BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Bills general manager Brandon Beane began a Monday morning radio appearance with a strong response to criticism against the team's approach to the wide receiver position.
Appearing on local Buffalo station WGR550's "The Jeremy and Joe Show," Beane was asked about the busyness of his draft weekend to start his interview. He responded by saying that he was listening to the discussion before he came on the radio show and that it "sounds like 2018 all over with you guys."
"Well, you guys were bitching in 2018 about Josh Allen, you guys wanted Josh Rosen, and now you guys are bitching that we don't have a receiver," Beane said when asked what he meant. "... We just scored 30 points in a row for eight straight games. A year ago, I get you guys asking why we didn't have receivers, but I don't understand it now. You just saw us lead the league in points, when you add all the postseason, no one scored more points than the Buffalo Bills, including the Super Bowl champions. So, you just saw us do it without Stefon Diggs, same group. How is this group not better than last year's group? Our job is to score points and win games. Where do we need to get better? Defense. We did that. So, I get it, you got to have a show, and you got to have something to bitch about, but bitching about wide receiver is one of the dumbest arguments I've heard."
Before Beane came on the air, the discussion was about the Bills' lack of movement to address wide receiver, including from one of the hosts, Jeremy White, that "relative to [the Bills'] peers, they do not invest in the [wide receiver] position."
Allen was named MVP for the 2024 season following a year in which the offense under coordinator Joe Brady, in his first full year in the role, set franchise records for points (525) and touchdowns (65) in a single season.
"I get it. I'm just like, let's be realistic," Beane continued after White said he wished Beane could have listened to the entire show. "Our job ... it's not fantasy football to trot out the best receivers. You got Josh Allen. First thing you got to do is protect him. You can't have everything. You can't have Pro Bowl wide receivers and have a Pro Bowl offensive line and an All-Pro quarterback and three great running backs. You've got to pick. Sure, I'd love to play fantasy football, but there's one football, Jeremy, there's one ball. You can't give it to but so many people.
"So, that's where I'm like, I don't understand this narrative. I felt it a little bit from a couple of the reporters in the thing, like our job is to score points. It doesn't matter what receivers, what quarterback ... if you score points at the level we scored, that is winning football."
The Bills added wide receiver Joshua Palmer in free agency; Mack Hollins signed with the New England Patriots in free agency, and midseason addition Amari Cooper is currently unsigned. The Bills drafted wide receiver Kaden Prather from Maryland in the seventh round. They addressed defense with the first five picks, with the defensive line and cornerback being significant needs coming into the year's draft. In 2024, the Bills selected wide receiver Keon Coleman with pick No. 33 and traded up in the first round in 2023 to pick tight end Dalton Kincaid. Both Coleman and Kincaid dealt with injuries in 2024.
The Bills also hosted free agent wide receiver Elijah Moore on a visit Monday, Beane confirmed on the team's "One Bills Live" program. Beane said there was "nothing imminent today," regarding a possible signing.
"Listen, if there was a guy when we picked at the first round that we're like, 'Yes, this guy's dynamic, he's going to fit here,' we would've turned it in," Beane said. "In the second round, we would've done it. We went up and got [defensive tackle T.J. Sanders]. We weren't dodging receiver, we were going in, hey, we had the guys stacked where it was. I didn't think it was the deepest class, I'll say that, but yeah, if it would've worked out, I would've gladly done it. But I'm trying to make sure we got the best team, not the best receiving core."
Beane emphasized after the draft that the team stuck to its board.
"Like I said the other day, best player on the board was a receiver, I promise you, we would have taken him at the time," Beane said on Saturday. "That is not how we valued it. And so that's what we, that's what we did. Right or wrong, that's just how I feel like you build a team."