Could this be the season for the Bills?
‘We’re on track … but we’ve got a lot of work to do,’ GM says
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y.— Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane stressed it would require time when outlining their extensive plan to rebuild the team to owners Terry and Kim Pegula some two and a half years ago.
Grateful for the patience the Pegulas have shown, McDermott and Beane aren’t yet ready to suggest the Bills have arrived. They will acknowledge this team, which is 3-0 in the preseason, is closer to matching their vision of sustaining longterm success from the one they inherited, which had been in the midst of a 17-season playoff drought. “Where we are now versus where we were then, I’d like to believe we’ve taken significant steps ahead,” McDermott said. “We will only know when we start playing.”
Beane, hired five months after McDermott in 2017, said the biggest challenge was not veering from their plan to stockpile draft picks, purge the roster of overpriced and underachieving stars, and create salary cap space to have the flexibility to plug various needs and add competitive depth through free agency.
“We didn’t want to build it to make a playoff,” Beane said, referring to the Bills sneaking into the post-season in 2017 and only after all the tiebreakers fell Buffalo’s way. “We’re trying to build something so that we’re contending every year.”
If last year’s 6-10 record was a reflection of the Bills completing the process of shedding salaries and developing their youth by closing the year with as many as seven rookie starters, then this season is much different.
With only five holdovers from 2016 or earlier, Buffalo is a team transformed in preparing to open 2019 with back-to-back games at the Meadowlands against the Jets and Giants.
Buffalo’s roster features a collection of draft picks, including quarterback Josh Allen and middle linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, each entering their second seasons. And the foundation has been supported by this past off-season’s haul of about 20 free agents — a majority brought in to improve a patchwork offence and spur Allen’s development.
Receivers Cole Beasley and John Brown were signed to boost a popgun passing attack that topped 250 yards just once. Veteran Frank Gore was signed and rookie Devin Singletary was drafted to support a ground game that stalled behind LeSean McCoy.
Buffalo also overhauled an offensive line which will likely feature as many as four new starters.
“We’re on track. We’re still trending,” Beane said, assessing how far the Bills have come under his plan. “But we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Allen has followed his coaches’ advice this off-season by staying patient in the pocket and running less a year after setting the franchise record for quarterbacks with a team-leading 631 yards rushing. After being part of a three-way competition a year ago, Allen has also taken on a larger leadership role.
“This is his team,” Beane said. “That’s the biggest thing I see from a year ago. It wasn’t his team at that point. He was fighting for a spot. Now the other 90 guys know that this is Josh Allen’s team as a quarterback.”