Buffalo Bills extend contracts of McDermott, Beane, securing them through 2027
Assuming all goes well over the next few years, Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane will still be in their positions with the Buffalo Bills when New Highmark Stadium opens for business in 2026.
Friday morning the team announced that it is extending the contracts of the head coach and general manager through the 2027 season.
They essentially came to Buffalo as a package deal in 2017 from the Carolina Panthers - McDermott arrived first in January and once that year’s draft was complete, Beane joined him in May - and now their partnership will go on for more than a decade in Buffalo.
During their tenure, the Bills have qualified for the playoffs five times in six years after not making it to the postseason in the 17 seasons before they rolled into town. The Bills have also won three consecutive AFC East division titles, something they haven’t done since winning four in a row from 1988-91 in the Marv Levy-Bill Polian era.
In his first six seasons, McDermott has posted a record of 62-35 in the regular season, 4-5 in the postseason. His winning percentage of .639 is the best in franchise history and his overall win total of 66 ranks third behind Marv Levy (123) and Lou Saban (70).
In a statement released to the team website, owner Terry Pegula said, “Sean is a proud, Christian, determined man. I remember before his interview for the Bills head coaching job thinking about him being a two-time National Prep Wrestling Champ. I thought to myself, ‘You wrestled, you’re determined, you love what you’re doing, and you won.’ He comes to the Bills every day and will never ask anyone, player or coach, to do anything he wouldn’t do.”
Like McDermott was a first-time head coach when he came to Buffalo, Beane also became a first-time general manager. He had been with the Panthers for 19 years including director of football operations (2008-14) and the assistant general manager (2015-16).
“Brandon is a very competitive person,” Pegula said. “I know he likes to win, but I also know he hates to lose. He’s not afraid to say what he’s thinking and if he disagrees with something he will say so, even to the owner. I love it. He, Sean, Kim and I have a very good relationship with open discussions, debate and a lot of communication.”
The accomplishments of McDermott and Beane are plentiful, but there are many fans who are not satisfied with the job they have done because of the postseason problems Buffalo has had, particularly the last four years.
We can give them a pass for 2017 when their mediocre first team, still quarterbacked by Tyrod Taylor, stunned the NFL by grabbing a wild-card spot thanks to some help from Andy Dalton and Tyler Boyd of the Cincinnati Bengals.
But starting in 2019, each season has ended in grave disappointment. In 2019, the Bills blew a 16-0 third-quarter lead in Houston and lost 22-19 in overtime, Josh Allen’s first playoff appearance.
In 2020, the Bills went 13-3 in the regular season and won their first division title since 1996, beat the Colts and Ravens in the first playoff games since 1996, but then got blown out in Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game.
They took a step back in 2021 with an 11-6 record, struggling right to the end to secure the AFC East, and then got knocked out by the Chiefs 42-36 in overtime in the divisional round in the infamous “13 Seconds” debacle.
Last year, despite a 13-3 record, the Bills were barely able to get past the Dolphins - quarterbacked by backup Skylar Thompson - in a 34-31 victory at Highmark Stadium, and then got blown out a week later 27-10 by the Bengals.
After years of hoping and praying just to make it to the playoffs, the fans are now a bit more demanding and the four straight playoff demises are starting to throw shade on the McDermott-Beane tenure. Yes, there has been plenty of winning, but since reaching the AFC title game in 2020, the team has not gotten even to that point, let alone its first Super Bowl since the 1993 season.
Defensive collapses were critical to all four playoff losses, and while nothing has been said, the timing is certainly curious regarding defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier taking a leave of absence this season. Clearly he wasn’t fired, but perhaps he was asked to step aside so that McDermott could return to his roots as a defensive coordinator. Maybe this was completely Frazier’s decision, but maybe it wasn’t.
Despite the playoff struggles, no one can deny that McDermott and Beane, with a pretty big assist from, to name just a few, Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs, Micah Hyde, and Jordan Poyer, have revitalized the Bills’ franchise. Once a league laughingstock, the Bills have turned into perennial division champs and Super Bowl contenders. And they are getting justly rewarded.
Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills extend contract of coach Sean McDermott, GM Brandon Beane
