What makes Bills GM Brandon Beane the NFL’s top executive mid-season – The Athletic

Editor’s Note: This story is part of The AthleticNFL’s Midseason Report, unlocked by State Farm.

Buffalo Bills General Manager Brandon Beane is The Athleticthe option of NFLTop-tier CEO midway through this 2021 season, based on a vote of our national writers.

“I voted for Beane because I think the Bills lead the league in MTMS (Moves That Make Sense),” Sheil Kapadia said when explaining his support for Beane. “That’s not to say they’ve all worked out well, but they seem to have a good track record.”

Jason Licht of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Arizona Cardinals ‘Steve Keim and the Los Angeles Rams’ Les Snead also appeared atop some of the writers’ ballots. Beane emerged as a top overall vote recipient. Dallas Cowboys owners Jerry Jones and Cincinnati Bengals Player HR director Duke Tobin was also among those who received first, second or third place votes on the ballots.

Identifying the NFL’s top executives can be harder than it seems.

The quarterback offers the most obvious success in the NFL. The head coach could be second (they could also be a key driver in midfield acquisitions, from the Rams’ Sean McVay who pushed Matthew Stafford wanted Frank Reich of the Indianapolis Colts Carson Wentz).

The top CEO isn’t always the one who makes the most moves or who is the most competent. As legendary basketball coach John Wooden said, we should not confuse activity with achievement. The best moves may be the ones a wise CEO has the foresight and discipline to avoid making.

From a team-building standpoint, an executive rarely turns a bad team into a great team in just a single season. Beane has led the Bills coach Sean McDermott to a steady rise for several seasons, along with a series of recent moves that could help put Buffalo in the lead:

• Re-sign QB Josh Allen: The Bills has structured the deal so that the largest wage cap charges will be reached after cap caps recover from pandemic-induced contractions.

• Re-sign LB Matt Milano: There are some who think the Bills could lose Milano, their best insurance backer, in free agency as they focus resources on other priorities, including exercising fifth year options. for Allen and Tremaine Edmunds. Buffalo can keep every veteran the team wants to keep. That allows Bills to address existing needs, such as passing due dates, without creating new holes on the listing.

• Keep key players: Re-signed Taron Johnson, Levi Wallace, Daryl Williams and Jon Feliciano for fair trading allows Buffalo to retain its core. Wallace has emerged as a likely No 2 corner in the back Bamboo’s white skin. Keeping Wallace is a surefire move for a team that leads the league in projected defensive extra points (EPA) this season.

• Drafting Rousseau: The first choose Greg Rousseau Memorably enhanced forward rotation for defense, hitting the ball and intercepting Patrick Mahomes pass in the Bills’ victory over Kansas City.

• Added Diggs: The Bills’ acquisition of receiver Stephon Diggs from Minnesota in 2020 made Allen one of the NFL’s top-producing quarterbacks last season. Buffalo fills positions by signing veterans Emmanuel Sanders This year. According to TruMedia, Sanders leads the group in lanes, postways, airfields per target (18.1) and yards per reception (17.2).

• Scoop Trubisky: Picking Mitch Trubisky second in the 2017 draft was not a good move for Chicago. Signing him for a year and $2.5 million as backup for Allen was done brilliantly.

Bills was one of the NFL’s least successful franchises before McDermott and Beane were hired in 2017. The team hadn’t made it to the knockouts since 1999, with just two winning seasons, both all hit a 9-7 record, during that nearly two-decade period.

Buffalo is now on track for its fourth win in five years with Beane in the GM seat. The moves made this past season are a natural continuation of the moves made before. They really are the Moves that Make Meaning – moves where the Bills have been rated as the most consistent contenders in the AFC over eight weeks.

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(Image: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)