GM Power Rankings -- Where is Beane?

[BisonMan]

As Bills' fans, I think we grade our GMs on a "Billsy Curve". Given the history, if our GM can walk and chew gum, he's a Top 10 GM!

 

It's pretty obvious that a GM has to manage the Cap well, but teams with aging stars tend to overpay for a final run (potentially to save their jobs). So, I give Bean credit for having the smarts to take the bullet early in his tenure and the luck to have an owner and coach who are on the same page. That seems a bit rare today.

 

I think Bean's actual player moves can be questioned but he has a pattern. He drafts high-potential players at the top of the draft (Allen, Edmunds, Oliver) and over-achievers in later rounds (Singletary, Milano, Knox). I like that strategy. I don't think he's ever shot for a top player in FA or in a trade, with the exception of Diggs (and maybe Morse?). Diggs breaks the pattern because, I think in his mind, the Bills are really close to making a run. Other FAs have been relatively solid "fit" players for holes in the team who he's expecting to backfill with draft picks.

 

So, I think Top-15 is about right for him.

[Rc2catch]

I don’t take much stock into these kinds of lists, most people outside of Bills fans can barely name 3 players on our team. We are not filled with national star power and big named players nor are we a large market. Could easily argue Beane has built a better roster than a lot of those guys in the top 10. 
Of course listening to some of our posters Beane has been questionable at best and a lot of that is because he doesn’t chase every big “name” some of these posters know.  He has built this team for the long haul and the X factor is Allen. As long as he continues to get better the team is in amazing shape long term. Can’t ask for much more from a GM 

[MiltonWaddams]

14 hours ago, Straight Hucklebuck said:

Chris Ballard gets a lot of run, has he earned that, or is that carry over from the Chiefs?

He has done an exceptional job in Indy. Overcoming the loss of Luck to look like AFC title challengers a year later should not be overlooked. Strong drafting ( no 1st rounders last year, but solid draft and from 2018  Quenton Nelson and Darius Leonard are stars) and picking up Buckner this year with the addition of Rivers has set them up really well....on paper at least. He did, however, luck out with Reich instead of the shmuck in NE.

[billsfan89]

You could argue top 5, but I would say definitely top 10. I would easily put Billy B, Howie Rosman and KC's duo, and Colbert from Pittsburgh for sure ahead of him. All 4 regims have been very successful for a long time and have their teams consistently in a position for success.

 

I would then say Loomis from NOLA and Schenider from Seattle are both better but arguable. Beane at worst is 7, I can't see putting Lynch, Atlanta's GM, or the Titans Gm ahead of Beane.

[SoTier]

I think 11-15 is fair for Beane. 

 

He was hired after the 2017 draft, so he can't be credited with White, Dawkins, and Milano but he also can't be penalized for trading up for Zay Jones.  His 2018 draft will be judged by Josh Allen's success or failure, but Edmunds improved significantly in his sophomore year.  Phillips also looks like a keeper from Beane's first draft.  Oliver and Singletary from 2019 seem likely to make outstanding pros.  Maybe Ford and Knox, too, but it's too early to really judge the 2019 class.

 

Beane's moves with veterans is much less impressive, especially in 2017 and 2018. I'm willing to give him a mulligan for those two seasons because I think he didn't have full control of the roster until after Russ Brandon was fired.  I think his role under Brandon was much like Doug Whaley's -- operating under severe budgetary limits and subservient to McDermott.  I think 2019 showed him to be a very promising GM, not just with player personnel but also coaching and maybe scouting personnel also.  The Bills replaced most of the offensive coaching staff, which many people don't remember.  I think that maybe he upgraded scouting, too, as the 2019 veterans who were brought in tended to be significantly more productive than any of the vets that Beane had brought in previously.   I think the trade for Diggs this year gives the Bills offense a much bigger shot in the arm than they were likely to get in 2020 from any rookie WR they could have drafted.

 

Beane still needs to build a team with a good enough offense to win in the playoffs, which the 2020 team might be.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

23 hours ago, GreggTX said:

They put him at 12 which was very generous because none of his round 1 or 2 picks have lived up to their draft position yet. At least we got an elite player by trading away our 1st rounder this year. His FA signees have been mixed -- Some OK, some bad signings. I'm deeply disappointed with this year's crop of FA's, especially considering how much money we had to spend. I'm worried that we may face another irrelevant December with the playoffs out of reach given the schedule and lack of improvement during FA.

 

Lol what? You must be fun at parties.

[Over 29 years of fanhood]

I like how high the poll has him top notch, but If the team plateaued last year no one would be happy. 
 

I think he will be, but he hasn’t proven it yet. 

[Blokestradamus]

Honestly, after seeing this, I just wanna know where Gettleman is.

 

 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

1 hour ago, SoTier said:

I think 11-15 is fair for Beane. 

 

He was hired after the 2017 draft, so he can't be credited with White, Dawkins, and Milano but he also can't be penalized for trading up for Zay Jones.  His 2018 draft will be judged by Josh Allen's success or failure, but Edmunds improved significantly in his sophomore year.  Phillips also looks like a keeper from Beane's first draft.  Oliver and Singletary from 2019 seem likely to make outstanding pros.  Maybe Ford and Knox, too, but it's too early to really judge the 2019 class.

 

Beane's moves with veterans is much less impressive, especially in 2017 and 2018. I'm willing to give him a mulligan for those two seasons because I think he didn't have full control of the roster until after Russ Brandon was fired.  I think his role under Brandon was much like Doug Whaley's -- operating under severe budgetary limits and subservient to McDermott.  I think 2019 showed him to be a very promising GM, not just with player personnel but also coaching and maybe scouting personnel also.  The Bills replaced most of the offensive coaching staff, which many people don't remember.  I think that maybe he upgraded scouting, too, as the 2019 veterans who were brought in tended to be significantly more productive than any of the vets that Beane had brought in previously.   I think the trade for Diggs this year gives the Bills offense a much bigger shot in the arm than they were likely to get in 2020 from any rookie WR they could have drafted.

 

Beane still needs to build a team with a good enough offense to win in the playoffs, which the 2020 team might be.

There have been some weird missteps with McDermott and Beane. 2017 clearly was more McDermott influence on the roster because Beane wasn’t there until after the draft.

 

The insistence on Nate Peterman, the parade of ex-Panthers: Joe Webb, Mike Tolbert, K Clay, Star L, trading for Benjamin, a love for old running backs that play too much in Ivory and Gore, more QB decisions where you have to ask yourself why - McCarron and talking 35+ year old Derek Anderson out of retirement, and the Darby trade for Jordan Matthews was unnecessary and then cutting Jeremy Kerley, signing Tyrelle Pryor and then cutting him, not sure why Lee Smith continues to hang around either, Trent Murphy has been a FA bust for the money he is making.

 

But ultimately they have been proven right on Watkins and Dareus, and Ragland. And the money saved by those moves made the 2019 focus on offensive line a success, both Brown and Beasley fit in, Jordan Phillips off the scrap heap was gold, and making the decision to cut McCoy. They also work magic with the secondary.

 

They still have an incredibly weak backup behind Allen, and Gore showed they still want a power element with past their prime running backs, going after Greg Olsen was concerning because it was another broken down ex-Panther, but they redeemed that and more with the Diggs trade. 

So it seems they’ve largely figured out improvement formula around Allen by investing in the OL, getting some youth in the backfield, obtaining in their prime WRs, and pushing fringe NFLers off the roster in place of more talent.
 

I’m not sure what Beane saw in Tyler Kroft. Their biggest blind spot seems to be past their prime veterans, and the Coaching staff plays them entirely too much. And that has McDermott written all over it.

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Straight Hucklebuck

[Buddo]

Trending upwards, but realistically, not enough information to work with so far.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like Beane, a lot, but mistakes have been made.

 

Thankfully, and on a positive note, many of them have been acknowledged, and I believe, lessons learned.

 

I don't think he can be fairly judged yet, in part because he hasn't had to get guys re-signed much. He's now having to do that.

 

Being a GM is so much more than simply drafting, and there are areas where he hasn't had to do much so far. He's not actually picked a HC, as an example, nor has he re-signed his own draft picks (yet).

 

While he's certainly cleared a lot of old cap off the books, how he manages it going forward, is something else to be determined.

 

I do like an awful lot of what he has done the last couple of years, whether it be drafting, FA or his staff,  but he has to maintain that.