfair to look at the running backs to point blame on the running backs. Running the football is very complex. It’s the O-line, it’s the tight ends, it’s the receivers. If one guy doesn’t make his block, the play is probably dead,” Beane said.
Since 2019 when the Bills revamped their offensive line, it’s been such a contrast between pass protection and run blocking. Very often Allen has time to work. That game against the Chiefs was just a bad game for Buffalo’s O-line in terms of pass blocking. But for just about 19 games… the running game blocking was not good for the Bills and it sounds like Beane recognizes that.
“I’m not looking at Devin Singletary or Zack Moss and thinking those guys came up short for us,” Beane concluded.
Speaking of the offensive line, Beane later mentioned both center Mitch Morse and guard Ike Boettger. On Morse, Beane said he thought he played “really well down the stretch” and on Boettger, Beane said he did “a really good job” and he “mixed really well” with left tackle Dion Dawkins.
Two young defenders
Here’s how Beane reflected upon the 2020 seasons for two of his roster’s young building blocks on defense.
On defensive tackle Ed Oliver:
“Ed is playing really well. If people want to just look at sac numbers, he doesn’t have those but he impacts the game. Not only the pass game but the run game. He’s growing, he’s learning…. Ed faces a lot of doubles, too. It’s not the easiest road for him. I definitely though he took a step up from Year 1 to Year 2.”
On linebacker Tremaine Edmunds:
“In fairness to him, I think when he banged his shoulder up that first game, he got back out there, I think it took him awhile. It was his first injury he played with. I think he struggled with it. I thought he played, overall, pretty solid down the stretch.”
Rookie review
Beane mentioned his rookies several times. In a general sentiment, the general manager was overall pleased with them all. Here’s a breakdown of his thoughts on all guys mentioned:
DE AJ Epenesa
Per Beane, the Bills wanted Epenesa to play at a smaller weight than he did in college. At the 2020 draft, Epenesa fell because of his 40-yard dash time, so the team probably thought cutting weight would help there. Turns out, Beane said Epenesa then was “probably too light” and had to pack some on.
Being too light cause the Bills to think he would struggle against the run. This also might explain why he was a healthy scratch to start the season.
RB Zack Moss
“He did a really good job and showed he could run physical,” Beane said.
Toward the end of the year, it sounds like the Bills liked him more. Moss started seeing a slight increase over Singletary in snaps because he suffered an ankle injury and Beane said the “hot hand” was getting more touches. That guy was Moss.
QB Jake Fromm
We heard nothing on backup QB Jake Fromm all season because he was the team’s “quarantine quarterback.” In doing such a weird job, Beane was happy with how Fromm handled it.
“Jake Fromm had the most “un-normal year a player could have,” Beane said. “I thought he handled that greatly.”
K Tyler Bass
Just by the eye test, everyone saw that the rookie kicker struggled early. But the thing Beane liked about Tyler Bass was the way he “never made an excuse,” adding that in his career, he’s seen many other kickers do so.
CB Dane Jackson
The biggest rookie praise came for cornerback Dane Jackson. Beane already put him in the running for Buffalo’s No. 2 cornerback spot.
“He’ll have every opportunity next year to not only win a spot, we’ll see who starts opposite of Tre (White),” Beane said.
WR Gabe Davis
Finally on his first-year wideout, Beane said he doesn’t want to overload Davis too quickly by calling him a No. 2 receiver just yet. But he did like the extended run Davis got when John Brown went down with injury later in the season.
“I don’t want to put that on him but I don’t think Gabe is near his ceiling,” Beane said. “Thought he wasn’t a rookie by end of year because of how much he played.”
Feelings on Matt Milano
Some consider linebacker Matt Milano as the Bills’ biggest free agent fish to fry this offseason. His rookie contract is up and he will want to get paid. Like in the past, Beane said Milano has every right to go to free agency, but the GM did say the team wants him to return.
“We’d love to be able to get Matt back, he knows that,” Beane said.
But did Beane did give us kind of a glimpse into what could be a talking point in those contract talks. It’ll be Milano’s ability to stay on the field.
“Matt is a very good player, what a great job he’s done since he’s come in here,” Beane said. “His biggest thing is being able to play 16 games.”
In four seasons, the former fifth-round pick has played in 16 games once, while playing in 15 in 2019. In 2018 and 2020, respectively, he was held to 13 and 10 games played. In this most recent season, Milano suffered from hamstring and pectoral issues.
Dawson on alert?
Dawson Knox probably had his best game of the year against the Chiefs. But the bar was pretty low with the way Buffalo’s tight ends preformed throughout the season, When specifically asked about the tight end position, Beane said he wanted more. Not a good sign for Knox moving forward.
“I thought it was up and down,” Beane said on the unit in general. “We just never really got position… at the end of the year I thought we did a little bit, Dawson started to get his groove a little bit, but it was never where the opposing defense was like, ‘Man we’ve really got to stop their tight ends from going off.'”
Also probably some bad luck for Knox & Co. having to see Travis Kelce in Buffalo’s final game of the season….
Right side makeover?
We mentioned the offensive line already, but specifically on the right side of it, we have Jon Feliciano and Daryl Williams. Those guys are pending free agents. Beane said he was happy with the bounce-backs of sorts both had. Feliciano was hurt early this season and in years prior, Williams dealt with injuries.
However, bringing both back seems unlikely.
“I don’t know, we’ll have to see where their markets are. If not, we’ll have to find some similar replacements at a cost-effective number,” Beane said.
In consideration on that side will be Cody Ford as well. Because of Ford, do not expect both Feliciano and Williams to return because not only do the Bills seem to love him despite struggles and injuries, he fits that description. He’s already signed, therefore, he’s “cost effective.”
Likes Matt Barkley
No offense, Matt.
But backup quarterback Matt Barkley is certainly not on top of the list of concerns for the Bills this offseason. The Bills do have other quarterbacks on the roster and again… he’s a backup.
But it sounded like Beane likes him, so maybe there is a chance that he’s back?
“Some guys are the backup and they’re itching to play. Matt’s a competitor, he wants to play, but his first thing every day when he walks through the door is to help Josh Allen be the best version of himself, that’s why it’s been so great to have him,” Beane said.
No. 2 on Barkley’s mind is probably Bitcoin.
Micah Hyde’s future
While still under contract next season, Micah Hyde is entering the final year of his contract. Since the NFL salary cap is in such a mess right now, it might be hard to re-sign the safety right away. Keeping him around, considering Jordan Poyer got an extension last offseason would be smart.
Beane could not commit to doing so because of the salary cap situation, but it does sound like he plans to try and make that happen… eventually.
“I didn’t see any decline in Micah,” Beane said. “I’m a big fan of Micah Hyde.”
Beane added he thinks Hyde will “still play for years in this league if he wants to.”
