Why Buffalo Bills GM fought back against undervalued WR narrative | 1-on-1 with Brandon Beane

Why Buffalo Bills GM fought back against undervalued WR narrative | 1-on-1 with Brandon Beane

What is up everybody? Welcome into Shout a Buffalo Football podcast live from training camp. [Music] [Applause] [Music] We are here St. John Fiser University. The man himself, Bill’s general manager, Brandon Bean, kind enough to join us. This is your debut appearance on the Shaw podcast. Thank you so much. What took you so long? I I it’s been years in the making. I wanted to make sure that some people watched it first before I said, “Come on the show.” Or you struck out with all the people you really wanted, so you finally came to me. I get it. There you go. Well, I’m no Pat McAfee. I know you’re uh you’re a seasoned media veteran at this point. Uh by the way, did you get did you take any like coaching on that? Like I know a lot of players when they’re coming up through college football or or whatever, they they might do some media training. Did you have to do that in any way? I don’t know what that’s like for a front office person. No, not really. Uh just Derek Boyco communications uh school is the only thing. And it’s it’s a great school. You got to look it up though. You have to watch every episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm to get into that school. I’ve heard. Yes. Yes, you do. And be able to to be able to recite it all. Yes. Otherwise, it doesn’t count. Um, so if you’re watching this episode, you’re watching at, you know, you’re watching the two years ago defending champions of the media golf tournament. I want to shout that out because hey, you played this year, but you didn’t win. No, I didn’t. What happened? Uh, you know, honestly, I puted terrible that I I hit the ball plenty good and, you know, we just didn’t make a putt. It was it was bad. Did we beat you or or No, you beat you probably beat us. Uh we didn’t finish great. Although Maro, Chris Maro, uh from the Bills. Yeah. Spencer Brown. Wow. I was very impressed with both of them. Did a good job. I didn’t play well. But what I really want to talk about was John Scott and Josh Reed not playing well. Well, you mentioned their names. I didn’t. Okay. Okay. Okay. I just wanted to double check. No, we had we had a good time. We had we had fun. Uh it it definitely was not our our day. I think John made a couple putts, though. What was the uh the premier golf experience of the summer, man? Um played some really good tracks. I would say we’ve been doing this standing match um at the end of the summer at the Kiwa Ocean Club. It’s uh me and Shane Beamer. So, uh it’s football versus the Hall brothers, which is Hall Steakhouse. Um it’s it’s down in uh in Charleston’s their original one. I’m good friends with them and they they’ve got one in Nashville and Greenville. They got a lot of them. But anyway, it’s uh it’s kind of how we finish the summer. Shane’s just getting down there. How the NCA works uh from South Carolina and I’m kind of wrapping it up. So, uh we played Saturday a week ago and and we took the trophy back this year. So, it was fun. Yeah, it’s it’s been a good battle. So, you like putting trophies on the mantle when it comes to golf? I do. I don’t like to lose. You know that. Um, what was the experiment like or experience like out in Canada when you guys went up there? I know that the video team came and kind of documented that day. It seemed like a cool like experience to like experience what it be like to be a pro. It was fun to, you know, quote unquote inside the ropes with these guys and it was a good setup. Uh we were with Patrick Fishburn um who went to BYU. Young guy has been on the um uh the other tour for a little bit and he’s kind of working his way off. But it’s fun to watch those guys hit the ball and you know we had a lot of fun. The unfortunately we after hole 11 when we’re going to hole 12 the bottom dropped out so we didn’t get to finish. Uh we were with Kevin Roy the second nine. So it’s kind of a cool format. You play with a pro, the front nine, and then you play with a different pro, the back nine. And those guys were cool. We were we were exchanging, you know, kind of their their life, their travel schedule. I was talking to the caddies a little bit, and of course, they were asking NFL questions. And, uh, we had we had a good time. Of course, first the first hole, uh, my guy Jamie Miller bust his driver. So, uh, that was you couldn’t have you couldn’t have drew it up any better the laughs we had on that. Yeah, it looked like a good time. Um, thank you so much for watching. We’re excited to bring you daily coverage from Bill’s Training Camp right here on the Shia podcast. And I wanted to ask you like this is you’re a veteran of this now. I mean, this is like a second home, a home away from home for you. What’s like a day in the life of Brandon Bean when you get to Fiser, you know, taking in practice, going through all of the different parts of it to take fans through that? Yeah, I mean, um, honestly, we love it up here. Pitts is such a nice community that and St. John Fischer, it’s awesome. So, no, we we got a group of us that get up in the morning. We we take about a 4 and a half mile stroll through Pittsford and um you know, we talk and of course we’re even competing when we’re walking and we’re talking smack for the guys that are that are you know, straggling behind. But that’s kind of how it is. Come in, shower, grab breakfast, sit down with, you know, some of the personnel or the scouts. Right now, the college scouts are in here for a week before they go out. So, we had a meeting this morning just kind of going through where we are, some of the things we want to look for, any of our process changes, then go to practice. Um, come off today was was one of my media sessions, grab some lunch, and then this afternoon, I’ll sit down and um usually and Terry’s here, usually when Terry’s here, he likes to we’ll go through the film together, and you know, he can ask me questions. I can point out good and bad or, you know, sometimes what’s going on here, what’s not. So we’ll do that this afternoon and then the guys will come out for a walk through we usually walk out there and gives me a good chance walkthrough issues ratcheted down from practice. So in between things or when it’s over to mingle with some of the players and you know especially if it’s guys I haven’t seen in the calf and um at night you know you’re trying to catch up on emails and calls and you’re doing some of that in the day but it’s a full day and and uh but it’s fun. We we love it up here. It’s a great getaway and and you know that’s one of the things Sean and I have have always been in lock step just the importance of getting away and removing distractions and um this this place is a great fit. It’s been such a cool off season for you, your son Tyson uh getting his first uh first NFL job, right? He’s scout now with the the Giants. What’s that been like as a dad? Because I feel like, you know, I know my son, he’s got his little like his watch and we can text back and forth when I get up to camp. Is he sending you updates from all of his stops and and everything like that? What’s that been like from a dad perspective? It’s been fun. You know, he really um you know, he when he was in high school, he played high school football, but he knew like it’s it’s going to end when high school’s over. And so he had told me like, “Hey, Dad, I want to I want to go to the SEC, had always heard me talking about SEC football is the closest thing to the NFL, and that’s our, you know, one of the top breeding grounds for the guys we find.” and and so he narrowed his schools down to LSU, Alabama, Georgia. He goes down there and he was he was working for Alabama football before he even started class and volunteering, not getting paid. And you know, I think the first three years, I think they did compensate him a little bit last year, but it’s fun to see he had a vision. You know, I don’t think I I definitely didn’t have that vision the way he did, you know, that early in high school and it took me a little time in college, but and then he did an internship last year with Carolina and and was fortunate enough to get an interview with the Giants. And so he started midmay. It’s it’s been cool to watch. He was able to vacation with us a little bit and I’m like, man, uh they’re grinding you a little bit. He was they they gave him some projects over the summer and uh I think most of them were some pro players so he would you know we would banter about it a little bit but uh it’s fun you know he’s they’re off at Giants camp now and I’ll let him do his thing and um but it’s it’s fun and and and you want the best for him. All right everybody let’s take a quick break from our episode with Brandon Bean to talk about Amtrak. Amtrak’s Empire Services offer frequent departures uh daily from Niger Falls Buffalo all the way to New York City. They have stops in Rochester, Udica, Syracuse, Pikipsy. It is an absolutely beautiful scenic ride and you don’t have to do anything. You can put your feet up. There’s no middle seats. It’s super comfortable. The ease of travel is unbelievable. Free Wi-Fi on every single ride and no baggage fees. Make sure you check out Amtrak today, the official sponsor of SHA. It’s been um an interesting off seasonason like in a lot of ways for your organization because you know defensively you guys have had this complete overhaul especially up front. I mean there’s not many years where you have three new people on the defensive line that are draft picks, three new potentially that are free agents. when you sat out set out on the offseason plan, was that number some number in mind to kind of refresh this thing or was it something that kind of built steam over the off season as you kind of went through the process? Yeah, I mean, um, I’m always looking for how do we create as much competition as we can and and the cap and you only get so much draft capital, you know, so you start out and you’re like, you don’t know how the draft’s gonna fall. free agency is first and so well let’s let’s divvy up our funds and you know other than you know we we felt like we we got a good deal on Josh Palmer you know wasn’t that we were necessarily going to go out and sign a receiver but we’re going to test those and we thought that was the right fit for us and our offense so we did that but other than that we were like let’s let’s take some swings on defense what can we make fit and we talked to a lot of different people and we were able to get in you know a Joey Bosa Larry Ogan Joby and Michael Hoy and these guys and um but knowing that a couple of them you know unfortunately we found out as as we talked about this the suspensions they have it’s like we still got to try and hit some of these in the draft and hopefully it it works out where we’re we almost have too many but then you know these guys serve their six games and come back and and we’re ready to get them right back into business and again we just you know the first round we take Maxwell Well, we trade up in the second for TJ. It’s like we really wanted to find um an interior rusher at some point and we just felt TJ was sticking out on our board. Let’s go get him. And then, you know, Landon, you know, been following his career for, you know, a few years at at Arkansas and um thought there was really good value in his style there in the third and then really did not think Dion would be there when he was and so once again start moving some pieces to get up and get him in the fourth. It’s not that that was a need, it was just where we had the value. Those are premium positions. if you you know if you hit that you know what a costsaver that is you know from your cap and your cash. Mhm. Um I was talking to TJ and Dion after practice today cuz they had that kind of combo sack kind of I know that they’re not pads yet at the end of practice and TJ was reminiscing about, you know, back at the senior bowl they were together and they they kind of like could would it be crazy if we ended up on the same team doing this in practice. when you see kind of the lights on going on and I know we’re very early in camp for some of these guys knowing that especially when you have three rookies on in a position room group to have that pressure to maybe perform right out of the gate and you might need them to perform with the the suspensions you mentioned. Is it Have you liked what you’ve seen and how much do you want to see that synergy kind of grow so you can count on all of these pieces? Yeah. I mean, we listen, these guys know you when we talk to them through the pre-draft process. Hey, like this is you don’t get like a red shirt year here. Like, we we need you and and we’re not going to try and drown you with with info and and how much we use you, but we’re going to try and ramp you up and your mindset is you got to help this team in some form or fashion come week one. And we’ll when we get to week one, we we’ll make those decisions. But, um, I think those guys have worked hard. It’s been fun. And you could tell they knew each other. We had them both in on on 30 visits and you know they were very excited once we drafted Dion and they that that dream came to fruition and even the first day that we brought the rookies in you know that you could see they already had that bond almost like they were teammates and and they were a little bit I guess at Senior Bowl but like they were they were college teammates. So it’s fun. Um the pads haven’t come on yet, so there’s still a lot to show and and of course we got to get to preseason games, not just going against our own team, but going against some other teams and how they play. But it’ll be fun to watch these guys and and again, we’re we’re going to press them to be ready to go as soon as week one. I’ve seen you um one of the cool things about my job, I know I came into your second year. I started in 2018, but I’ve covered the majority of your time with the Bills. I’ve gotten to know you quite a bit and we do all these media availabilities and like I I think that you’re um very polished, you know, for, you know, go going through all the different times you have to talk to people and answering questions and all those things. You know, there’s a lot of things you have to consider. I would imagine earlier this off season, the WGR interview, yeah, that’s one of the like rare times where I felt like it it it was different like it there was a different energy behind it. Um, obviously you were listening beforehand. There’s a couple other times like the overrated question last training camp. You got animated when you were defending Buffalo a couple years ago. It comes out at times. You’re a competitive guy. I’ve been on a golf course with you. If you look back on that whole exchange and that and and where did that come from? Yeah. I mean, um, listen, you asked me about my kids earlier, like, um, I’m very competitive and I I try and raise them hard like and tough, but you know, I’m going to be the first ones to defend him in anything. And and going back to overrated, like, you know, I love Josh Allen like a younger brother or even though he’s way bigger than me or a son and you know, and you have to let a lot of things roll off here. You do. and and you can’t. But at some point, I think it’s important to let people know enough’s enough. And you’re you you’re wrong. And I’ve heard it. I’ve heard it. You’re I’m tired of this narrative. Like when things become a narrative that I think have gone on too long. And we’re going to now we’re going to do it again. And we’re going to start, you know, whatever that article was a year ago. We’re going to start training camp with a narrative that Josh Allen, who’s been in multiple MVP conversations, been all like that he’s overrated. Like I I like enough’s enough. The guy went through everything. And so again, the receiver thing, it was just like, man, we just had this draft and we really, if you came out of our playoff run and and maybe even previous playoff runs, we weren’t coming up short very of very often on offense. If you wanted to fuss at me for the job I’ve done or this organization, um, you can fuss at me. Maybe I didn’t do a good enough job on defense. Like, I’ll take any hit that we didn’t get a stop that we needed. you can put that right on me. When I’ve left a couple of these playoff games, I’m going I’ve got to do a better job of giving Shawn Mcder and his staff the right weapons to to do more things on defense to get that stop against, you know, the Chiefs or the Bengals or whoever we’re playing, the Ravens. And when you leave this draft and we were able to after we hit those pieces in free agency and to hit some pieces that we were very excited about, you know, Haristston and and the D lineman that that we discussed to be focused on receiver again, like we’re going back to that. I just didn’t understand it after the year our offense. I got all the questions year ago. If they if that had happened a year ago, Matt, with us moving on from digs and we didn’t bring in a quote unquote number one, totally understood that. We had to go prove it. And listen, we have to prove it again. You know, just because you did it once doesn’t mean you’re going to do it every year. But the where we came up short was not on offense. We we need to make get another stop on defense. And so I just didn’t feel like that. And you know, and and I think Derek did a good job of educating me. What I like to know if I’m going to go on a show or if I’m going to sit down with you, what’s what’s what’s been your uh you your synopsis of things? How do you view things? And whether that’s a reporter, whether that’s a show, and I only listen to a small excerpt of it, but I knew that wide receiver train had been going on there for a long time. And it’s just like we just had this great draft. and and on Monday morning after that, we’re going to try and stir things up and gripe that we didn’t get a receiver. So, it is what it is. Uh I got no hard feelings at those at those guys. That’s not me. Like I I move on. It’s there’s no hidden agendas. But I am a competitive dude and if I feel you’re like I really like our receivers and I think sometimes people because we don’t have a quote unquote number one, I think people undervalue the guys and I include tight ends in there too. You know, I think we got a um an offensive unit that is selfless, that cares about each other, and I think sometimes that can be stronger than, hey, we got a number one or we don’t have a number one. Can Don Concade change the narrative on a lot of this, like because of what you’re saying, like sometimes people don’t put him in that bucket. Y I think a lot of people do, but if he comes out and has the season, I think that you’ve been saying all offseason you expect him to have, that changes the math a little bit on the wide receiver room. ESPN put out a story, I think it was Bill Barnwell, where he ranks all of the weapons group across the NFL and the Bills came in at 28. Okay. Which I thought, personally, I thought that was pretty low, like considering, you know, the season James Cook had last year, Dalton and Dawson’s history, and what I think people on the outside don’t understand about the vision for Josh Palmer. We’ve talked about all that on the show, but do you think Dalton is kind of like, not to put too much pressure on him, but like the the real piece that could take this whole operation to another level, which has already been pretty good. Yeah. I mean, that’s the thing. It’s been at such a high level. Like I when you put up the points we have, and I think Josh would tell you this, like you can’t just say that’s all Josh, you know what I mean? He would tell you. And that starts even with our O line like Yeah. And so I I think to me it’s about building the right offense for you, for your team, for your identity where you play. Um we we know that sometimes we’re going to be in a slugfest and it’s just, you know, 10° and it’s snowing, whatever it is, we want to be able to win indoors, outdoors. We want to be able to win if it’s 75 or it’s zero. And that’s how we’ve tried to build this thing. And so I think sometimes people get caught up because we don’t have this outspoken number one receiver, you know, whether it’s a tight end or a receiver, whatever. James Cook, you you mentioned him. I think we have a lot of good pieces and together it form it’s it’s about how strong the unit is, not the individual parts. And I think sometimes that gets overlooked. And you know, you see guys all the time that are on teams, they get a 100 catches, but the team didn’t go that far. Well, it’s really about what the team is. It’s not about, hey, this guy’s playing on this team. They’re perennial losers, but this receiver is getting paid a lot of money because he had 105 catches. Well, so be it. When you get to January, he’s not going to be playing. He’s g he’s going to be at home. And and that’s the thing about our unit and those guys that again I was very defensive about to me it’s about the collective not the individuals. All right everybody, one more quick break. I have to talk to you about the National Comedy Center located in Jamestown, New York. Ryan Tabin and I just took a one-day visit out to the Comedy Center and it was an unbelievable experience. You probably heard Ryan sing his little tune from Dumb and Dumber. It was amazing. It you could do it today. They have all these different scenes from movies and TV shows, comedy specials. You get to relive all of these moments from cinema or standup comedy. It is truly amazing. They have acts going on in there all the time. Don’t wait another minute. Book your trip to the National Comedy Center today. I asked you a couple times, maybe you once and Sean once this offseason, but I think I asked it really clunky, so I wanted to kind of come back around to it. when you go into the draft process, right, and you you you have a bunch of seasons now to go back and learn about like, you know, things that worked, things that didn’t. You talked about like looking at your own operation and how you evaluate, how you scout, all those kinds of things. Have you and Shawn been able to kind of evolve your process together with how you evaluate? So, you take Ker Elim is the most recent example, right? You draft him, it doesn’t work out. Three years later, you move on. And in that same offseason, it’s just uh convenient that you you draft Maxwell in the first round, another cornerback. When you go into the process of scouting corners and the prospect of taking that guy in the first round, is there anything that you could have learned about about how you positioned Caillier over those three years, just using him as an example, and how to evaluate the player based on maybe Sean’s input or Bobby’s input or any other coaches to do it to go and do it again because you’re always kind of doing it again in this business. Yeah, I mean you definitely anytime something like that doesn’t work out again with Cir, you know, you look at that and you go back to, you know, what’s the film look like at Florida again? What what’s the background? And and and then what could we have done here? And him not working out here is not just a finger at Ker Elum or anything like that. Um, sometimes it can be circumstances. Sometimes it there’s so many factors because these are humans and sometimes and and this is not about Kyer specifically. This is just an example. Sometimes you draft guys and you know they get here and there’s there’s life pressures. Things happen to people in life that you guys as reporters sometimes never know about. The player doesn’t want it shared. We don’t share it. And they’re in a slump on the field and we know they’re dealing with stuff off the field, but it’s very private. It’s very personal and again you’re not drafting robots but yes we look at everything we look at our and it’s always like again I’m going to start with me what what could we have done and we’re always working on our process and and all right what what didn’t work here but you’re also trans translating sometimes sometimes guys play in a system in college and you have it’s a projection business you know scouting is not easy But college scouting is harder than professional scouting because you’re at least seeing this guy do this for the Miami Dolphins or the New York Jets or the Bengals, whoever, versus the East Carolina Pirates, the South Carolina Gamecocks, the Florida Gator, whoever it is. So, these guys are in different systems. Some guys come in and they were they were taught very little about offense or defense. And so you’re trying to figure out how what were they taught that little because they can’t learn or because that coach just didn’t have a lot of smart guys and wanted to keep it as simple as possible. So you’re trying to learn can this guy learn. Okay, he can learn but he’s got a ways to go. And then sometimes you go now I see why the coach kept it simple like he struggles. So that that’s part of your process in the spring that that we’re always doing. And again, you’re never going to bat a thousand because you’re you’re dealing with people and things happen to people in life that never necessarily come to the surface. And um but it’s our job to bat a high number if not, you know, Terry Pagula is going to find someone else, you know, to take swings instead of me. And and so I’m my harshest critics. You know, you can talk about the successes that we draft. I’m always looking at like, you know, if I’m batting 750, I want to bat 800. You know, if I’m batting 800, you know, whatever the number you say I’m batting, I’m focused on the ones I miss, not the ones I hit. Do you think there’s not enough as a NFL community, we don’t talk enough maybe about the big hits on day two, two, and day three enough? Because I feel like if you look at your entire track record, you know, some of the big, you know, most recent examples, the Christian Benfers, the Spencer Browns, you know, the James Cooks, like those are Shakir, those Khalil Shakir, those are big hits, right? That maybe don’t get put in the same context as a a Kaire just as using as an example or even some of the people that have been crit critical of Dalton. Yeah. You know, you could go back to his rookie season. He had a big season criticism last year. Do you think we don’t talk enough about some of those other picks that you got to make too and they you got to develop those too? Yeah, no doubt. I mean, you look at Cody Ford, like Cody is a guy who played really well his rookie year, was playing through injuries and unfortunately he couldn’t have an offseason where he didn’t have a surgery and it piles up on him and people just go, “Hey, this guy’s a boss.” I mean, Cody’s still playing in the league. like um people don’t realize some of the things these guys again are dealing with that you know and I’m now I’m getting into playing with things and and again Dalton you know he had he had plenty of reasons and options to say hey I need to shut this down you know what I mean he could have chosen that route there are some players that have and would have but Dalton is a is a warrior he’s a tough dude um he knows the mindset of this team and he fought through it and unfortunately you see why sometimes guys don’t because they’re like, “Man, I don’t want to get criticized like him. I’m playing an 80% or 75 and and we’re like, hey, don’t worry about it.” But it’s true, you know, it’s uh it’s a tough world out there, especially in the social media world. It’s it can be very unfriendly and um but Dalton is a resilient dude and um we have a lot of confidence in him, but it is it’s tough to watch sometime in my seat because you want to come out and say everything. Um but it it’s not going to solve anything. It’s it’s more I just try and support our guys. And again, sometimes I I don’t try to do it very often. But if I feel a narrative has just gone on too long or out of line, you know, I am going to get a little frustrated and maybe that’s a flaw I need to work on. It’s just, you know, me, I’m authentic. I am who I am. And I don’t really try and hide who I am. All right. Couple quick fires uh before I get you out of here. Funniest Terry Pigula moment that you could share. Oh god. over the years. Obviously, you’ve been with him for what, 10 years almost now? Yeah. A lot of stories. Uh I I I feel like uh fans always just um we don’t get to check in with him a lot. So, just from your perspective, just to give a little uh insight into who Terry is, a funny little Terry story. Terry Terry’s uh Terry’s unbelievably smart and um it’s crazy his memory. Like he takes he sits in the draft room, doesn’t say a lot, but takes tedious notes. We have, you know, binders with these guys, all their backgrounds and stuff like that. And when scouts are talking or I’m talking or or maybe if a coach is talking, he’s writing things, he’s highlighting certain things. And I mean, it’s it’s cool to watch how into it is. He loves the draft. Um, but he he can sometimes remember arguments or whatever and you know what’s going on and and he will he rarely tries to throw it in there, but if he feels like, man, I’ve sat on the sidelines long enough on this argument, I’m going to weigh in and and so he’s, you know, there’s a player or two like but there’s one time there’s a player he weighed in strongly against and and we took him and so um but I love this like he supported it right way and it’s like looking at the positive and you know when the when the player worked out he you know having a he’s having wine they got a beer or something and there was another person there and he was like yeah thank god I told Brandon you know to to to draft this player or whatever and and so we were just laugh and and then he told him you know oh yeah we had this argument this and that he’s just um he’s he’s an awesome owner and I’m not just saying that like you know he’s not going no offense He’s not going to watch your podcast. I’m not getting any brownie points for this. But um like the thing I like about Terry is he listens. Like very few people I think have the skill of listening. It’s it’s one of the things that even I I try to remind myself on. He is as good of a listener as you could ever ask for. And it definitely you know when you get egos with that kind of money people don’t listen very much. He listens. Now if he disagrees he’s going to say it. Um, but he listens and he gives us the resources to do what we want to do and and he gener, you know, I know fans don’t know him that well. He’s more a little bit introverted, you know, but he can be very funny, very witty, and and I wish people knew that about him, but just I would just say this fan base is really lucky to have him and the Beagula family because they love Buffalo. They love Western New York and and I’m not sure if any other owner, Matt, had gotten this team when they bought it. I’m not sure if we’d be sitting here doing this. I think it could be in another, you know, another state or even another country for sure. Um, Buffalo, you’re passionate about the city. We’ve heard it before. best Buffalo story. When you tell people about Buffalo, like what it’s like to be here, what it’s like to live here, like raise your family for part of the time here. What do what what story do you go to? I don’t know if I go to a story. I just think um like this is what I tell people, you know, I just got back from three weeks in Carolina and you know, people’s first thing, I don’t know how you do those winters or whatever. And and I’m like, yes and no. I’m like, I don’t I’d rather it be snowing. Like in Carolina, you it can snow, but you’re going to get more like cold rain. You can get freezing rain. Not that you can’t get up here. I’m like, I would rather it snow than than that stuff. And I said, now the length of winter is legit, but I’m I’m like, the thing that I love about Buffalo and Western New York and and my wife and I live on some acreage is I grew up in a very rural, very, very rural two-top like town. And it feels very much like home even though it’s just can be colder in the winter. And that’s I think Buffalo gets a rap of of people until you get them up here of that. And it’s fun to explain what it is and and I’m like no I’m when Terry Beula says you suck and and it’s time to move on like I’m still going to keep stuff here and and have stuff. I’ll you know I’ll spend time in both. I I think it’s been a blessing for me and my family to be up here and uh I’m proud to to represent this place and and as long as the ghouls will have me. Two more quick ones. They’re kind of connected. What would 40-year-old Brandon Bean tell current year old Brandon Bean if you were to have a conversation with him as you set out on this this job and being the GM of this team? If you can go back and talk to that guy. Yeah, I mean I think you know like anything it’s it’s um you know ultimately once you get your staff get them kind of get them in order you know lay it out and just you know there’s sometimes you’re laying out plans and and you’re laying out so many when you get there you know you’re trying to get everything done maybe just be you So, it’s like you’re trying, you know, I got here in May. It’s like you’re trying to lay out so many things and you’re you’re starting a camp two months later, you know, just take a deep breath. I think, you know, and you know, sometimes, you know, like our wives offset each other. Like Joe Shane’s wired like me, so he was double thumb down on like we got to get this process in order. We got to get, you know what I mean? you’re just you’re trying to put your stamp and you’re do it and in in reality like I think there’s times we could have just relaxed a little bit and but we knew I think part of it was we knew you know you only get so long and and you’re like we we can’t miss any moment miss any opportunity. I understood why we do it. But I think, you know, if I had to do over, I would have just said, “Calm down. Take your time. Get with the people when you get with them. Don’t try and do everything, you know, right when you get in the door.” I just think we were trying to do so much. Maybe sometimes you look back and go, “They didn’t get my message.” Well, yeah, because you didn’t spend enough time with them to to deliver it the right way. And I don’t know if you can answer this, but is there a decision that you look back on your time as general manager and say, “I wish I wouldn’t have done that one way or the other.” I know you don’t want to probably like call out a player or something like that, but like is there something that you look back, man, a man, I wish I would have taken the other road there? Yeah, I mean, I I don’t really there there’s more than one. Like there’s there’s things you do. It’s just like I said, I’m I’m my own worst critic and I’m my own worst critic. Like I’ll there will be something this week I’ll do and I’m like you idiot. Like you you know better. You got to do that. And so uh yes, there’s definitely decisions along the way. Um, you know, the again probably, you know, one that I made out of the gate. And the reason I made it was was right, but it really wasn’t. you know, when we traded a third for Kelvin to start out, I felt terrible because I had traded, you know, Sammy and, you know, um we were trading Marcel Darius at the time and um the corner from Florida State Derby and felt like we had traded a lot of people yet we were telling the guys we wanted to win and we did. like we truly were still trying to make the most of that season, you know, but we gave up, you know, a pretty good asset that maybe at the time, but it was it was one of those things where it was a a proven player in Carolina, unfortunately, got it’s not nothing to do with him. It was just where we were in the build. It probably, you know, we’re just getting started. probably would have been smarter just save that third round pick and you know use it to build up stuff for your you know whatever quarterback you’re going to draft but there’s other things you know that was kind of the you know the first one you know at the end of the season I was kind of like probably was aggressive but again I was trying to show the locker room that hey we we want to win like you know I know I’ve taken some pieces from you but here’s a piece back let’s let’s go do it and and Listen, I will say this. Kelvin made a huge catch in the in the snow game. Um, and we know how we got in. If we don’t win that game in overtime, you know, maybe we don’t make the playoffs. So, uh, it still turned out some positive things, but it was just when you got to the draft, I was like, man, that, you know, that’s another asset, you know, that could be a four-year cheap player. Yeah. I think in a lot of ways, people probably don’t even remember back to that as being the the part of the real true culture shift. I mean, you had to break the drought, right? Like, you had to do it and get through. You did that. And then obviously Josh came the next year and everything like that and the rest we know. But yeah, I mean that was uh that was an important season. Brandon Bean, general manager, Buffalo Bills joining the Shout podcast right here at the beautiful St. John Fiser University. I’m going to go get cozy in my dorm and work till about 8:00 tonight. There’s a lot to get to. Brandon, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. You got it, man. It’s fun. [Music] 83. Go down. Awesome. Great interview. Done deal. That was fun. Good. Thank you so much. That was really great. Yeah, great. Go get some coffee.

In this episode of the SHOUT! podcast, Buffalo Bills General Manager Brandon Beane joins the show live from training camp at St. John Fisher University.

Beane discusses a variety of topics, including his golf experiences over the summer, a day in his life at training camp, his son’s new job as a scout with the Giants, and the defensive overhaul of the Bills’ roster. He also touches on his competitive nature, his reaction to the “overrated” narrative surrounding Josh Allen, and the team’s approach to evaluating draft prospects.

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