Jim Monos w/ critical comments on Bills front office, coaching, roster moves

[FireChans]

5 minutes ago, Old Coot said:

Does Tom Brady become who he is without Belichick?

 

One could say the relationship was synergistic and both became better for it.

Didn’t Tom go and win in Tampa immediately?

 

Are we still doing this?

 

BB is a great coach. Probably the GOAT. He had a great record with Brady and Brady left and won more SB’s and the wheels fell off in New England.

 

QB’s matter more than coaches. They always have.

 

[GunnerBill]

36 minutes ago, finn said:

The only nugget I found interesting was their speculation that Beane might be making the calls in the early rounds and his scouts (experts) in the later rounds, which would explain the results we've seen. That, together with their observation that Beane is a management guy with no background in scouting made all the pieces fall into place for me. You see the same thing happen on other teams with the owners or head coaches shouldering in and choosing the first-round players, usually with disastrous results. 

 

If this is the case, Beane needs to check his ego at the door on draft day. 

 

That is standard practice around the league

 Day 3 is the scouts day. If you think Brandon Beane is an expert on all the guys they pick day 3 that is just not how it works. Days 1 and 2 are the execs. Day 3 is known as "the working man's day" and it is when you find out how good your road scouts are.

[wppete]

Does Beane/McDermott have this job if Josh Allen was drafted by the Browns or Jets that passed on him? I think  Beane and McDermott would be gone if they didn’t luck out having Josh drop to #7. 

[HappyDays]

2 hours ago, MikePJ76 said:

He played in 4 more games but was not as effective because of the injury although he had a pretty good game in week 17 at New England.

 

No he was on the inactive list quite a bit. After first coming off IR they gave him like 2 games but he was terrible so the rest of the year he was mostly inactive including against KC if I'm remembering correctly.

 

But I won't jump to conclusions about this draft class yet. The 2022 draft class that looks so good now looked terrible after year one. Elam lost his job to a 6th rounder in Benford who looked decent but nothing special back then, Cook was stuck as RB2, Bernard barely saw the field and when he did he looked terrible, Shakir couldn't carve out a role.

 

2023 is not looking good, admittedly it was known to be a poor class but still. A 1st and a 4th used on Kincaid looks like very poor value right now, Torrence has been decent but iffy, Williams has been decent but iffy, none of the later round picks did anything.

 

Beane's recent draft legacy will depend on how last year's draft picks develop. It is just alarming how he's drafted exactly ZERO difference makers except for the very first pick he ever made. Spencer Brown is as close as he's gotten to finding an elite player with an original draft pick. Way too many singles or strike outs.

[JoeF]

39 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

He’s allowed to criticize. He’s a fan just like us.

He's depicted as an expert in the article/interview - he's not a ***** expert -- his track record was ***** horrible.  He's got a burr up his ass because Beane and McDermott have shown you can win in Buffalo - something he and Whaley attempted and failed pretty miserably.  He needs to STFU.

 

I agree that the first and second rounds have not been contributing productive players but Tre White, Dion (2017) (consider this McDermott's draft not Whaley's); Ed Oliver (2019); James Cook (2022); Torrence (2023) all have all-pro talent.  That's not bad but its not difference maker good.  They have missed on the D-Line with heavy investment.  On the O-Line they have a much better track record.  Its a balance.  

 

What I disagree with is Monos being the mouthpiece when his track record was horrible...and I mean horrible.  Its like Mitch Trubisky being critcal of Josh Allen's game.

Edited February 14 by JoeF

[Saint Doug]

Jim Monos can be coach GMs like the best of us, but there’s a reason he is now an “analyst”. That said, he said many things everyone has already been saying out loud. Their selections in the 1st and 2nd, where you have a better chance of landing an elite player, are lacking. Most are reaches based on need (“the last player we had a 1st round grade on”). They need to do better. And McD is who McD is. We need to accept this. I wouldn’t pay a RB $15M who can barely get over 1,000 yards either. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

1 minute ago, wppete said:

Does Beane/McDermott have this job if Josh Allen was drafted by the Browns or Jets that passed on him? I think  Beane and McDermott would be gone if they didn’t luck out having Josh drop to #7. 

If the guys responsible for drafting Josh Allen didn’t draft Josh Allen…

 

😂

[GunnerBill]

5 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

No he was on the inactive list quite a bit. After first coming off IR they gave him like 2 games but he was terrible so the rest of the year he was mostly inactive including against KC if I'm remembering correctly.

 

But I won't jump to conclusions about this draft class yet. The 2022 draft class that looks so good now looked terrible after year one. Elam lost his job to a 6th rounder in Benford who looked decent but nothing special back then, Cook was stuck as RB2, Bernard barely saw the field and when he did he looked terrible, Shakir couldn't carve out a role.

 

2023 is not looking good, admittedly it was known to be a poor class but still. A 1st and a 4th used on Kincaid looks like very poor value right now, Torrence has been decent but iffy, Williams has been decent but iffy, none of the later round picks did anything.

 

Beane's recent draft legacy will depend on how last year's draft picks develop. It is just alarming how he's drafted exactly ZERO difference makers except for the very first pick he ever made. Spencer Brown is as close as he's gotten to finding an elite player with an original draft pick. Way too many singles or strike outs.

 

And the 2024 class just got ranked 30/32 on NFL.com

[SoonerBillsFan]

4 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

And the 2024 class just got ranked 30/32 on NFL.com

That's pathetic 

[Straight Hucklebuck]

1 hour ago, Aussie Joe said:

Thanks for your detailed thought out response …👍

 

Im not as high as you in these picks …. I would class these picks overall as below average …

 

Oliver was a Top 10 pick , and the other DTs that went later in the first round were better ….so you could say they missed here .. He is not a disaster by any means and is probably paid according to his abilities … he had a great 2023 …and for the first time this year …he showed up in the playoffs …. still …we need more as you say from what might be the only Top 10 guy they will have In the JA era ..

 

AJE - I really hate that they drafted him and made him drop weight …. Pick someone else if you gotta change the guy …rotational guy at Pick 54 ? Wouldn’t say it’s a win…

 

Rousseau .. yep the best guy on the list …. Didn’t make a murmur in the biggest game of the year though …no A grade from me …solid B+ though .. if they land a big name in the offseason … I think they chose not to pay him and let him go…

 

Elam-  not even worth commenting on 

 

Kincaid - the most disappointing guy on the team in 2024..in hindsight a luxury pick for Dorsey’s scheme …still too early to close the book …but needs a big improvement in 2025 

 

Coleman …. Not the pick I would have made… but I did see some potential before the injury ….he has got a long way to go though to justify the pick …

 

Well..that’s my opinion for what that’s worth ( exactly  nothing ) …. Hoping for better moving forward … 😎

 

 

So you’re in the D-D+ range instead of C but notionally you’re in the same direction. 
 

 

[Einstein's Dog]

3 minutes ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

If the guys responsible for drafting Josh Allen didn’t draft Josh Allen…

 

😂

The article doesn't give him credit for Josh.   And he pre-disses Beane's potential splash move of Garrett with "lazy GMing".

 

And the poster you responded to seems completely convinced that McD wouldn't/couldn't have drafted Lamar and then added D Henry.  Because anti-McBeaners only deal in the presumed failure.

[Pete]

10 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

And the 2024 class just got ranked 30/32 on NFL.com

Thats what you get when you select mediocrity players with your first 3 picks.  It used to be said a draft was a success if you drafted two solid starters. Beane strikes out again

[thewookie1]

While I don’t exactly disagree with much of what he said; I also can’t take anything a guy fired by McDermott and Dunne who hates McDermott says about this team. 

[Brand J]

I think Beane falls in love with a player and tries to move heaven and earth to get him - except that player never materializes into a blue-chip NFL All Pro (except Allen). You’d think he’d learn. He was infatuated with Cole Bishop in the 2nd last year and tried to trade up, but a legit free safety from a big time college program - Calen Bullock - ended up going to the Texans 18 picks later and solidified their secondary on the way to being named to the All Rookie team. Don’t trade up, Beane; aside from Josh, you suck at it. 

[Mark Vader]

4 hours ago, beebe said:

Monos was director of personnel for the Bills 2013-2017. Pretty good listen for those interested (this podcast is non paywall): https://www.golongtd.com/p/pod-state-of-the-buffalo-bills-with

 

-Monos criticizes Beane/McDermott for the 1st and 2nd round selections they've made. Says they've done much better in the mid-rounds but says the 1st and 2nd rounds are the GM and the coach picking, and they simply haven't been good enough there. He thinks Beane needs to defer to someone else if need be to make those picks if he must and says self reflection needed.

For the most part this has been true. I don't think all of these 1st & 2nd round picks have been "disasters" as some people on this board would have you believe, more like underwhelming. Having Beane defer to someone else is not a bad idea. The self reflection comment, is strange.

 

-Monos: "Brandon Beane was never a scout, he was a salary cap operations type. He knows how to organize. I'm not saying they shouldn't have their jobs...the goal is for sustained success...and that's what the Bills have...I think the Bills need to understand, who is the trusted talent evaluator in that building? Who is making these calls in the first and second round? Where are the big physical freaks?"

Is Monos complaining or observing. Not sure where he's going with this? As for "big physical freaks"; has he seen Josh Allen, or Dawson Knox, or Spencer Brown, or Greg Rousseau?

 

-Monos on Buffalo's potential interest in a Myles Garrett trade: "You should want Myles Garrett. Go get him. It might help you win the Super Bowl. But that's lazy GM'ing. That's a lazy GM in my opinion. That's an easy one. The hard GM's are finding those first round." There was a discussion about NFL teams likely trying to replicate Philly's defensive approach after the Super Bowl by loading up on DL. But he says it's not like teams don't already try to do that. Buffalo has tried. They've drafted D-Line, and they took a big swing via free agency for Von Miller hoping it'd put them over the top and it backfired. 

Again, I'm not sure what Monos is getting at. Does he think the Bills should go after Garrett or not?
Yes, they drafted D-Line and they signed Von Miller, which were good moves. It just didn't  turn out the way they hoped. Sometimes not everything goes according  to plan. It happens!

 

-Monos criticizes Beane/McDermott for bringing up the refs/officials before the Chiefs game and again afterward. He says it's loser talk. Dunne questions why they would even plant the seed of doubt in players' minds ahead of the game. Why let your players play the victim role? (Monos agreed.) 

Give me a break! The refs/officials situation is a reality. Monos is as blind as an official if he doesn't see that.

 

-Monos criticizes the Bills' poor safeties, calling Bishop "a linebacker."

 

-Monos doesn't seem high on the Coleman pick and returned to his talking point about Buffalo not getting enough true difference makers at the top of the draft. "Guys that run 4.2's, they don't exist later in the draft. Coleman types exist later in the draft. You can get big jumpball wideouts that can't run. That's what the fourth round is for." 

Yeah, I wasn't big on the Coleman pick either, but there wasn't much for us to choose from, and I don't think we could have traded up to get anyone better.

Who's to say that Coleman can't get better?

 

-Dunne noted that McDermott is entering his 9th year and only three coaches ever - Tom Landry, Hank Stram, Bill Cowher - have ever won Super Bowls that deep into their tenure with an organization. "Even Andy Reid had to leave Philly and draft Mahomes before he got his first ring." 

What is Dunne's point?

 

-Monos wonders if McDermott wrestles control of defensive play calling in playoff games. "I'd like to ask somebody on that staff if Sean does call any defenses in playoff games? I have a feeling there might be some...which is fine, that's your right to do whatever you want." 

I wonder the same thing at times. This is a good point.

 

-Dunne: "I think the GM understands everything should revolve around Josh Allen. I don't know if I can say the same about McDermott....he says complimentary things about him. When it comes to managing the game, what kind of game it's going to be, how the roster should be constructed, I'm not sure he sees it the same way as the GM. Gut feeling."

Difficult to say.

 

-Monos says he wouldn't pay Cook what he wants. 

Neither would I.

 

[JohnNord]

1 hour ago, folz said:

 

The only easy answer there is Elam. He has been a disappointment, obviously. "Bust"

 

And Epenesa and Coleman were both second round picks, not first round picks. But, as for them. A.J. is a really solid player (but yeah, I think we all hoped for more overall and definitely a quicker development). I still think Keon is going to be a very good player. People writing him off due to his injury is premature in my opinion. In the two games before the injury he had just had his first 100-yard game and followed it up with 70 yards and a TD. He was coming on and then got injured and was not quite himself/didn't really get fit back into the offense when he came back.

 

I also still think that Kincaid will be a very good player for us for a number of years, despite him not yet having the impact that some of us had hoped for (but will he ever be elite/top-5 TE in the league...yeah, I'm not as confident in that anymore, but it's still possible).

 

Oliver and Rousseau are kind of in a similar boat. Both very, very good players and at times flash elite play, but have not been able to sustain the elite play consistently. And of course, Ed was a high pick (#9 overall), so yeah, very good player, but not as impactful as you'd hope from a #9 pick.

 

So, as I said in my last post...I agree that we need more high-impact players early in the draft (as opposed to solid to very good players), but I also realize that it's harder to find those guys at picks 25-30 than it is from say 5-15. It would be interesting to see a selection of teams who have drafted in a similar range to ours to see if they had any better luck consistently with high-impact players in that range.

 

 

This is the problem… most of the players Beane drafted are solid but they just aren’t difference makers.   The strange thing is that aside from Elam and Boogie Basham, he really hasn’t busted on many draft picks and he’s been good in the lower rounds.  
 

But you need a few of those high-end guys on your team if you want to win a championship.   That’s enough incentive to really take a big swing for Garrett

[harmonkillebrew]

Can't say I disagree.

These guys would be toast without Josh

[JohnNord]

9 minutes ago, Pete said:

Thats what you get when you select mediocrity players with your first 3 picks.  It used to be said a draft was a success if you drafted two solid starters. Beane strikes out again

He’s entitled to his opinion like we all are.  But calling someone a “lazy GM” when you haven’t worked in the NFL for a near decade is certainly a choice.  

[FLFan]

Are we really going to take anything this failure has to say about anything seriously? What a joke.

[JoeF]

2 minutes ago, harmonkillebrew said:

Can't say I disagree.

These guys would be toast without Josh

 

Take any great QB off a team and they would be toast.  Josh was panned as a bad pick by a lot of pundits.  I talked with Zay Jones' dad on a plane ride to Buffalo during Josh's first year. He told me that Josh would never develop.  He would never be accurate.    This staff helped develop him (Daboll being key).  I give them credit for that.