Brandon Beane talks roster-building, cap, draft for 2026 Bills
· Yahoo Sports
Bills general manager and president of football operations Brandon Beane spoke to the press on Tuesday at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
He pointed out that it's now "roster-building season" for NFL teams, and he is getting to work constructing the 2026 Bills.
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"We've got a new team that we have to build … Obviously, financial constraints can get in the way. You'd love to pay every player or have all the first-round picks," Beane said. "… It's just trying to get us all on the same page – the collective – and start over."
He's also prioritizing taking the best players available where and when they are able.
“We’re truly looking for the best players,” as opposed to focusing exclusively on position needs. “Because one of the things about the draft is, you don’t know how free agency is going to play out. Even with your own guys.”
The GM has already gotten the ball rolling, resigning multi-position offensive lineman Alec Anderson and restructuring the contract of fellow lineman Spencer Brown to help get under the cap, but their salary situation needs more work.
“Not enough,” he said about how much cap room the Bills have to work with in free agency. “[The cap] is [going up], but we know what the range is going to be. We still don’t have a final number yet, but we gotta work — yeah, we’re probably going to be $15 to $19, $20 [million] over [the cap] and we’ve gotta get under.”
Hopefully, several of the team's offensive leaders who can free up a substantial chunk of salary cap space by reworking their current deals to help Beane get impact talent, like the type of receiver QB Josh Allen wants, are listening. It's an important time for some of them to decide what fielding a Super Bowl-caliber roster is worth.
“We’ve already started doing some maneuvers,” Beane added. “We restructured [Bills RT] Spencer Brown the other day to get $10.5 [million] back, but we know we have some more work to do over the next couple of weeks. So that a, we can get under, and b, we can make the moves we need to make.”
Also in-house is a mostly new coaching staff, particularly at head coach and coordinators in all three phases, and they have been evaluating current players' skill sets, versatility, and fit as it relates to scheme changes as well.
Beane is looking at things the same way while evaluating players in the draft.
"I'd love to find another Cole Bishop and pair him right there where you can do both," Beane said, using the safety position as an example. "If we find a traditional box safety, then he'll probably end up in more free opportunities. But if we find more of a free-ranging post guy, then [Bishop's] going to find himself closer to the box."
The goal is a winning roster that can get them past the Division round and the AFC Championship game, and into a Super Bowl. Not just to make it, but to win it.
"We're excited about what this 2026 Bills team will be, and it's up to us to put the right product out there to make [the fans] excited and see the vision going forward," the GM shared.
He's taking a fresh approach with a new head coach for the first time in his tenure as well, and wants to support the environment and approach the HC is taking.
"Joe has come in, and he'll have different signage up, different pictures up, different things in meeting rooms," Beane said of new head coach Joe Brady. "He'll have his own sayings and things like that. I think his thing is, let's walk in like this is a fresh, new approach for how we want to build this team, for how we want to do our day. I'm sure there will be some nuances in his scheduling that are different. It's not just going to be, 'All right, one person in, one person out,' and we do everything the same."
Brady wants to adopt a new mindset and to make necessary shifts and changes to achieve better, desired outcomes than the way the team's seasons have ended, despite making the playoffs in seven consecutive campaigns.
"There's been a foundation that's been set here, and it might be a little different in the sense of we understand what expectations and everything that comes with it, but this isn't just, 'Hey, Joe Brady's in and everything's just business as usual, right?" Brady shared. "And so, it's important that everybody in the organization knows it because if we continue to speak about how things used to be, then we'll never continue to go forward. I have so much respect for the past, but it's year one in the organization right now."
How do they add to that foundation? By adding the right talent and fits for the team's position needs this offseason.
This article originally appeared on Bills Wire: Brandon Beane talks roster-building, cap, draft for 2026 Bills