Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - When Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane met with the media last week, he admitted he was still dealing with the emotion of the season coming to an end one game shy of the Super Bowl.
Despite another heartbreaking loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship Game, Beane also stressed there was no need to blow up the roster, and reiterated his faith in head coach Sean McDermott.
Beane was right on both of those counts.
Since 2019, the Beane/McDermott Bills have gone 71-28 in the regular season, which is a winning percentage of .717. They've made the playoffs in each of those six seasons. They've won the last five AFC East division titles, and have made two appearances in the AFC Championship Game in the last five years.
The Bills are 7-6 in the postseason in that stretch, but 0-4 against the Chiefs and 7-2 against all other teams.
The Bills' biggest problem, of course, has been the dynasty that is Kansas City. But Beane says that doesn't mean the Bills' offseason plan and roster moves will be designed specifically with the Chiefs in mind.
Beane says the front office always thinks about the competition in the AFC East first. Winning the division is your ticket to the postseason, and he's 100% correct.
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Not to bring back bad memories, but think about the New England Patriots' reign over the NFL when Tom Brady was under center. Those teams basically had a free pass to a division title every season thanks to ineptitude by the Bills, Miami Dolphins and New York Jets.
There were a number of questions that covered the Bills' inability to get over the hump.
I would like to point out the same thing was said for years about Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts. Manning didn't make it to the Super Bowl until his ninth season. He and the Colts came up short the first six times they earned a playoff spot. Manning had a 3-6 record in postseason games at that point, including a pair of losses to Brady and the Patriots.
Beane told the assembled media members that the Bills won't be big spenders in free agency. While the Bills aren't in as bad of shape with the salary cap as they were a year ago, they will still have to get creative to open up cap space.
The biggest decisions Beane might face this offseason is whether or not to hand out any contract extensions to key players who will be free agents after next season.
Beane was also asked about an extension for MVP quarterback Josh Allen. It would make sense on a couple of fronts.
Allen's cap number is just over $43 million for next season, and an extension would help bring that number down. Allen is also incredibly underpaid by present day NFL quarterback salaries, as his average annual salary (AAV) of $43 million is just 14th.
Quarterbacks with a higher AAV than Allen include Tua Tagovailoa, Kirk Cousins and Trevor Lawrence.
Winning his first MVP award will certainly increase Allen's value.
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Beane says there is no clarity right now when it comes to Von Miller's future with the Bills. I would honestly be surprised if Miller is back.
If the Bills release the future Hall-of-Famer, it would open up more than $8 million in badly-needed cap space. The only other option would be Miller taking a pay cut for the second-straight season.
The subject of cornerback Kaiir Elam also came up during Beane's end-of-season press conference.
The team’s first-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft struggled in the AFC Championship Game when he replaced an injured Christian Benford.
Elam has not lived up to his draft status. When asked why Elam had a handful of games when he was inactive, the Bills general manager cited special teams hurting Elam’s chances of dressing, since he doesn’t really play on those units.
The fact that a first-round pick, who has been in the NFL for three years, would only dress if he contributed more on special teams seems to be enough to indicate the Bills should cut their losses this offseason.
I think one of the priorities for Beane should be to do whatever he can to add a game-changing player to the defense.
When that question came up in the press conference, Beane pointed out that its hard to land that kind of player when you draft as low as the Bills do, and it would cost a fortune to sign that player in free agency. Beane needs to do everything in his power to work on a trade for a beast up front.
Myles Garrett wants out with the Cleveland Browns, and Trey Hendrickson is going into the final year of his contract with the Cincinnati Bengals. Why not see if the Bengals aren’t planning on giving Hendrickson an extension, and then see if they’d be interested in making a trade?
Who wouldn’t want to be on a team that has the NFL’s Most Valuable Player at quarterback, and is, once again, in the group of legitimate Super Bowl contenders going forward?