NFL executives rank Bills’ front office as one of league’s best

The Buffalo Bills' front office has been ranked as one of the NFL's best in a recent poll.

Kyle Silagyi | 4 Hours Ago

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Being one of the NFL’s most competitive teams over an extended period of time does not happen by accident.

There are several factors that come into play with regard to sustained success, and it all starts at the top. Aside from stable and committed ownership, there’s perhaps no bigger contributor to perennial team success than the presence of a robust front office that’s capable of constructing a competitive on-field team and an unfettered off-field environment. Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane has accomplished both of these feats over the better part of the last decade, transforming the team from a bottom-dweller into a yearly contender since being handed its reins ahead of the 2017 season.

Beane took over a team in the midst of a near-two-decade postseason drought and immediately guided it to the playoffs, a place the Bills have reached in six of his seven seasons at the helm. He led Buffalo to its first division crown of the century in 2020, and the team has rattled off another three straight AFC East wins since. He’s accomplished everything a general manager sets out to do (sans winning a Super Bowl); he’s found a franchise quarterback. He’s fostered the development of a culture that players want to be a part of. He’s built a stout and sustainable supporting cast that other teams often poach from (current NFL general managers Joe Schoen and Dan Morgan came up under his wing, and several members of Buffalo’s current front office are widely viewed as prime GM candidates).

The Bills’ front office is among the NFL’s best by whatever metric you wish to reference. This sentiment has been reflected in The Athletic’s recent NFL front office ranking; the outlet “polled 40 league insiders, including 35 high-ranking executives and five coaches” to rank the NFL’s top 10 front offices, with Beane and company slotting in at No. 9.

Buffalo, per article writers Jeff Howe, Mike Sando, Mike Jones, and Dianna Russini, appeared on nine ballots, with one executive telling the reporters that “Beane is the best [general manager] in the NFL” because he “understands people and culture.” Another general manager praised his cohort, telling The Athletic that Beane checks every box.

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“I think Beane is a top-five [general manager],” a GM told the outlet. “He is super smart, number one. It’s never about him. If you look at the drafting and free agents they have signed, how patient they have been with the head coach, got the quarterback right — that was a 50/50 deal. I’m a big fan of him. I’m a big fan of his coach. He’s got all the right stuff, in a tough market, by the way. This is not a place free agents are clamoring to go to.”

The Bills have the third-highest-ranked front office in the AFC, slotting in behind the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs, who come in at No. 1 and No. 2 on the overall list, respectively. Buffalo is the AFC East’s sole representative on the 10-team ranking, which makes sense given its recent divisional dominance.

Beane’s sustained excellence at the head of the table has not yet resulted in trophies, but this isn’t necessarily due to a lack of roster quality. It’s difficult to win a Super Bowl, but Beane has given Buffalo its best-sustained opportunity to achieve the feat in quite some time; the Bills are off to a 3-0 start to the 2024 campaign, with Josh Allen and the offense looking like juggernauts in the early part of the season. To play on a clichéd quote in Western New York, perhaps this really is the year.

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