Carolina’s Beane tabbed GM of Bills

The Buffalo Bills hired Brandon Beane to fill their general manager vacancy in yet another indication of rookie head coach Sean McDermott’s growing influence over team decisions.

The Bills announced the move Tuesday. Beane’s hiring completes a short search, which began after Doug Whaley and his entire scouting staff were fired the day after completing the NFL draft. The hiring also completes Buffalo’s front-office overhaul, which began with coach Rex Ryan being fired in the final week of last season.

The 40-year-old Beane has spent his entire 19-season NFL career working his way up the Carolina Panthers’ ranks, including the past two as the team’s assistant GM under Dave Gettleman.

Beane’s familiarity with McDermott also helps, and made him the frontrunner for the Buffalo job during what became a cursory search process in which just four candidates had formal interviews. Green Bay Packers player personnel director Brian Gutekunst, Houston Texans player-personnel director Brian Gaine and Philadelphia Eagles college scouting director Trey Brown also were interviewed by team owners Terry and Kim Pegula.

Hernandez’s conviction vacated: A judge erased a 2013 murder conviction against former NFL star Aaron Hernandez, ruling that case law in Massachusetts has long established that defendants who die before their appeals are heard should have their convictions vacated.

Bristol County Superior Court Judge E. Susan Garsh said she was compelled to follow precedent in ordering that Hernandez’s first-degree murder conviction be dismissed in the death of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. Hernandez killed himself in prison last month.

Lloyd’s mother, Ursula, fought back tears after the ruling, saying the former New England Patriots tight end always would be guilty in the eyes of her family.