Ron Rivera went to Sean McDermott, Brandon Beane for rebuild blueprint
You usually don’t have to wait long for Bills head coach Sean McDermott or general manager Brandon Beane to reflect upon their past experiences. The duo often references them when discussing their vision for the team.
In doing so, the pair often references certain names from their past stops and one near the top is Washington coach Ron Rivera.
Rivera, McDermott and Beane all have a deep-rooted history with the Panthers. All three worked in Carolina together prior to their current gigs.
“I learned a lot from Coach Rivera; leadership-wise, football-wise, off-the-field-wise,” McDermott said in December 2019.
Interestingly, Rivera actually revealed that, in a way, the roles were recently reversed. Speaking to The Washington Post, Rivera, who is undertaking a rebuild of sorts in Washington, said he went to McDermott and Beane for some advice after accepting the position.
“I asked Brandon and Sean, ‘When you guys came in, what was the idea?’” Rivera said.
Of course it helps that the Bills play in the AFC East while the Football Team is in the NFC East, but still. McDermott and Beane clearly felt they owed Rivera whatever helping hand they could provide. It seems like Washington could be going down a similar path, too.
Both teams cracked the playoffs in their first seasons under the new coaching staffs. Washington also wasn’t really shy recently about moving on from the quarterbacks that got it there, as Alex Smith appears to be on his way out of town.
Time will tell if the Football Team can replicate what McDermott and Beane pulled off in Buffalo.
