Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott raised a few eyebrows in the media room on Wednesday when he gave a very interesting response to a question about the team not making any moves at the trade deadline a day earlier.
"There’s been way too many years of irresponsible decision-making, let's just put it that way,” he told the media at his weekly Wednesday press conference.
McDermott, and general manager Brandon Beane, took over a Bills team that was saddled with high-priced contracts and little available salary cap space back in 2017. Last offseason, after shedding most of those contracts, they had over $80 million in salary cap space available to them, which Beane used to upgrade the offensive line and skill positions around quarterback Josh Allen.
The offense is better, but there’s still plenty of work to be done. Heading into the trade deadline, they had 18 draft picks over the next two years available to use to possibly grab another player or two to help the offense, or a defense that struggled against the run last week against the Philadelphia Eagles. However, McDermott said making a trade wasn’t the right thing for them to do after evaluating the options.
“Brandon and I had some conversations, really over the last couple of weeks, and I know he and his staff do a good job of looking into things," McDermott said. "At the end of the day, I think you guys know we’re going to do things that are in the best interest of this organization, short and long term, and we didn’t find something we thought would be responsible for us to do. I know a lot of teams go out there and just do things, and we’re trying to do this thing the right way here, and we want to be responsible with that, as well.”
The Bills currently sit at 5-2 and are a game and a half up on the teams currently on the outside looking in to the AFC playoff picture.
“I think it says we are confident in the guys that we have, that we expect them to play well,” McDermott answered when asked what not making a move says to and about his team. “If there’s not a responsible move for us to make we’re not going to make it. That’s what we’re here to do.”
After not making any deals, the Bills still have 18 picks over the next two drafts, including all of their first through fourth rounders, four fifth and four six round picks. They also have a projected roughly $80 million in available salary cap space once again next offseason.
Wednesday injury report pic.twitter.com/wLC2HTx2C5
— Buffalo Bills PR (@BuffaloBillsPR) October 30, 2019