GM Brandon Beane makes bold statement on state of the Bills after Amari Cooper trade

Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane confirmed his team is "all in" after acquiring wide receiver Amari Cooper.

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The Buffalo Bills were widely viewed as a regression candidate entering the 2024 NFL season, a perennial contender that would perhaps not play up to its recent standard given the offseason departures of several stalwarts across the roster.

The team apparently never got the memo, as it’s gotten off to a 4-2 start and finds itself with a sizeable lead in the AFC East through six weeks. Buffalo, despite its strong start, was in need of a potential difference-maker at wide receiver after losing Stefon Diggs and Gabriel Davis in the offseason, and general manager Brandon Beane didn’t sit on his hands for long, acquiring five-time Pro Bowler Amari Cooper from the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday afternoon.

Related: ESPN analyst says Bills are again a true AFC contender after Amari Cooper trade

The move, to some, signaled the Bills’ return to the upper echelon of the AFC, with several pundits noting that the team is again at the forefront of the conference now that it boasts a marquee weapon. If you ask people within the organization, however, it never stopped being a true contender; Beane spoke about this idea during a Wednesday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, stating that the acquisition of Cooper does not necessarily signal a shift in immediate goals, as winning now was always the objective.

“We’re still all in,” Beane said. “If this didn’t happen, if Cleveland was not ready to do it, we were going to continue to monitor. Listen, we’ve still got a few weeks for the deadline. If we feel there’s something else that we need or can help us get over the top, we have been all in all along.” 

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Beane’s philosophy of being ‘all in’ is, frankly, the responsible mindset for an executive who employs Josh Allen to have; the 28-year-old signal-caller is one of the league’s most dynamic players, and though he’s still in the midst of his prime, essentially ‘punting’ a year away to restructure the roster is perhaps not a responsible maximization of his career. Some analysts felt as though that’s what the team was doing by parting with players like Diggs, Davis, Micah Hyde, Jordan Poyer, Tre’Davious White, and Mitch Morse in the offseason; now well-positioned for a fifth-straight division title with a new seven-time 1,000-yard receiver atop the depth chart, it’s clear that the Bills are still aiming for the Lombardi Trophy.

The veteran executive reiterated his philosophy to McAfee, confirming that the team is going to consistently attempt to win a title as long as No. 17 is helming the offense.

“I know we lost some names this offseason, some guys who have been captains,” Beane said. “This was kind of, what I said was an offseason of transition, but the mindset here, as long as Josh Allen’s our quarterback, is we’re going to try to win this thing, and we’re going to do what we can every single year.”

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