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As the OP inferred with Whaley, the plethora of dearth before him shines a bright light on Brandon. IMO, he excels at Cap mgmnt finding effective -if unheralded FA’s. What he did after making the playoffs (17 year drought) his 1st season stands as his top achievement. He wasn’t here for the Draft -replacing Whaley immediately afterward- and needed a top QB holding only the 22nd pick in ‘18. Very quickly, he gutted the teams’ highest salaries/best players to garner trade options to move up for the most ballyhooed QB Draft class since ‘83. He’s stated many times if ‘you don’t have a top QB, you aren’t gonna be there long’. It took til Draft night to cement his best effort and we landed the true Savior of the franchise with Pick 7. Then followed it up with 1 last trade to land Edmunds at #16. ‘18 was his 1st and ONLY losing season and we’ve made the playoffs a routine expectation. He’ll be on our WOF ring in the new stadium eventually. Unlike many here, I give him a pass on Von Miller. He was still at the top of his game and coming off a SB victory as a very likely HOFer. A severe injury to his aging knee derailed that, but Beane can hardly be blamed for that. Had -godforbid- Allen suffered such a devastating injury, would that be Beane’s fault? He's kept the team very competitive since, despite drafting in the late 20’s every year and working through an unforeseen pandemic that had terrible repercussions in League allotted funding as virtually no income was gained with a season of empty stands. He's now morfed into an efficient bargain basement shopper with 4 straight Division titles and playoff wins in all but 1 season (OT Loss at Houston). To me, he’s on a par with Polian as Best Ever with more years to come.

Based on....what? "He fired special teams coach Heath Farwell, inferring he called for a deep kickoff in the notorious “13 seconds” game which helped the Chiefs tie it in regulation before winning in OT. However, a number of players “off the record” claimed it was McDermott who made the ill-fated call. Farwell was immediately hired to the same position in Jacksonville" "The decision to kick it out of the end zone is what it is. The truth is that the Bills still had more than a 90% win probability, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, as the Chiefs began their drive at their own 25-yard line with 13 seconds left." "Adversity reveals character in any field. Not only did McDermott insult the public by writing off 13 Seconds as an “execution” error. He never owned the defeat privately. He allowed it to linger, and that’s the danger with any trauma. There’s no way for anyone involved to move on unless it’s dealt with head-on. Unless the guilty party takes accountability. McDermott, as Go Long detailed, was the culprit. Yet when his decision to kick a touchback and his defense doomed Buffalo against the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round of the playoffs, there was zero accountability. To delusional proportions. One assistant coach remembers McDermott saying in the locker room that the offense scored too fast and left the Chiefs too much time." "McDermott used a time out before both of the Chiefs’ plays that set up the field goal. He said he wanted to get a look at what formation Andy Reid was using so he could better set up the defense. Whether you blame Frazier or McDermott, neither did a good enough job explaining to the players what they needed to do to avoid the big plays that followed. The first play was a short pass to Hill. Taron Johnson, Tremaine Edmunds, and Matt Milano gave the scariest player on the field a 15-yard cushion. Romo basically freaked out on the broadcast and circled all three players. The play call couldn’t have been worse." "Hill caught the ball at the 30 and wasn’t touched until he got to the 40-yard line. That’s 15 yards the Bills just gave to him, knowing the Chiefs had to operate their offense as quickly as possible after the snap. He was tackled after 19 total yards, setting up arguably the most perplexing play of the drive. McDermott said he used the second timeout for the same reason he used the first: To get information about how the Chiefs would line up. Travis Kelce was lined up next to left tackle Orlando Brown. Milano and Wallace gave him about an 8-yard cushion this time. Nobody touched Kelce coming off the line and he split the defenders on a seam route, and Mahomes delivered the biggest throw of the game. It went all the way down to the Bills’ 31-yard line." (lol--2 timeouts to see "how they would line up", two massive plays given up after McD's idiotic assessment of how the Chiefs "lined up"--but, yeah, it was the ST coach that blew that game!) Throw in Frazier's "year off" to rest, McD on his 4th OC, 3rd ST coordinator.....

The unknown is scary, I get that. But its not like Diggs last half of the year was impressive even with all the targets he was thrown. Let's wait for the draft and see what happens. I am personally excited to see how all this plays out. Last year we didn't resign Edmunds, people worried about starting MLB and talked about how the team did nothing, yet Barnard and Milano were our best unit before injuries took place. I defer to Beane to make a decision that is best for the team and we will have a #1 WR by the start of training camp. (Note: Even if the new WR1 and Allen aren't on the same page really, it will be better than Diggs and Allen not on the same page because Allen and the new WR1 will actually work on it)

Edmunds missed 2 games. But he did still play 92% of defensive snaps for the Bears so if that was what knocked him down that feels like an incredibly high threshold. And yea, if it was that Jimmy G (also a 4th) being a pick ahead after playing far less is odd.

The bolded is a weird position to take, would you also never franchise tag a guy, even a Josh Allen, ever? Like never ever? Signing the 5th year option for Edmunds worked out cause it was not that much, it also worked out with Oliver IMO. But I do understand your argument about leverage...especially in this case where it is a highly paid position like DE.

I wouldn't mind if Beane got a package together to move up into the 3rd round seeing as they don't have 1 this year and have them get say 9 players maybe, I was really hoping & Beane probably was too to get a 3rd for Edmunds which i feel they got screwed out of but got to make chicken soup out of chicken S**T this year i guess . I have all the confidence that Beane will get er done !!

Rookies at certain positions actually frequently have an immediate impact. One of those positions is WR, which will almost certainly be one of our first draft choices. RBs do, too. One of our 3 RBs this year will also likely be a rookie. Allen, Edmunds, Milano, Taron, Dion, Tre, Oliver, Knox, Gabe, Moss, Benford, Kincaid, Groot, etc. all beg to differ

You should NOT be signing any 5th year options. Ever. The difference between that and a franchise tag is minimal and it gives you ZERO flexibility to do anything. You either extend or ride it out. If you get a case like Edmunds, it buys you one more year at more than he was worth before the year, and then departing or you get somebody like EO who never answered if he was worth an extension, so you had to gamble anyway. If they had just extended Edmunds, he would have been worth ~ 2/3 of what he got paid, you allowed him to re-set his market. 5th year is nothing but a bargaining chip for teams, if the guy is t worth an extension, you ride it out, if he is, sign it before they add more dollars to that contract. Don’t screw around. It’s fools gold.

They could have just let him walk and *maybe* if they hold their water and don't sign anyone to negate that value, get a comp pick. Instead, they definitely got a higher pick in hand........which (based on the Edmunds equation) could be more than a full round higher than a comp pick in the same 2025 draft. In 2017 the Texans traded a second round pick to the Browns to eat Brock Osweiler's $16M in cash and $10M in cap space. Those figures equate to $24.5M and $15.3M in todays cap dollars. So don't discount the value of finding a 3rd rounder on the street.

The NFL will not disclose their formula. Overthecap seemed to have it nailed down, but not on that pick. Edmunds missed some time this season and playing time factors into the formula. Total speculation on my part, but that may have been it. He was calculated as giving us the lowest 3rd round comp pick - other than the ones given to teams that have minority GMs and HCs hired away.

One theory I've seen is that the NFL supposedly factors in playing time with the comp pick formula. Edmunds missed time in 2022 so that may be the thing that screwed us. Man this really really sucks. Beane traded for Rasul Douglas because he thought we had another 3rd round pick.

Promising of what, exactly? If it's promise of making the roster and getting playing time and contributing on some level, then I agree. If it's promise of becoming an elite player, I don't see much of that in this class. I very much hope to be proven wrong, but Keon Coleman looks to me like his ceiling is as a high end WR2. Maybe Cole Bishop becomes a playmaking safety. Maybe Soloman is a steal at Edge and becomes a sack master. But when I look at Ray Davis, DeWayne Carter, a center, a couple project tackles, a special teams linebacker, and an undersized punt returner, I see what look like fine-to-good, sort of replacement level players. I see more of what Beane has done in the past: solid drafts that produce rosterable players, but no difference makers. He arguably hasn't found a difference maker in the draft since Josh Allen. Lots of good, steady, NFL caliber players. Few stars. The norm for drafts under Brandon Beane (ever since the Allen/Edmunds draft) has become "solid to good, but never great". No home runs. No All-Pros. No REAL difference makers. Right now, this draft just looks like the latest chapter in that book.

old enough to be Edmunds' father

Good point and Beane has shown he is not afraid to make trades on draft night. He traded up for Allen and Edmunds too if I remember correctly. Also, we have to see how FA plays out. If Allen restructures maybe the Bills can sign a quality FA or two.

no one- we have Josh-you only trade up for a QB- this is not Madden. let the draft come to us and don't reach or panic BBB. or Edmunds- we have to get younger and cheaper= more draft picks and not blow our wad on one player.

I honestly don't know about the rest of you, and frankly I don't even care, but I am just about ready to get naked and start the revolution because after the Edmunds 4th round comp pick debacle I believe its high time to go Gary Oldman in "The Professional" demon-level-pay back on this overwhelmingly high level of horse **** we are seeing right now.

The obvious move here is to package next year’s #1 to go up this year. You will still have 2 second round picks next year so you can get into the bottom of the first again if you want or you could just look for value there in the second. I could see a scenario where they try to get to say 12 or so with this years first and next years or add some more to go up higher. A player trade generally will be done before the draft so everyone knows the cap consequences prior to any moves, so if it doesn’t happen soon, it’s not happening. My guess is they are hoping one of the WRs they like gets to ~10 and they can go get him. I would guess, without looking at the chart as a guide, you are giving up this years first, next years first, the comp pick for Edmunds and something else to get up there. If it’s for Nabers, sign me up.

I agree that we lack top end players and we have a stable of solid to good guys. I guess where I disagree is when you list EIGHT players (and including OL that’s probably closer to at least 10) that are above average and compare it to the rest of the league, that number is not really high either. It may be more than a couple of the bottom feeder teams. Lets compare it to the Bears, who of course, picked #1 last year because they were awful, and are picking top 10 this year. Above average players, relative to position: Keenan Allen DJ Moore Montez Sweat Swift Edmunds Jaylon Johnson Cole Kmet Brisker/Byard? TJ Edwards And that’s not including OL, which admittedly I didn’t watch much of the Bears OL to have opinion. They are picking NINTH. They are currently a bottom 10 team. A year after picking FIRST. Being the worst team in football!

I agree. Some of this is just a lot of rationalizing just to make themselves feel better and thinking any player can just Be replaced because “ we won games without him”. Sure but football is still a team sport where chemistry and experience actually do count. If an injury was just in isolation , sure it’s easier to help cover the drop off of the 1/11 th of the guys who started. These guys become pro bowl players for reasons : first is raw talent and football intelligence. There’s a reason certain guys are pro bowl players or make the HOF. Denying there is a difference is irrational , these are guys who stand out and more often than others make plays that actually affect game outcomes. It’s pretty unusual to plug in a second year guy who has had little experience at critical times and not see some drop off. I don’t accept the Benard / Edmund’s analogy as emunds was way overhyped , rarely made any game changing plays , often made tackles trailing and never shot gaps or consistent with sacks. Bernard played well , but honestly , Edmund’s set a low bar. How great was Chicago last year with him ; easiest guy to replace on that defense. But the real issue is just as you pointed out. Football season is about attrition, the teams that are fortunate enough to be healthy come playoff time tend to be successful. Just look at us last year, or the BENGALS without BURROWS, Or the fins with Hill playing injured. It’s not just that Milano is down , it’s. Another blow to depth before anything even counts. You made a great point about Bernard and our other Lbs like Spector. . So far they also have not proven they can or will stay healthy. You’re right , they are under sized and I would bet none of them goes without missing at least a couple of games this year. So now we are dropping further down the depth , experience, talent pool. Pretty soon you are playing with guys off the street ,,,,hmm ,,, we’ve seen how well that goes. Not a single defenesive stop till almost the end of that KC game. But hey, we can just plug in the next guy ! The larger issue , trying not to miss the forest for the trees, is that this D roster has already taken huge hits in talent and leadership ; guys who have playoff experience runs in their past. Ok so now Milano , a pro bowler , get replaced by an athletic guy who couldn’t prove yet he was better than Milano. But this year we’re already missing White( luckily we picked up a VET, who is more physical than white , but he’s older as well and depended on the experienced safety duo to know how to play in this scheme. He has 1/2 year in this scheme , and has had injuries as he didn’t play well in the KC LOSS. Now throw in the loss of two 7 year starters , who also has pro bowl talent. Our current senior guy, rapp, was mostly a backup last year. Edward’s ,, expected to fill the experience gap, has been totally gone with injury issues. The talented rookie also. Is missing critical reps with injury and most reports from podcasters like Shout, reported he was still struggling Leaning the scheme , just as you would expect with a rookie. But Who now replaces Poyer ? Hamlin and Cam Lewis have both been on the field and looked terrible at times. Try telling me with a straight face that there will be no drop off in performance regarding the safety position , a position mcd has always stated is critical in his scheme. The losses of experience are adding up., the reality is this is a unique year and It’s no longer just about an isolated loss of Milano. Just looking at his injury is being beyond simplistic and disregards all the time these teams spend on effective communication! Our corners and nickel back have always missed some time as well , because they have more run support responsibilities in this scheme that rarely uses three LBS simultaneously on the field. Our #2 cb , also has had injury issues. Looks great while on the field , but I would bet he misses at least two games based on his past injury history. Suddenly , we are down to Elam , who may be better this year but still hasn’t earned a starting spot. Again , my point is in the ultimate team sport , our cumulative experience level keeps dripping or at least never rises to the level it had been at for years , and we have never made it to the SB, EVEN with our #2 ranked offense. Defense matters more in the.playoffs; it always has and it’s why usually the better defensive team wins SB’s. I learned that at a dinner before SB 27 in Pasadena , where Hank Stram ( previous KC sb winning coach famous for stating on NFL FILMS, keep matriculating the ball down the field , Lenny) He was a real interesting speaker but he won me over that year by predicting the upstart cowboys would dominate the bills in SB 27 based on a formula he developed that was heavy on defensive stats. Before the game I thought the game might have bypassed him , but nope , he was confident in predicting the bills would lose by more than two tds and he turned out to be right , much to my dismay! True story! So we have only touched on some of the legit concerns. . My point tho is offense can be good and win reg season games games , yet ours has many times failed to ne consistent. We have always had periods of the offense stalling , esp in the third quarter. Other than the year of the perfect game against the pats, ending with 13 seconds ( the one year I was really positive we were playing the best and peaking at the right time and we would win the SB , but then mcd took over!)., our O has commonly underperformed in the playoffs compared to their reg season success. Heck , last year we beat a bad Steelers team before our offense failed at home, needing a td ( rather than missed fg attempt) to beat KC and how did that work OUT ? So I don’t buy the statements that I don’t worry about the d, the offense will just win the games. We’ve had good reg season o, but still not even a SB appearance. Hard to win with just one functional unit playing well. I don’t even want to get into the issues with the offense. Almost a whole new receiving crew , and Knox being hurt already, and it takes time to develop timing and for the oc to know players talents enough to be creative designing plays. I trust josh but chemistry takes time , and injuries ( claypool) along with poor performance ( MVS , COOK STILL dropping passes) means this might be several games for that o to be efficient and effective. No guarantees there.! But Josh is great so they could be a surprise but I won’t believe it until I see some results and consistency with this group of wr’s. Back to the D. All these changes have to have some effect. I guess I could be wrong , but the BILLS cherished that stability and they didn’t just give out starting spots. I think we can all agree McD expects players to earn playing time, so guys are NOT starters for some performance reason. So lots of stuff going on in the back 7 , and now we also have a new defensive play caller / coordinator. It’s.a new challenge in Bobbie’s first year calling plays. Hey, even FRASIER had his play calling yanked at times so it’s just one more variable. Our DL has been consistently bad at finishing off sacks , especially against KC. WILL VON be an effective sack artist again? Epenesa has been progressing, but he’s another guy who can’t stay healthy. Groot is good , certainly not a premier pash rusher. We need more from him than just being good against the run. We have so many legitimate questions , I think is just looking thru rose colored glasses to think losing ANOTHER EXPERIENCED PRO BOWL PLAYER in not a big deal. The talent and experience considered as a WORKING UNIT that depends on effective communication to be a top unit has to be less effective with less experienced decision making on the field. That just seems like common sense. Just because we won prior games without him is irrelevant because we did not have all those other changes and losses all at one time in prior years and we mostly had healthy guys who were experienced playing together. Your point is the most important ; it’s another blow to depth and its unlikely we don’t experience more injures during the season. Pretty soon we are calling AJ BACK because there is a limitation to who you can plug in. Williams may have a bright future but it’s naive to think he could create the plays a healthy Milano did on his way to some calling him one of the best lbs in football. I get wanting to think that Josh is so good , he’ll turn new receivers into a scoring machine , but it’s a big ask against a tough schedule and I’m sorry , they have to prove they can be an effective o to me now. I guess it’s ok to say Milanos injury is not a big concern because he’s just a WLB, and that position isn’t important. Well, I saw him take over games at times , and no one I ever talked too thought Edmund’s was a better player than Milano. Saying Milanos injury means very little , everything is still the same , is just wishful thinking and it refuses to look at the loss of more experience without regard to context of where THIS TEAM IS NOW AT THIS POINT IN TIME ! If mcd can pull this off with a 11-12 win season, he could be a candidate for coach of the year! I wish we could look as Milanos injury as an isolated issue , but Bernard has said how important Matt was in helping see the d , and Milano has still seen more than Bernard and that can make a difference in getting off the field earlier on a couple of series. That spills over to getting Josh more possessions. He is an elite playmaker and even if we lost with him on the field , who knows if that loss was because of offensive turnovers , offensive periods of stalling out, and frankly many times watching the o play without urgency esp facing lower talent opponents. We can agree to disagree , but I think it’s akin to the straw that broke the camels back ,,,,,,it’ MIGHT BE too much loss of talent and experience to amount to a null effect. I wish he was there to help stabilize this d.

The Edmunds comparison continues to grow.

This. I love this balanced assessment. I was not a big fan of Edmunds, but I found myself defending him in casual conversations because, despite his lack of big plays here, he did cause headaches for QBs because of his length and speed. 100% I will take Bernard over him, especially since I expect Bernard to improve and I agree with your statement that the best QBs were less impacted by Edmunds.

Let me just comment on your desire for drafting a second WR in the later rounds, because that seems to be a criticism many have made. I would argue we already had done that on the current roster. We have Shorter from last year who never got a real chance due to injury. We have Hamler who could be a 4th guy if he can get past injury. Hollins and Isabella. We have a number of guys already in the roster who fit the third round level pick. The Bills have the luxury that we as fans don’t have in that they can watch a guy like Shorter in practice, the film and weight rooms, etc. I think that’s what Beane meant when he said they were OK with the WR room. I’m reminded this time last year when Edmunds had left and there was panic in the Mafia. Beane said that they felt they were OK with what they had, and he was right. Bernard stepped in and had a great year. I suspect that the 4th WR is sitting on the roster right now. Not that I would argue with getting someone like a Sutton or OBJ once Tre’s cap stuff comes off the books. But I’ve grown to believe Beane when he says stuff, and he’s said not to expect a trade anytime soon.

I couldn't read the aricle becasue of the paywall, but that premise is correct IMO. The more swings you get in the draft, the better chances you have of getting a hit. Early rounds (1-3) render better athletes, so it obvously makes a difference where your picks lie. While I generally like Beane, I hate his draft philosophy of moving up to get "his guy." It costs us swings at the bat to get young cheap talent. Here are the early trade ups. QB you have to move up for, but the rest are very debatable how well we did. In 2018 he moved up for a QB, which worked out because the Bills were lucky nobody selected Allen before us. Edmunds cost us a 3rd (we got back a 5th). 2019 sent a 5th for Cody Ford. Gave up 2 4th rounders for Knox. 2020 trade for Diggs, sent a 1st, 5th, 6th, and a 2021 4th. Got a 7th back 2021 no trade up. 2022 Elam cost a 4th 2023 Kincaid cost a 4th.

Only three years older than Tremaine Edmunds.

Roger I don't remember, was there that much support for Rosen over Allen? As to Coleman, maybe I'm off, but the majority angle here anyway appears to be positive? No? Exactly! But as to the scouting departments, consider how many times they're off. So no, I don't necessarily trust them anymore than I trust anyone else. My track record, the public one, is better than theirs on the top picks anyway. It's largely because I don't care if I'm wrong on a few, I call it as I see it. I'm not trying to keep a job doing that and therefore hiding behind the prevailing analyses. Here's the thing, when reviewing players, I far too often see the end results of assessments/analyses highlighting only the highlights, which again, are often against competition that's not typically found in the NFL, or situations that aren't. Point being, it's our professional "expert" scouting staff(s) that produced the likes of players in rounds 1 & 2 like Rousseau, Basham, Ford, Zay Jones, Lawson, Darby, Ragland, Watkins, Kouandjio, Spiller, Troupe, Hardy, and others. I offered my diametric dissension on a bunch of those, at least insofar as being drafted in rounds 1 or 2 went, and particularly players like Watkins and Jones (and now Coleman by similar standards), and Hardy from years prior. Sure I've been off, but not as much as the professionals. So I'm quite comfortable with my methodologies and I'd be happy to put 'em up against anyone in the business, at least for the handful of picks that I do look at. I make my mistakes, just not as frequently. I was big on Edmunds, but so were they, obviously. But you're right, none of it matters, and I didn't say the above as a LAM, just to say that I trust my own anaylses more than I trust those of others, again, for the picks that I actually spend time on. In fairness, media guys don't have that kind of time to analyze a couple hundred players like that, but entire scouting departments should have all the time in the world, particularly for the players that they're heavily interested in. So no excuses at all there. And they travel to games too.