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

[sven233]

There is a lot of truth in what he's saying.  I have had many of the same criticisms, especially about Beane's early drafting.  I truly believe they could have drafted Worthy or McConkey early in the draft and still gotten Coleman in the 3rd or even 4th round.  I don't think teams were going to be banging on his door ready to draft a slow, young, and overall inexperienced WR in the 2nd round aside from us.

 

The early rounds need to be about drafting physical freaks that can play.  Draft players with production that have elite athletic traits.  We haven't been doing that.

[uticaclub]

Did he reference TheStadiumWall? He is expressing what many of us are saying. Nothing groundbreaking.

[Low Positive]

Let's fire everyone and rehire the drought-era guys. They really seem to know what they are doing. 

[QCity]

I agree with him.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

I do think people (me included) are a little unfair to Beane. He has hit on a lot of great draft picks, including early round ones. We just tend to dwell on the not-so-good picks.

 

Allen, Tre, Edmunds, Dion, Oliver, Rousseau, AJE. All first and second round picks who I think panned out very well. 

[Shaw66]

20 minutes 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.

 

-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?"

 

-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. 

 

-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.) 

 

-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." 

 

-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." 

 

-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." 

 

-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."

 

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

I didn't listen to the podcast, but I think these are pretty fair criticisms.  Drafting late in the first round, it's tough to get a real difference maker, but Beane has had very little success.  Rousseau is the best of the lot, and even he has underperformed. Kincaid hasn't really shone.  And I think the critique of the Coleman pick is right, too.  First round is when you're looking to find someone special.  I think even Oliver is that kind of guy - very talented guy, but a guy who's talents just make him very good at a lot of things, instead of really special at something.  

 

Part of the problem is, I think, that McDermott wants these all-purpose kind of guys.  He likes them because they come with the attitude he wants - "put me in coach; I'll do whatever you want."  I find I keep thinking about Jerry Hughes, and thinking that that's the kind of guy the Bills should be getting in the first round: a guy with some special skills who has to be reined in a bit to play within the system.  That kind of guy will play the position you want, but will make a big play for you once in a while, too.  

 

The best big-play guy they have on the defense is Milano, and his big play ability is almost an accident.  He didn't come out of college with people saying he was going to make the kind of splash he did.  

 

Comments about Garrett are interesting.  Yes, go after him, but that's the easy way out.  The plan that McBeane have been pursuing is to build through the draft, and just keep getting better that way.  Build through the draft, fill holes with free agents. Beane tried to fill the edge hole with Miller, and it's a bit of a cop out to fill it now with Garrett.  Still, Garrett would transform the defense by allowing the Bills to take advantage of Rousseau's versatility and not need him to be the primary edge rusher. 

[KOKBILLS]

He's not wrong about a lot of that... Especially the early round Drafting. Let's not forget Beane traded up for Kincaid, Elam, and the one I'll never forgive him for...Cody Ford with DK Metcalf still on the board... 

Edited February 14 by KOKBILLS

[beebe]

9 minutes ago, JGMcD2 said:

Umm, yeah this isn’t true. Double check wherever you’re getting your information from. 

 

Yup, and Marty was with the Chiefs for 10 years. 

[uticaclub]

2 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I do think people (me included) are a little unfair to Beane. He has hit on a lot of great draft picks, including early round ones. We just tend to dwell on the not-so-good picks.

 

Allen, Tre, Edmunds, Dion, Oliver, Rousseau, AJE. All first and second round picks who I think panned out very well. 

Tre & Dion were picked before Beane was here.

 

Edmunds didn't get a second contract. Good not great. Considering where Oliver was drafted and the other DTs that came from that draft, thats a miss, & AJE isn’t very good.

[beebe]

5 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I do think people (me included) are a little unfair to Beane. He has hit on a lot of great draft picks, including early round ones. We just tend to dwell on the not-so-good picks.

 

Allen, Tre, Edmunds, Dion, Oliver, Rousseau, AJE. All first and second round picks who I think panned out very well. 

 

The Bills have predominantly picked at the end of rounds also which is always dismissed/overlooked. The Chiefs always get unanimous praise for their drafting (particularly the 2022 draft), but they've had some whiffs too. Clyde Edwards was a late 1st rounder. FAU the DE was a late 1st rounder. Skyy Moore 2nd round. Their left tackle from BYU (2nd round) looks like a bust. 

 

When you're picking #30-#32 every year, your first rounders are really early 2nd rounders and your second rounders are basically early 3rd rounders. Degree of difficulty much higher picking in the 1st round a guy that everyone else in the entire league passed on. 

[MrEpsYtown]

32 minutes ago, WNYFAN1 said:

Honestly, this all sounds just about right to me.

 

How much of the success of Beane/McDermott is just getting lucky with Allen?

 

All of it IMO

[Charles Romes]

15 minutes ago, Back2Buff said:

Pretty spot on.  I have been disappointed that there has been no change in the front office.   Going into this draft with the same group that drafted Elam, Kincaid, Coleman and Bishop in the first two rounds is just throwing away another draft.  

 
they made up for it with Basham and Ford though 

[GETTOTHE50]

I know Cole didn’t have the most fantastic rookie year, but to call him a linebacker is stupid. 
 

I think he should have a good year two and will become one of our favorite players on defense. 

[Captain Hindsight]

12 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:

I do think people (me included) are a little unfair to Beane. He has hit on a lot of great draft picks, including early round ones. We just tend to dwell on the not-so-good picks.

 

Allen, Tre, Edmunds, Dion, Oliver, Rousseau, AJE. All first and second round picks who I think panned out very well. 

Every team misses. I saw Clyde Edwards Heliere just got a contract with the saints. Remember him? Mecole Hardman was pretty underwhelming 

 

 

[Charles Romes]

I think they liked Coleman because of his basketball roots which mirrored those of Kincaid who’s body control and hands looked elite his rookie year. I can’t believe how Jaggy they both looked late in the year.  

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Criticism is fair. Elam, Kincaid, Coleman, Basham is bad.

Coleman’s ceiling is so low. 

[MJS]

21 minutes ago, Low Positive said:

Let's fire everyone and rehire the drought-era guys. They really seem to know what they are doing. 

That's what I'm saying. It is easy to criticize, but those guys are complete failures. Why do we care what they say? Especially since everything they said is common narrative.

[hondo in seattle]

27 minutes ago, Bob Chandler's Hands said:

So a guy who was part and parcel of the drought is critical of the 2nd most successful regime in the franchise's 60 year history. OK. 

 

I don't disagree with much that Monos says.  But I don't know how much I value the perspective of someone who recently served as Director of Player Personnel for the San Diego Fleet in the Alliance of American Football.  

 

It would be better to hear the thoughts of a personnel guy who served as an NFL GM and had some hardware.

  

[Low Positive]

Just now, MJS said:

That's what I'm saying. It is easy to criticize, but those guys are complete failures. Why do we care what they say? Especially since everything they said is common narrative.

The reason that we have to hear from these guys all the time is that Tyler Dunne's best friend in the whole world is Doug Whaley. The subtext of everything Dunne writes is that the Bills would be better off if his best bud was still GM. 

[jahnyc]

The stuff about Coleman seems spot on.  Certainly has been the case under Beane that we have not hit on a first round pick that is All Pro level other than Allen.  I get it that we have been drafting very late first round, but we need to do better.