Beane shows patience in addressing Bills’ needs
Every year leading up to the NFL draft, Bills general manager Brandon Beane reminds everyone there’s no guarantee of filling the team’s biggest needs in the early rounds because he’s fixed on following Buffalo’s draft board.
And every year, once Beane’s final selection has been submitted, the holes in Buffalo’s roster appear filled — on paper, at least.
“Are you saying I’m a liar?” Beane said, cracking a smile following the third round on Friday night.
No, but it wouldn’t be advisable to sit across from Buffalo’s eighthyear GM in a poker game.
Beane hit the reset button this offseason by purging a bloated payroll, making the team younger and trading receiver Stefon Diggs. Nonetheless, the four-time defending AFC East champions have fewer question marks than Thursday, when a jittery fan base panicked each time Buffalo traded back from its original 28th pick.
Beane showed uncharacteristic patience by refusing to mortgage Buffalo’s limited draft capital by trading up for a shot at selecting a top receiver prospect. He placed faith in his board, trading back twice in a bid to improve Buffalo’s roster at numerous spots.
And Beane still addressed Buffalo’s top priority by selecting Florida State receiver Keon Coleman at No. 33.
The six-foot-three, 213-pound Coleman might not replace the production Buffalo lost in Diggs and Gabe Davis, who departed in free agency. He still has the potential to provide Josh Allen a physical, sure-handed target on an offence that showed promising signs of balance last season with second-year receiver Khalil Shakir, rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid and secondyear running back James Cook.
Beane then checked off Buffalo’s next two immediate needs by selecting Utah safety Cole Bishop at No. 60 and Duke defensive tackle DeWayne Carter at 95. The Bills wouldn’t have been in position to select Carter if not for a trade with Kansas City in which the Chiefs moved up from 32 to 28, with Buffalo going from 133 to 95 and 248 to 221.
Bishop steps into a secondary that stands to lose its long-term safety tandem of Jordan Poyer (free agency) and Micah Hyde (considering retirement).
Carter, a four-year starter, fills a depth need on a defensive front that lost Tim Settle, Jordan Phillips and Linval Joseph.
Beane acknowledged placing an emphasis on team-specific needs in the draft as long as the players provided value at the spots where they were selected.
Pathway pick
Buffalo closed the draft by selecting offensive tackle Travis Clayton, a former rugby player who participated in the NFL’s International Pathway Program. The 23-year-old is from Basingstoke, England, and left the U.K. to participate in the NFL Academy in 2019.
Aside from rugby, the six-footseven, 303-pound Clayton has tried boxing, soccer, rowing, skeleton and tennis. He was in attendance at the draft in Detroit to hear his name announced. As a pathway program grad, Clayton won’t count against Buffalo’s roster if he fails to make the cut.
Buffalo traded one of its four fifthround picks (144) to Chicago for a fourth-rounder next year.