By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The Buffalo Bills have officially moved from the 2018 season and into the 2019 year after Monday’s locker clean out day.
Along with the festivities that were the end of season interviews, Buffalo general manager Brandon Beane and head coach Sean McDermott gave their end of season state of the union press conferences.
Both spoke at length about the future of the organization.
With that, here are five takeaways from the Beane’s end of season press conference:
Draft plans
What will the Bills do at the 2019 NFL Draft? We don’t know. The only thing we know for sure is that the Bills will pick at No. 9 overall in the first round. Beane made sure we didn’t know anything on Monday.
Heading into the draft, Beane was stern. He does not want to fill any needs with his first, second, third or any pick. Free agency comes first and he wants to fill those needs then. Not at the draft. Beane sternly stated: “I promise you drafting for need is a mistake that can set franchises back, and I’m not going to do that as long as I’m in charge here.” Currently at No. 9 the Bills could use an offensive lineman, a wide receiver, tight end, pass rusher, or maybe even cornerback. After hearing Beane on Monday, any mock draft you read sounds irrelevant until free agency is over.
Judicious approach
The writing’s been on the wall for awhile now. The Bills will head into the 2019 offseason with 10 draft picks in April’s draft. Most importantly, Buffalo and general manager Brandon Beane will have close to $90 million in salary cap space to spend in free agency, the third most of any NFL team. Right from the top of his press conference, Beane acknowledged that obvious plan to spend. “This has been a calculated plan from when I interviewed here,” Beane said. Despite that honest response, Beane gave a bit of a different type of answer in regard to spending his capital. When asked if he would be “aggressive” in spending it, the answer was no. Instead Beane used the word “judicious.”
While that could be a disappointing thing to hear, it’s the smart thing to say and do. The Bills can’t just throw money at their problems. The decisions have to be calculated and the right ones. If they’re not, the Bills will end up back at square one.
Shady defense
LeSean McCoy is probably going to be a Bill moving forward. It feels that way especially after the way Beane defended him on Monday. First, when discussing the run game, the GM placed the blame on the offensive line: “We definitely understand the importance of that. We’re not happy with it. It’s a lot of areas from sometimes our O-line was out of sync for various reasons.”
Secondly, Beane outright said it: “He (McCoy) is part of the plan.” Finishing that line of thought with: “Again, LeSean will come back in 2019 and we’ll go from there.”
And again, the hat-trick of Shady statements: “I’m not a believer that LeSean is done.”
At Beane’s similar press conference just over a year ago, he did say some pretty similar things about quarterback Tyrod Taylor. But that situation had a much different feeling to it. Every observer of the team knew the Bills needed a franchise QB and they didn’t think Taylor was it. The team benched him for Nathan Peterman. The Bills did nothing expect stand up for McCoy this season.
Pending roster decisions
Along with McCoy, the Bills have a few more roster decisions to make moving forward. Beane discussed several of them. Here’s who came up in Beane’s press conference and what he said about the pending decisions he has to make on them:
LB Lorenzo Alexander: Beane said he’s hoping to work out a one-year deal with the 35-year-old, similar to the one Kyle Williams signed last season.
OT Dion Dawkins: Dawkins is entering his third season and is still under contract. However, Beane didn’t rule out moving Dawkins from left tackle to right tackle. “I’m not going to slot anybody in.”
Coaching staff moves: It’s expected that the Bills will at last consider moving on from special teams coordinator Danny Crossman. Beane said that decision won’t come down until later this week, though.
DE Shaq Lawson: The Bills have to decide if they’re going to pick up Lawson’s fifth-year option on his rookie contract as a former first-round pick. Typically those come with a hefty price tag. Lawson’s fifth-year options kicks in starting in 2020. Here’s Beane on Lawson: “I think we’ll continue to watch him, how he handles the offseason, how he comes back in here, but I’m happy for him and his success. He worked hard this year and he earned everything that happened for him yesterday (2 sacks).”
Allen’s playing time a key
Beane admitted it earlier this season. He didn’t like that Josh Allen was forced into the lineup essentially because he was unprepared in the way he setup the team’s quarterback room. Both AJ McCarron and Nathan Peterman were not ready to perform, leading to Allen’s playing time.
When it was all said and done, Allen played in 12 games, completed 52.8 percent of his passes, 2,074 passing yards, with 18 total touchdowns, 12 interceptions and two lost fumbles.
While not ideal, Beane said it was a good thing Allen got in there in his rookie year. Beane was “thrilled,” in fact, with the way Allen played and finished out the season. “He continued to get more comfortable as the year goes on. But he’s got a lot of work to do and we’ve got a lot of work to do before we get back in 2019.” Beane previously said he’s hopeful Allen’s play can convince free agents to come to Buffalo, too.