Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane met with the media for over an hour Thursday, closing the book on the 2024 season before turning his attention to the NFL Combine and beyond.
Beane detailed his thoughts on the team's season-ending loss in the AFC Championship to the Chiefs, assessed where the team's roster is at now and what's in store for the offseason.
Here's what we learned:
"Keep kicking the door"
Beane spent nearly 90 minutes answering questions from the local media on a wide range of topics. The first few were directed toward how he views Buffalo's latest postseason defeat against a familiar opponent.
Sunday's AFC Championship loss marked the fourth time in the last five seasons that the Bills were eliminated by the Kansas City Chiefs, who are playing for their third consecutive Super Bowl win next week. For Buffalo, it's the double-edged sword of not being able to reach a Super Bowl and also having the same team prevent them from reaching their goal.
"Until you do it, you're always going to get questioned, right? It is what it is. We know that, we're aware of that," Beane said. "I can promise you, we haven't slept a lot since that game. And we hurt, and we feel bad for the fans that hurt, and everyone... It's hard to come up short."
The GM used the words "reset" and "recalibrate" to describe how they will begin their approach to the offseason. There won't be any massive overhauls or rash decisions made. Instead, a continuation of belief that they will find a way to make the one or two plays needed to get over the hump in the AFC.
"This team did a lot of really good things this season," Beane said. "When you look holistically at what we've done year after year after year, I think a lot of people would sign up for that. Is it what we want, the final result? No."
Beane added that the entire staff is committed to examining how their process can be better each season and looking at how the team can be the best version of itself in the critical moments of the postseason.
"We're going to keep fighting, and I'm determined we'll get there," he said.
"Still playing like an MVP" | Assessing Josh Allen's 7th season
In season 7, quarterback Josh Allen once again broke multiple team and NFL records. Allen passed Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly for most total touchdowns (262) in Bills history and tied Hall of Fame running back Thurman Thomas for most rushing touchdowns (65) in franchise history.
The QB put up his fifth straight season of at least 40 total touchdowns and became the first player in NFL history to record at least three rushing and three passing touchdowns in same game (Week 14). Allen proved that with him on the roster, you have a chance at winning every week.
Looking back on his season, Beane was impressed with his ability to take care of the football. Allen had a career-low six interceptions.
"I thought Josh went above and beyond being overly intentional with protecting the ball without playing scared or playing overly safe," Beane said. "He still playing like an MVP…to have eight turnovers as a team. I think he was the only guy that had a turnover. I don't think anyone else lost the ball, which is unique as well."
Regarding the MVP talk, Beane said there is not enough attention being paid to the fact that Allen went from 22 turnovers in 2023 to just eight in 2024.
"People were not talking about that enough of how much he took care of the ball," Beane explained. "Yet our offense, we still scored over 30 points. He didn't take care of the ball, and we turned into a run team, throw the ball 15 times a game. We were still scoring points."
The MVP finalist still has four years left on his contract. When asked of a potential extension or restructure, Beane explained he's not ruling anything out but he's not guaranteeing something will happen.
"I love Josh and so proud of what he's done and so, I could be here all day talking about how great he is and what he's done for our team and where he belongs in the pecking order," Beane said. "…He and I have a great relationship. We talk a lot. When the dust settles…Josh and I will have those conversations about, holistically about the team, things like that. I'm not saying it will happen; I'm not saying it won't happen."
Allen told reporters on Monday that he suffered a hand/wrist injury in Sunday's game against the Chiefs. The QB said he had some "swelling and stuff" on the area following the loss. Beane said Allen did not break his hand and the injury did not come up in their exit interview.
"(In) my exit conversation with him, that didn't come up," Beane said.
Several coaches and players spoke about the tightness they felt inside the locker room this season. Many said there was a bond between the players they haven't felt before. Beane agreed with the sentiment and said Allen was a big reason why that happened.
"This team was as close as you could ask for," Beane shared. "It did remind me a little bit of some of the really strong teams that we had in Carolina. Guys wanting to hang out here and play chess or whatever in the locker room…guys going over to, whether it was Josh's house or somebody else's house to hang out, guys showing up at other guy's community events. I don't really recall that every year."
Assessing the pass catchers & 'Everybody Eats'
By many accounts, the Bills offensive production was historic. In 2024, Buffalo became the first team in league history to score 30 rushing touchdowns and 30 passing touchdowns. Buffalo also tied two distinct NFL records: receiving touchdowns scored by 13 different plays and eight consecutive games with 30+ consecutive points.
Beane credits that success to the team taking the offseason mantra of 'Everybody Eats' and turning it into a reality with a collective unselfishness from every pass catcher on the offense, whether it be receivers, running backs or tight ends. Any player on any given play could wind up with the ball in their hands.
"It's nice to have that balance where on third down, the defense really doesn't know where the ball is going. So, we'll continue that," he said. "We're going to look for the best players we can get. It doesn't mean, 'Okay, we didn't have a true number one, so we don't want that.' No, we still want good players, but we'll always want it to be as selfless of a group as possible.
Beane later spoke more in depth on the season outcomes of a handful of individual players.
On the Amari Cooper acquisition and integration into the offense, Beane explained that when the team acquired him prior to Week 7, they spent time looking into how to bring a player up to speed midseason. It was documented in the weeks after Cooper's arrival that he spent time before and after practice with assistant coaches going over the Bills playbook.
"I think he did a great job of learning our offense in fairness to him in due time," Beane said. "He suffered the wrist injury, obviously, banged his back and missed some games but fought through it."
Beane shared that when Cooper missed Weeks 9 & 10 with a wrist injury, one of the doctors recommended Cooper undergo surgery which would have sidelined him longer than the two weeks he sat out. Cooper opted to not have surgery because he "wanted to keep playing", according to Beane.
"I do think Amari helped our offense. Did he put up All-Pro numbers in the games he was here? No. I think that's for various reasons. Again, our offense improved. We averaged over 30 points, We were second in the league in total scoring," Beane said.
Looking back on the trade, Beane emphatically stated that he "does not regret the move". Cooper topped 50 receiving yards in four of the seven full games he played in during the regular season, but did not eclipse 40 yards in any of the three postseason games.
"He did help us despite what his personal numbers were," Beane added.
Shifting to another receiver, Beane had differing points of view on Keon Coleman's rookie season. In his first nine games, Coleman recorded 417 yards and three touchdowns. He ranked top five in yards after catch in Weeks 7 & 8 (103).
"I thought Keon did some good things, and I really felt like he and Josh and the offense were doing this," Beane said while making an upward hand motion.
In Week 9 however, Coleman suffered a wrist injury that sidelined him four games, plus a bye week sandwiched in the middle. Once Coleman returned in Week 15 at Detroit, Beane felt like the WR struggled to be a consistent impact player.
"I would say probably was a little disappointed in the return from the injury. I did not see the same player down the stretch from a physicality, some of the things that he needs to use his size," he said. "Some of that is youth, some of that is, I'm not sure how many injuries he's had to overcome in-season and come back. That takes a certain experience level, how to deal with an injury and how to return."
Beane, along with head coach Sean McDermott who spoke afterwards, believe this isn't a defining moment for the young receiver and are confident that he will approach the offseason with a growth mindset.
"He has a skill set that we think will play well in this offense, but it's up to him. He's going to have to work very hard this off season, him and Josh continue to work on that rapport together. But I'm optimistic that he'll do those things, and that we'll see him continue to improve going into Year 2," Beane shared.
Beane also anticipates a Year 3 jump for their 2022 first round pick TE Dalton Kincaid.
Kincaid set the Bills franchise record for most receptions by a rookie in 2023, though did not have the same level of production this past season.
"I would say Dalton didn't have the year that he expected, or we expected. Nothing for any particular reason that I can say, other than some durability things. He got nicked up during the season," Beane said.
Kincaid suffered a PCL injury in Buffalo's Week 10 win at Indianapolis. The coaching staff, along with Beane, believes that a full offseason regimen can help Kincaid regain the momentum he had his first season.
"He's going to continue to work on his play strength," Beane said. "That's one of the nuances of this game, in college you don't play 17 games plus playoffs. So building your body up to withstand what it takes… we believe in Dalton and he is a big part of our plans going forward. No one in here has lost confidence in him."
Early look at offseason decisions
At this stage of the offseason, the NFL has yet to announce the salary cap for 2025. Last year, the cap was set for $255.4 million per team — an increase of roughly $30 million from the previous year.
Beane expects another increase this season, though isn't sure how much it will be. Teams were notified before last year's NFL Combine of the salary cap, but no firm date is set year-to-year.
An increase in cap room, along with fewer contracts the team needs to move off from puts the team in a better position for roster maneuvering compared to previous seasons.
"We won't be in as deep of a cap hole. Now, we also had some numbers that were easier to move off of last year," Beane said.
When asked directly about the team's plan at outside cornerback, Beane stated that's one of the positions the team will evaluate closely. CB Christian Benford is still under contract with his rookie deal, meanwhile CB Rasul Douglas is an unrestricted free agent.
"Whether it's extending guys, signing a free agent, or draft allocation, that is one of the areas we would look at," he said.
Beane shared that one of the top priorities overall is to continue building a championship contending team without putting future seasons in jeopardy by overloading the cap with expensive contracts.
"We want to give (Josh Allen) every chance every single year to see if that team in '25, '26, '27, and as many years as he can play can contend for a title," he said.
One of the ways that may take shape is extensions for several cornerstone players already on the roster, including RB James Cook, WR Khalil Shakir, LB Terrel Bernard and CB Christian Benford, among others.
Beane said that he will have conversations with a number of players who are up for an extension at some point this offseason, but will first focus his attention on players that are pending free agents in March.
Breaking down what the defense put on tape in 2024
Buffalo's defense finished the season with a splash-play identity. They had 32 takeaways during the season, which was the third most in the league and added four more during the playoffs. The defense gave Buffalo's offense many more chances to score, which resulted in 128 points (best in the NFL).
They allowed an average of 21.6 points per game (11th) and 341.5 total yards per game (17th). When grading the defense this season, Beane explained there's many questions he asks himself.
"I start with myself and say, did we give the coaches the right talent pool?" Beane said. "How healthy were we in each of those games? Were we missing a guy, were a couple guys nicked up? Who did we play? How did we get beat?"
Buffalo's defense totaled 39 sacks (t-18th) and 92 quarterback hits (15th) this season. Beane said the goal is to always be strong up front and the addition of Von Miller back in 2022 helped with that before Miller's injury. The GM said Miller added to the pass rush this year because he looked more like himself.
"I thought this year you started to see Von return to form, made some plays, made some sacks, look more like himself," Beane explained. "I'm sure he would like some opportunities back the other night to get (Patrick) Mahomes down. Those guys did a nice job…it's not just one thing, but we always want to be strong upfront. We want to stop the run, see if we can get you into a drop-back pass game, and then get after you.
"…I don't think you want to throw out the success that some of the guys had up front, Greg (Rousseau), AJ (Epenesa), Ed (Oliver), Von (Miller) at times and some of those guys. So, just like our offensive line, we'll look at that and if there's areas that we can get better there, we will try to address that."
Similar to the pass rushers, Beane thinks the defensive tackles did some things really well, but there are also areas they can improve in.
"I thought Ed (Oliver) probably started a little slower than last year, got some good production numbers, did a good job once he got into a rhythm," Beane shared. "I thought he played well down the stretch…we brought some veterans in late, Daquan's (Jones) been here now three years. And I think as a group it was good, at times really good. Sometimes you probably would like better. Another guy, that was the year of the wrist, that suffered an injury was DeWayne Carter, and he was really doing some good things before that injury…Q-Jefferson came in late trying to have a guy as a rush guy. Jordan Phillips, we all know Jordan's story. When he puts that Bills helmet on, we get the best out of him."
One position that has all players under contract for 2025 is the linebacker unit. After missing 12 games to start the season due to a torn biceps, Beane thought Matt Milano improved as the season went on.
"I'm proud of him, and it'll be nice for him to not have a surgery to rehab from just what I was talking about with these other guys this off season," Beane said. "And so, that'll be probably as much physically, mentally refreshing for him."
In terms of being one game-wrecking player away from putting it all together, Beane explained it's never about being one player away. And added, those types of players are not easy to find or sign.
"I don't know many teams that are going to hand you a Chris Jones or a game wrecker," Beane explained. "They're probably sewed up, you know what I mean? You look around the league, there's not a lot of players that make 28 to 30 some million dollars a year, which I think is kind of what those high-end defensive players are making. We're not ever picking in the top five, 10…would I love to add one of those guys? Heck yeah, I would. But we have a cap. We pick where we pick. You kind of got to make the best of what you got. Again, we would love to do that if that player's out there"
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