Brandon Beane’s Tenure by Letter Grade—Poll is Up!

[Einstein's Dog]

31 minutes ago, Billl said:

You’re not wrong, but what does it mean in terms of evaluating his decision as a GM?  Let’s assume that there was a pool of players Beane had graded identically.  He then traded back 4 spots and allowed KC, SF, Dallas, and Baltimore to pick from that pool first. 
 

Those are some of the best front offices in the business, and KC clearly had a strong opinion that one of those players stood out amongst the rest. Settling for whomever those teams didn’t want doesn’t seem like the best way to get the top player from that pool. 

My original point to BFF19 above was to rebut his T Franklin is not good because teams passed on him, teams passed on K Coleman too.

 

To your point, Beane clearly had a tier that was grouped similarly.  He couldn't have known who everyone was taking, and trades could swoop in on teams over us.  Beane was willing to take that chance.

 

Beane in that Dunne article said something to the affect that K Coleman was young and needed to be molded like clay.  Not something you would say about someone you would want to plug and play for Diggs.

 

One of the tradebacks was to drop out of the first round.  Carolina seems to have wanted to get Legette in the first for the 5th year option.  Doesn't seem the same level of interest out of Beane for Coleman.

[BillsFanForever19]

13 hours ago, Billl said:

You’re not wrong, but what does it mean in terms of evaluating his decision as a GM?  Let’s assume that there was a pool of players Beane had graded identically.  He then traded back 4 spots and allowed KC, SF, Dallas, and Baltimore to pick from that pool first. 
 

Those are some of the best front offices in the business, and KC clearly had a strong opinion that one of those players stood out amongst the rest. Settling for whomever those teams didn’t want doesn’t seem like the best way to get the top player from that pool. 

 

I don't understand how it's settling if he ranked them evenly. If he ranked them evenly, that means he could move down, still get a guy he ranked just as high as the guy he'd take at 28, and pick up assets elsewhere.

 

He moved down 4 spots. He knew that not every team from 28-32 was picking a WR. Once he got to 32, he must have still had at least two guys evenly ranked and everyone knew they were going Legette. So he moved down just 1 more spot bc he preferred Coleman and knew he would still be there. We didn't have a 3rd. In the process of doing this, he was able to pick up Dewayne Carter, who he wouldn't have otherwise got. 

 

And the two WR's that went ahead of them between 28 and 32 were guys he wasn't interested in. With Dalton Kincaid, Curtis Samuel, and Khalil Shakir - we have the Inside and Inside/Outside Flex WR's more than covered. He was looking specifically at Big True X's. He said as much. That's where the holes were. Xavier Worthy and Ricky Pearsall may be great, but they weren't what he was looking for.

 

He was able to get what he was looking for and pick up better players later at other positions at the same time. Evaluation wise, right now, that's a smart move. Will it look bad if Xavier Legette blows up and Keon Coleman falls on his face? Sure. But Worthy and Pearsall weren't the type of WR we were looking for anyways.

Edited June 19 by BillsFanForever19

[GunnerBill]

13 hours ago, Dopey said:

 

I never understood the love for Lynch. IMO, Lynch does not deserve a higher ranking than Beane. The ONLY reason they are super bowl contenders is they are paying Mr. Irrelevant less than $1 million per season, on average. He can go and sign big name free agents because of this. Why does he get a pass on the Trey Lance debacle? He gave up a ton to draft Lance, only to trade him for peanuts. That alone would get most GM's fired. In his 1st ever draft with the niners, he picks someone named Soloman Thomas # 3 overall and then Reuben Foster later in the first round. He lucked out on Kittle in the 5th.  Subsequent drafts weren't anything to sing about. Beane has been better at the draft than Lynch. Not even close. Still SB contenders, without the advantage of have tons of $ for FA's due to Purdy's low cap value. They have not won the big one with all of that "talent" Lynch has acquired and he's going to have to pay Mr. Irrelevant some big $ coming up. If anyone watched Purdy play without his big-time players, you would know he is a result of the immense talent around him. They went 0-3 and scored only 17 points in those games. He was horrible. Folks here claiming Beane got lucky to draft Allen, yet not acknowledging that Lynch was lucky as hell to have a 7th round QB, making less than $1 million on average, save him from the Trey Lance joke of a pick. Again, JMO. 

 

I take the point but he is a bit John Schneider like in that he has found some elite talent in later rounds. 

 

Kittle in the 5th

Warner in the 3rd

Samuel in the 2nd

Hufanga in the 5th

 

That is 9 all pro selections from guys picked outside the first round. And while I agree his first round record isn't much to write home about he does have Aiyuk and Nick Bosa. That is six elite players drafted and it is elite talent that wins. He has more misses than Beane, I agree, nobody finds contributors and guys that can play in this league at Beane's rate. But when valuing side by side I will always stack the guys who find elite talent ahead because it is elite talent that ultimately wins. 

11 hours ago, corta765 said:

 

I would add with that many people forget the 2017 draft class was Whaley/McD not Beane that gave Tre, Milano, & Taron. All three of them became true blue chip difference makers. Beane did get Allen, Edmunds, & Oliver and I do agree like you said the last two draft classes have brought a really nice group of young talent but he really needs a few to elevate to the levels the three from 2017 did.

 

Taron was Beane. He was 2018. 2017 was White, Dawkins and Milano. But agree that 2017 draft was a cornerstone draft and then they got Allen and Taron the next year. If every draft class was finding talent like those two did we'd have a Superbowl by now. But to an extent it is @BADOLBILZ's point. It is easier to draft well when everything is a need because you can genuinely let the board come to you.

[HOUSE]

The poll is up, the poll is up

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

1 hour ago, HOUSE said:

The poll is up, the poll is up

 

HOUSE votes with his wallet. 

[DapperCam]

If Beane didn’t draft Allen, he would be a head scout or AGM for some other team right now. He’s given some bad FA deals (not just talking about Von Miller), and has had mixed draft results.

 

However, either through luck or competence, he hit it out of the park with the most important position. So, for that he gets an A from me.

 

For comparison, the 49ers absolutely screwed up the QB position by drafting Lance, but the rest of their team was still stacked with talent (with a little Purdy luck sprinkled in there).

[BADOLBILZ]

7 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

 

Taron was Beane. He was 2018. 2017 was White, Dawkins and Milano. But agree that 2017 draft was a cornerstone draft and then they got Allen and Taron the next year. If every draft class was finding talent like those two did we'd have a Superbowl by now. But to an extent it is @BADOLBILZ's point. It is easier to draft well when everything is a need because you can genuinely let the board come to you.

 

 

Yeah I think it is such an under-rated topic.   Lot's of GM's come flying out of the blocks in the draft during re-sets.    Completing and then replenishing the roster with difference makers is a very different matter.   It's easy to fall into trying to stay competitive by filling-in around your stars.   The 1990's Bills were a prime example of some GM's who were using the "can't go broke making a profit" mantra in the draft.   Most years they'd pick some high floor/low ceiling or lower value position in round 1.    RB's and DB's were that kind of low hanging fruit.   For most of their history half or more of their 1st round picks had come from those two position groups.

[freddyjj]

On 6/18/2024 at 4:50 PM, Einstein's Dog said:

One of the tradebacks was to drop out of the first round.  Carolina seems to have wanted to get Legette in the first for the 5th year option.  Doesn't seem the same level of interest out of Beane for Coleman

Likely two things at work here. Dan Morgan and Beane are close given long term relationship. Plus the fact that Legette will be turning 24 during this season made getting an extra year on his deal more critical for Panthers.  Legette is 3.5 years older than Coleman so Beane may not have felt the urgency for 5th year that Morgan did.  

[Rampant Buffalo]

On 6/13/2024 at 7:21 AM, GunnerBill said:

 

Hmm interesting thought exercise. Here is my take:

 

Position	Draft	FA + Trades	Notes
Quarterback	A	C+	Josh obvious stud. Think he has done a reasonably well with the vet backups he has landed in recent FA rounds
Running Back	B	D	Singletary and Cook have been good starters from day 2 of the draft. However, a third day two pick at the position (Moss) washed out. And if you are investing day 1 or 2 capital at a low value position like RB they have to hit. FA role players have generally been no more than JAGS.
O Line	C	B-	Miss on his highest drafted OL (Ford) who he traded up for hurts. Brown seems to have turned it around and Cybo was a decent rookie. Mixed bag in FA but more good (Williams, Morse, McGovern, Spain - for a bit) than bad though Saffold was an obvious mistake that could have been avoided IMO.
Tight End	B+	E	Dawson Knox is a good all around tight end who was one of the most productive redzone tight ends in football in 2021 and 2022, Kincaid had a top 10 all time rookie tight end season. His biggest FA shot was Tyler Kroft back in 2019 and he majorly underperfomed his contract.
Wide Receiver	C	A-	Hard to score the draft. He has underprioritised the position there, but two of his day 3 shots - Gabe and Khalil developed into NFL starting receivers so you have to factor that in. Diggs alone makes the pro personnel grade an A (Brown, Beasley and Sanders factor in too) but I've nicked a half point back for the Kelvin Benjamin trade and some of the second tier FAs.
D Line	C+	D+	Mixed bag in the draft. Oliver a stud. Groot a good starter. AJE developed into a good rotational rusher years 3 and 4 but probably still underperformed his round 2 status. Boogie miss hurts and no elite talent despite the investment. From FA its mainly misses (and some big $$ ones) Floyd and Jones apart.
Linebacker	B	N/A	Bernard hitting last year helps this grade. Edmunds while he never quite justified his pick, was a 5 year starter. They have barely used FA at the spot beyond STers. Even their backups - Dodson, Spector etc have been draftees or UDFAs.
Corner	C-	C+	Had some success finding starting calibre players with late round picks / UDFAs - Wallace, Jackson and Benford etc - but looks like a big miss on his one premium pick at the spot (and a confusing process given the obvious scheme question). Douglas a good trade, Vontae less said the better.
Safety	N/A	D	Bishop is the first pick before round 6 spent at the position. So that's a TBC. Hyde and Poyer were not Beane pickups. I'm not as in love with Rapp as some and they gave up a pick two years ago to bring Marlow (a total JAG) back and then barely used him.

 

 

Very solid list, and I'm a bit envious of your ability to create a table that's usable in this forum. I'm not as high on the Diggs trade as you. The Bills used a first round pick on Diggs and got four years out of him. But in two of those years, he disappeared later in the season and in the postseason. Also with the big new contract they gave him, he became a large consumer of the salary cap. Those negatives are partially offset by the 2nd round pick they received when they traded him away. 

 

I'm a bit more optimistic on Kincaid than you appear to be. Earlier in the year he was under-utilized. There were also times when Kincaid inexplicably lost snaps due to Knox. Those things being said, I was very happy with the job he did of getting open, and very happy with how well he caught the football whenever it came his way. You can't ask for much more than that, from a receiving TE.

 

As a first round draft pick, I regard Edmunds as a major disappointment. But I'm very happy with Bernard.

[Dopey]

On 6/19/2024 at 11:07 AM, DapperCam said:

If Beane didn’t draft Allen, he would be a head scout or AGM for some other team right now. He’s given some bad FA deals (not just talking about Von Miller), and has had mixed draft results.

 

However, either through luck or competence, he hit it out of the park with the most important position. So, for that he gets an A from me.

 

For comparison, the 49ers absolutely screwed up the QB position by drafting Lance, but the rest of their team was still stacked with talent (with a little Purdy luck sprinkled in there).

Only because they are paying Purdy around $1 million per year. It's easy to add/pay for a bunch of expensive toys in this scenario. If they don't win a SB this year, they are screwed. Purdy will get a huge contract after this season. They will have to get rid of some important pieces of their roster.

[T master]

Haters are going to hate ! No matter how good the team does they will blame both Beane & McD even if they do win a SB they will complain about something !! 

 

It's Bills Mafia it just goes with the territory right ??

[RoscoeParrish]

19 hours ago, Dopey said:

Only because they are paying Purdy around $1 million per year. It's easy to add/pay for a bunch of expensive toys in this scenario. If they don't win a SB this year, they are screwed. Purdy will get a huge contract after this season. They will have to get rid of some important pieces of their roster.

Most of the difference makers acquired in SF was when they had Jimmy G making $27.5M a year, FWIW.

 

Purdy helps now no doubt, but they have drafted extremely well, even when they were picking late.

[DCofNC]

Don’t ya think there is something of a giant gap between “consistently has team in position to win Superbowl”  and “not a top 10 GM”?  For the fact that you are making it a zero ground proposition, I can only assume you want self assurance of your position and this poll is worthless at best.

[Chaos]

All time great decision on Josh Allen.  That was such a good decision, it is actually quite hard to evaluate the collection of the rest of his decisions.  I think if you put a mid tier QB on his rosters, they struggle to make the playoffs, let alone compete for Super Bowls.  

[Don Otreply]

I call it a B / B+ imo Beane, outside of Allen hasn’t hit / drafted/ acquired a true top shelf game changer WR, (Diggs was never that guy, yes hindsight) and he took to long to get an above average O-line in place, 

 

did I come across as a whiny first world entitled fan with this critique, asking for my mom 

 

 

 

🤣

[Punching Bag]

2 hours ago, T master said:

Haters are going to hate ! No matter how good the team does they will blame both Beane & McD even if they do win a SB they will complain about something !! 

 

It's Bills Mafia it just goes with the territory right ??

 

If it was truly a Bills Mafia they would drop them in Niagara river with cement overshoes.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

It's an A with an asterisk.

He got a HOF QB. For that alone he gets an A. He's nothing special after that. He's hit a few nice late round picks but missed badly on day 2 repeatedly. 

Without Allen he would have been gone 2 years ago. 

[C.Biscuit97]

As someone who lost their mind over picking a 56% passer who didn’t make 1st or 2nd team Mountain West, the Allen pick alone gets him an A for life. Having an elite qb gives you a chance every year. 
 

early on without the Allen contract, I would say he’s an easy A-/ B+. The last free years I’d say it’s been more C (Vs get degrees!). His job is much harder now but overall, he’s done a really good job.

 

i mean this as positively as possible but he is Whaley if he hit on a qb.