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The Buffalo Bills are coming off a strong season in which Josh Allen earned his first MVP and the team's offense seemed to thrive despite trading away star wideout Stefon Diggs.
Still, the Bills fell short of the Super Bowl, and heading into the 2025 NFL Draft, fans and analysts alike expected the team to further bolster Allen's ing cast, particularly at wide receiver.
Beane defends defensive-focused 2025 NFL Draft
Buffalo focused heavily on defense throughout the draft, using six of its nine picks on that side of the ball.
That decision has drawn sharp criticism, especially from local media, leading to a fiery on-air exchange between general manager Brandon Beane and hosts of WGR550's "The Jeremy and Joe Show."
Beane wasted no time addressing the backlash during his appearance.
"I was just listening to the last few minutes of your show before I came on here, it sounds like 2018 all over again with you guys," he said, referring to past doubts about the team's drafting of Josh Allen.
"You guys were b--g in 2018 about Josh Allen and you guys wanted Josh Rosen. Now, you guys are b--g that we don't have a receiver. I don't get it."
Despite the lack of early-round investments at wide receiver in this year's draft, Beane pointed to the team's recent scoring success as validation.
"We just scored 30 points in a row for eight straight games," he said.
"No one scored more points than the Buffalo Bills, including the Super Bowl champions."
Buffalo added just one receiver in the 2025 draft, Maryland's Kaden Prather, taken in the seventh round, but Beane argued that their offseason moves, including the g of Joshua Palmer and the extension of Khalil Shakir, had already addressed the position.
"So you just saw us do it without Stefon Diggs, same group. How is this group not better than last year's group?" he added.
When pressed about why the Bills didn't invest more heavily at receiver "relative to [their] peers," Beane defended the team's balanced approach.
"It's not fantasy football to trot out the best receivers," he said.
"You can't have Pro Bowl wide receivers and a Pro Bowl offensive line and an All-Pro quarterback and three great running backs. You've got to pick."
Beane insisted that the draft board simply didn't align with a receiver pick in the early rounds.
"If there was a guy when we picked in the first round that we're like, 'Yes, this guy's dynamic,' we would've turned it in," he said.
"We weren't dodging receiver. I didn't think it was the deepest class, I'll say that."
Until the Bills reach the Super Bowl, scrutiny over their roster construction will likely continue.
For now, Beane appears content betting on continuity, and his MVP quarterback, to keep the offense rolling.