The year 2017 will forever be known as the year that things started to change for the better within the Buffalo Bills organization. First, the Bills decided to hire Sean McDermott from the Carolina Panthers to clean up the mess that Rex Ryan made the prior two years. Then not too long after the draft that year, the Bills moved on from Doug Whaley and brought in Brandon Beane, also coming up from Carolina to become the team's new general manager.
Little did Bills fans know that the duo would still be working together to this day and be the main reason why Buffalo is a powerhouse team and organization. For many years during Buffalo’s playoff drought, there was little to no continuity and that played a major role in the Bills’ failures.
Under Beane and McDermott, the Bills have created a stable organization and have built a culture that not a lot of teams have. While McDermott is responsible for the on-field success, Beane is the one that has really helped put this team together over the years.
With his determination and smart moves he has made in free agency and the draft, he has earned himself a spot on NFL Spin Zone’s Lou Scataglia’s list of best general managers heading into the 2025 season. Here's a bit of what Scataglia said about Beane heading into 2025:
"Brandon Beane has built a juggernaut in Buffalo, but all of these early playoff exits have to be quite annoying. Beane and the Bills front office added a good bit to the defensive line, and roster-wise, this could be the best we've seen in quite some time, so there aren't any excuses for this franchise in 2025."Lou Scataglia, NFL Spin Zone
Brandon Beane is one of the best GMs in the NFL
Beane has landed some franchise players that has helped the Bills become one of the best teams in the NFL, but no draft pick was bigger than Beane trading up in 2018 to select Josh Allen at No. 7 overall. Without Allen, who knows if Beane would be in Buffalo today.
However, while Beane has done a lot of things right, there have also been some misses (just like any other GM in this league). At the same time, it hasn’t been anything detrimental that has caused the Bills to regress. To Scataglia’s point though, these playoff losses are getting annoying and Beane did everything he could this offseason to provide depth, stability, and just overall talent to finally get over the hump.