Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane both met with the media, separately, on Tuesday morning at One Bills Drive.
Here are some of my takeaways, as well as notes on things they said:
- They like their team right now and would like to keep a lot of the pieces they already have in place, while adding more to it. Obviously, with 12 pending unrestricted free agents, there will be some movement, and guys will leave, but they especially like the young nucleus they have in place and want to keep letting those players grow together.
- I thought it was interesting that McDermott said that while he was with the Carolina Panthers, they let a few too many of their leaders get away one offseason, which hurt the locker room and the overall team's growth. Both men have always made it a point to have at least one veteran leader in each position group room and want to make sure they continue to do that. With the retirement of Lorenzo Alexander, they want to make sure they don't allow that leadership void to be an issue.
- Beane said not to expect the team to dip into the "deep end" of free agency, as they did last year, but that having close to $90 million in available salary cap space will allow them the flexibility to do what they need to get better. Last year, they really only gave one huge deal out to an unrestricted free agent, and that was center Mitch Morse. Wide receivers John Brown and Cole Beasley signed fairly good-sized contracts, but not too massive, and they upgraded the offensive line with some other mid-tier deals. However, with more of their younger players' contracts coming up over the next coupe of years, even doing that will be a bit tougher if they also want to keep as many of them as possible, which they obviously do.
- McDermott said, at this time, he doesn't expect to make any coaching staff changes. However, he also said they will continue to evaluate the staff and entire organization as the offseason moves forward. With new head coaches being hired around the league, there's always a chance Bills assistants get offers elsewhere they'd like to pursue.
- Beane said they love Cody Ford's versatility and they don't want him to be specifically put into a box as a tackle or guard next season.
- Both McDermott and Beane said they did not score enough points and need to be better on offense next year and do that.
- On Josh Allen, Beane mentioned some of the poor decisions he made and attributed those to being as competitive as he is and wanting to carry the team on his back. He did note that he'll have to continue to learn that he doesn't have to do that, and said that the experiences he had this season will allow Allen to grow in that regard, and that he'd rather have him make aggressive mistakes he can learn from than become "Checkdown Charlie."
- Wide receiver is one of the positions they need to get better, with Beane mentioning going to All-Star games and evaluating draft talent, as well as looking into free agency.
- Beane said several times, "I don't think we're one player away," adding "when you lose in the first round of the playoffs, that doesn't say to me the Bills are one player away from where we need to be."
- McDermott said he felt this past year's rookie class, which included defensive tackle Ed Oliver, tackle Cody Ford, running back Devin Singletary, and tight end Dawson Knox, "progressed quicker" than the 2018 rookie class did.
- McDermott on the officiating in the loss to the Texans, and controversial calls: "I want to make it clear for us, our team and our fanbase, [the calls] are not why we lost the game... if we play and coach better, that should not come into play."
- McDermott on the loss overall: "My hope is that if the pain is handled the right way, it will turn into strength and that will turn into growth."
- Beane on Buffalo as a possible free agent destination for players around the league: "People understand and see what we are building here. They see we have a young quarterback developing. People see we play selfless football and have guys that are going to fight."
- Brandon Beane had a great quote that should leave Bills fans excited for the offseason and especially the 2020 season: "I promise you our guys are hungry and we'll be back."
THE BIG PICTURE:
I've covered enough of these end-of-season press conferences where fans and even some media are out for blood, where it gets contentious. Too many times we are talking about who the next head coach is going to be, or general manager, or just have no one of real leadership to steer the ship and speak on behalf of the organization and give a clear vision to the fans.
That's not the case anymore.
The Bills, as an entire organization, are as stable as they've been in over 20 years and on the right path. Fans should feel good about that.
With that said, there's a lot of work to be done to take the next step, but they have the right people and resources to be able to to do that.
The standard was raised in 2019. Now it needs to be raised even higher in 2020. The expectations should be to be even higher, to go even further. That will be the case inside the walls of One Bills Drive.
It should be from all of us looking in, as well.
