Up North Hustle

Part 3: Brandon Beane

Right off rip. The whole, “power play” thing, the “snake” thing is 110% grade A horse s**t.

The owner made some decisions. I have no doubt Beane had opinions but at the end of the day, the owner, and McDermott himself, are responsible for him being fired. Certainly plenty of layers on how it all went down and how big of a s**t show that presser ended up being, thats the owner too. Beane now does his job. Manages it.

Has Beane made some mistakes? Of course. Absolutey a head scratcher or two in there imo. Yet I’ve discussed it many times on this page. No one, and I mean no one, bats 1.000. Does he have some serious work to do? You bet. Need an injection of star power? Yes. Is that all possible? Without question.

At the end if the day, when it comes to player acquisition be it draft, free agency, whatever. Brandon Beane’s positives far, farrrrr outweigh the negatives. If they didn’t we wouldnt be anywhere near having this conversation at all. In emotion SZN, how soon we forget Big Baller Beane and the mountain of great work he’s done to get us here.

I have a marathon list going so if anyone wants to point out or discuss specifics, please do so in the comments. Trust me when I say, I’d love to. Oh by the way, I’d tread lightly on the acquisitions that ended up with injury trouble. Just saying.

This off-season, I expect fireworks. Come training camp I expect they’ll be plenty to be excited about. And not at all for the reason that some folks are out there saying. That he’s just gonna try to prove everybody wrong. Personally, I think it’s been in the works for the past couple years. I’ve written about it on several occasions. I’ve had this discussion with countless people. In my opinion, since the moment the new stadium became official, they have had their sights set on this particular off-season.

Outside of some of the obvious ones, some names to keep an eye on that may be on the move this offseason..

Ed Oliver
Ray Davis
Terrell Bernard
Taron Johnson (release)

-The ‘25 trade deadline. Jaylen Waddle edition.

It was reported that the Bills offered a 2027 1st rd pick and a 2026 3rd for Waddle at the deadline. It was also reported the Bills offer was easily the highest. Supposedly Miami balked and wanted a 2026 1st instead. And supposedly, the Bills balked at that. Yeah. Maybe.

Or maybe the Dolphins didn’t want to hand over their very best player, a WR nonetheless, to the guy that has absolutely dominated them since he came into the league. Allen has a career record of 14-3 against them and you’re going to hand him your lightning fast 27yr old WR? The one thing every football person on earth says his lack of holds him back from being even better than he already is?

So let me get this straight. Josh Allen OWNS the Dolphins. He is the bane of Dolphins fans existence. And they have to watch Allen throw rainbow TD passes over their heads to their formerly best player twice a year. Do I have that right?

Grow up. The Bills called and regardless of any negotiations, unless the Bills offered something extremely stupid, the answer was no.

Quick view into how that call would have went if I were the Dolphins GM:

Bills: hey were calling about Waddle

Me: *click*

Ps… oh Garrett Wilson? Minus a detail or 2, exact same story. It isn’t even close to anything new for a team in your own division to tell you to take a long walk off a short pier when you’re asking about one of their players. Much less their very best one. Now we’re acting brand new?

By the way, Beane got killed for signing Brandin Cooks. And sure, Cooks may have a had a few drops sprinkled in early but that dude was running wide ass open constantly. Downfield, I might add. I’ve got clips of those too for anyone who may be interested. And don’t even get me started about the catch/INT in Denver.

The same people screaming from the mountain tops that Brandin Cooks made that catch and that we got screwed by the refs are the same people killing Beane for not getting Allen any WR’s. So if the refs get that call right and the Bills go on to win, we’re in the AFC title game in New England. Largely on the strength of a big play made by none other than Brandin Cooks. Are we still mad at Beane for apparently not getting any WR’s? What exactly is the shelf life on that argument?

Folks Im not interested in headlines and hot takes. I search for context. How did we get here? What series of events led us to this point?

-One last nugget before I go..

The search for the new head coach

To the portion of people out there trying to make a huge deal about Josh Allen being part of the process. I ask, why wouldn’t he be a part of the process? Seriously, all things considered, I feel like it would be foolish to NOT include him in it. Let’s be clear, Allen isn’t making the final decision or conducting the interview. He’s there for input that is used as a piece of the puzzle. And I ask again, why on earth would you not want that?

Outside of the obvious of getting a general feel for one another, things get discussed. I’m comfortable with these plays/routes/concepts, I struggle with these. I feel like I can improve on these. I feel like we left some things out there on these. I feel like we can really exploit teams with these, etc, etc. The interviewee offers his thoughts on those subjects in comparison to what he brings to the table. What he’s trying to accomplish. What he can do to elevate Allen’s game. Why would you not want that back and forth when interviewing the man that will be most connected with 17 for the foreseeable future? I’ve gotta say, that feels downright negligent to me to not include Allen in this process.

On the subject of who they’re interviewing, to me, nothing more than dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s. Due diligence to the max. At some point Brandon Beane will sit up there and say something along the lines of, “We’ve conducted an extensive search. We’ve cast our net far and wide”. And you know what? As they should. I can just hear some people out there now if they didn’t and hired the 2nd guy they interviewed. “Oh you didn’t even interview such and such?! Fire Beane!”

It’s a lose-lose in emotion season, apparently. Lets discuss.

Go Bills.

Keon Coleman and the Spider Man meme blame game.

It was his pick! No it was his pick!

Some context..

From an article on 8/30/24..

“The 20-year-old (Coleman) said he received a text from Allen on Friday, before he was drafted that said (via the team's official website), "You're the guy that I want. I watched a lot of receivers and I want to play with you”

You can read that article here:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/josh-allen-pumped-bills-took-keon-coleman-qb-texted-wr-before-draft-youre-the-guy-that-i-want/

The Bills traded Stefon Diggs to Houston on April 3rd, 2024. It had been trending in the direction for quite some time but with this move, the Bills officially handed the keys over to Josh Allen. The biggest voice in the locker room is now gone. This team is yours 17.

So moving on from the diva WR the Bills acted fast and drafted Keon Coleman to fill that hole in the 2nd rd just 23 days after the Diggs trade.

So when it comes to who exactly is responsible for the Coleman pick, we’ll never truly now. But for now, why dont we all agree that everyone, and I mean everyone was involved in Keon’s selection.

Am I the only one that thinks the Bills moved on from Diggs, handed Allen the keys and said we’re gonna get you a WR, any thoughts? Josh pushed for Keon Coleman. They all discussed Keon together. We’ll never know who had the biggest voice. But the very last thing on planet earth Pegula & Beane were gonna do was sit up there and blame Josh Allen. They would blame me for that pick before they blamed Allen. And thats exactly how it looked as Pegula fumbled around, Beane letting him speak before ultimately taking it on the chin saying it was his pick.

And heres the thing about Coleman. I dont think he’s a bad player. I don’t think he cant have a good career in that league. I think he was the wrong WR (stylistically) for them to draft at that time but folks its done and here we are.

Here’s the best part. One of 2 things is going to happen.

They trade him and he’s removed from the equation. Personally I can see him thrown in as a pot sweetener on a bigger trade.

Bills fans, well football fans in general after that circus, are about to see what that kid is made of. To a certain point I give him the benefit of the doubt. He’s 22yrs old and not all people are wired the same. Regardless of your profession, some humans just get it quicker than others. Thats just life. That said, that time is up. Bottom line, after being called out by the team’s owner on national media, if he stays with Buffalo and he’s late one time. Half ass route even one time. Right then we’ll have our answer. Does any of this light a fire?

Keon- do you f***ing love this game or not?

Go Bills.

3rd and final part coming tonight.

Josh Allen 'pumped' Bills took Keon Coleman; QB texted WR before draft: 'You're the guy that I want' Coleman said he wanted to play with Allen as well

**It should be noted that I was minutes away from posting this and the Joe Brady news broke. The following is a big piece Ive been working that I’ve broken down into 3 parts that will be posted throughout the day. We’ll get to Joe Brady later. Anyone else feel like they got on a roller coaster and the minute it started going up the 1st hill the park staff walked off and left the coaster running? **

Part 1:

Emotional SZN

I get it. People are emotional right now. And to a degree, understandably so. Emotional about getting bounced from the playoffs again. Emotional about the refs. Emotional about the coach getting fired and the ensuing circus of a press conference. But I can’t take it anymore. When this all was happening I put a pause on the Brandon Beane talk. Let me just let this all unfold, I thought. And since then I’ve been doing nothing but wading through an endless sea of dog s**t narratives propped by toothpicks. Here we go..

Some thoughts on Terry Pegula, the press conference, Keon Coleman, and Brandon Beane.

-Terry Pegula

I keep seeing folks talking about how Pegula isn’t a polished public speaker. Fair enough. But to me it was much simpler that.

To me he sounded like a 74yr old pi**ed off multi billionaire that had had enough. For a variety of reasons. Good, bad or indifferent, regardless how we feel about it personally, Terry was gonna let it rip.

Oh I’m sure that little voice of the PR people him and Beane sat down with shortly before that thing was rattling around up there. But it all came unraveled and Terry could care less. I’m the billionaire in the room and it’s my team. Deal with it.

My team just got eliminated. Again. Officiating an issue, again. I gotta fire the head coach that brought us here. All of the sudden the same people that have been lighting up the intrawebs clamoring for McDermott to get fired, are now apparently his biggest supporters. 13 seconds is apparently no longer a concern. Oh and my GM (that also very much got us here) is being called a snake, piece of s**t.

Oh what a tangled web we weave in emotional season.

Terry was gonna get some things off his chest and he didn’t give a s**t about the optics.

One specific I will touch on. The decision. Imo, there is no chance in hell he made that decision right then. It had been on his mind like it was on the minds of basically everyone. Fans, media and Im quite sure Sean McDermott himself. He walked in that locker room after the Denver game and looked around. He got absolutely no response from Josh Allen and that was the nail in the coffin. There is NO chance he made that decision right then, based on that one moment. None.

*Side note: Personally, the stuff we got to see immediate postgame, did look very different from yrs past. Just saying.

Go Bills.

Part 2 coming later today.

I'm working on a Brandon Beane piece that I’m certain to catch hell for. But hey, if I do anything on this page, I’m gonna shoot you straight.

I’ve got a list of points a mile long that I’m trying to chop down, and quite frankly, I’m still trying to process all this. A part of my brain was ready for the season to be over so the kid could get his damn heart rate down.

No sir.

So, all that said, I’m gonna wait until after tomorrow’s press conference before I finish the Beane piece. I can only imagine what Beane & Pegula are going to say.

In the meantime, here's a topic I was planning to get to, and it's a quick one.

The refs

Straight to it. I just don’t care anymore. As sad as this may be, I’ve truly grown numb to it, and I couldn’t be more serious. I just refuse to keep kicking myself in the nuts over something that doesn’t change.

Think about it, you go to work, you’re on the group chat, watching TV, scrolling, whatever. Everywhere you look, we’re having the exact same discussion year after year after year. This isn’t a random occurrence anymore. It happens all the time to all sorts of teams. If the game is close, the threat of a flag hangs over your head at all times and it sucks. Especially in Dec and Jan.

Nothing changes. Ever.

And it's going to stay that way. The NFL gives you exactly 2 options.

Deal with it

Take a hike

Literally, your only choice is to either accept it or abandon the team you’ve loved your whole life. That most of us have some super sentimental reason for. Good luck with that.

Putrid, cheating-level officiating has woven itself into the game we love, and it's not changing anytime soon. In the moment, I'm upset like anyone else. But I refuse to allow that madness to ruin even one second of my day. I'm thinking about the team.

NFL, disrespectfully, f**k you. You disgust me.

Go Bills.

Ps. It’s being reported that the NFL made $23 BILLION in revenue in 2025.

One. Calendar. Year.

I’ve been writing about the Bills all season. Haven’t posted a single word of it. Not once. The reasons for that are a story for another day but here I am this morning settling in to get some things off my chest. Season’s over, here are a handful of thoughts-type post. No sooner than I get literally 3 sentences in, Bills Mafia cell phones blew up in unison.

🚨Breaking news! 🚨

Bills fire head coach Sean McDermott

Welp, he was on the list, but I guess I’ll get right to it.

The hottest of topics when it comes to the Bills. And boy has it been a roller coaster for me.

I’m no stranger to questioning whether or not Sean McDermott is the right man for the job. He resurrected the organization as a whole, masterfully. But can he get us over the top?

The included pic is from a piece I wrote on Up North Hustle just after the conclusion of the ‘22 season.

But here’s the thing, since then, personally, I’ve seen growth in McDermott. And I know damn sure I’m not the only one. I see growth on the field and off. As a coach and as a human being.

How so, you ask? Some quick points to keep this brief:

Plenty of layers here, but anyone see the difference in approach between the above playoff games, and the ‘24 & ‘25 playoffs? Let me throw a few at you...

-uber aggressive on 4th down. Including 4 for 6 in the ‘24 playoff loss to KC.

-playing for TD’s, not field goals (3 for 3 in the redzone in that same game)

-on defense, not sitting back. Attacking frequently with a slew of exotic blitzes. Playing the aggressor.

The difference is stark and undeniable.

When did it all start?

-In the 2023 season McD had to fire OC Ken Dorsey after an ugly week 10 loss to Denver at home, dropping their record to 5-5. McDermott himself was on the ropes a bit.

-Roughly 1 month later, 3 days before the KC regular season match up, the Tyler Dunne hit piece came out. A full-scale attack on McDermott questioning everything from leadership to character and everything else on down. IMO like McD or not, the article was a huge pile of dog s**t, but who the hell am I?

Regardless, I think it cut McDermott deep. We saw raw emotion out of him that week that we hadn’t yet seen. For the 1st time, he appeared vulnerable and human.

The Bills went on to win 7 out of 8 that yr. Win the division before eventually losing to KC in the divisional round.

That next season, (2024) the slow change in him was in full swing. No longer just the sturdy architect and leader, he became more human. Through that, he became the aggressor.

Listen, I’m not here to say I agree with everything McDermott says/does. I certainly do not. Newsflash, no matter who they put in there neither me or you ever will. But for me, the improvement is undeniable.

But was it too little too late?

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have lingering concerns that perhaps his message had gone stale in the locker room. Improvements or not, it’s not an uncommon thing when a coach has been in place for an extended period of time.

Eventually, that same ra-ra in the room gets tiresome, especially when struggling to get over the top. Players can still love the guy as a person while simultaneously side eyeing the guy in the locker next to him like, “…oh here he go again…”. Keep in mind we’re talking about mostly 20 somethings mixed with experienced vets that have heard it all before.

The thing that stuck out to me most is how obviously unprepared to play the team was in an assortment of games over the past few seasons. This very much includes Josh Allen. To me, this falls on the head coach.

My motto in recent yrs has become if the Bills actually show up and play their game, nobody scares me. No one. Regardless of the roster and perceived issues, if that team shows up from jump you’re in deep s**t.

Therein lies the problem. The fact remains that seemingly more and more, they don’t. And I repeat, that includes 17.

For context, they just turned the ball over 5 times on the road. In the playoffs. 2 days ago.

I give McDermott all the credit in the world for his growth. Coming from a guy that was once at his wits end with him, I respect the hell out of a man that goes against everything he knows for the good of the team. As in, “Maybe I’m wrong. What can I do better?”

But was it all too little too late inside that locker room? As I sit here writing this, reports are coming out in real time that look as if the locker room is none too pleased with the firing so far.

One thing I do know. Making this change at this point is a HUGE roll of the dice. Not at all saying they won’t get it right. I for one have complete trust in Brandon Beane. (We’ll get to him later)

Beane may now be the President of football ops, but I doubt very much owner Terry Pegula won’t have a say in the hiring of the new coach as they enter his new $2+ billion stadium.

If they get this hire wrong, it’s the exact type of thing that opens the door for your very best players to start asking out of town.

Your move, Mr. Pegula.

Go Bills.

So what might a James Cook-less RB room look like in Buffalo?

Sometimes teams get in a jam for one reason or another and have to trade a really good player. A player they really don't want to. But in today’s salary cap landscape it happens more often than you’d think. Especially on teams in the top half of the league. An approach that has become increasingly popular is using a high draft pick, often times the one you got in return for said player, to immediately plug that same hole.

So let’s say the Bills swap Cook for a draft pick. I am of the belief the Bills can get a 2nd rd pick in the exchange. That would give them (3) second round picks. Now I fully expect them to utilize their early picks on another trade to address the defensive line but however that shakes out, when the dust settles, use one of those 2nd round picks to draft one of the top tier RB’s. Resetting the contract from potentially being somewhere between $10 to $15 million per season, to between $1.3 to $1.7 million. Again, for those scoring at home, the Bills could really use that money elsewhere.

When the Bills drafted Ray Davis out of Kentucky last year I wasn’t super familiar with him. But lucky for me my partner in crime when I started this Up North thing is as much a BIG BLUE guy as you’ll find. So I shot me a text to the Caped Crusader for a quote on Davis. His response..

“Honestly man I was hoping my Chargers would draft him. There were times he was the whole offense at UK. Not lightning fast but great vision and can take all the carries you’ll give him.”

Based on what we saw out of Davis this past season I’d say my guy was pretty spot on. Davis definitely appeared to really get rollin’ the more he touched the ball. And the little things really show up on the tape. Including, and some would say most importantly, pass blocking. As the season wore on and Cook continued to ascend, Davis was rock solid behind him and the RB room in general became a serious strength. When you have a RB on the cusp of BIG dollars and you don’t have much behind him, you may be more inclined to cash that RB out. But when you’re in a position of depth in that spot, well….

*Couple RB names I like early on in the draft process:

1. Dylan Sampson
2. TreVeyon Henderson

*Few teams (and their 2nd rd picks) to watch if a trade is made:

Vegas (37th),
Chicago (39th & 41st)
Washington (61st)

*For context: Currently the Bills hold the 56th and 62nd pick in Round 2.

Ty Johnson is at the tip top of my resign list. Make no mistake, he will have other offers. The guy brings so much to the table and is constantly impacting the game in a variety of ways. He brings the juice on every snap while at the same time offering a settling, veteran calm. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 3yrs, $10 million, loaded with incentives. He deserves every penny.

What are we thinking Bills Mafia? If the season starts with a RB room that looks like this…

1. Ray Davis
2. Dylan Sampson/TreVeyon Henderson
3. Ty Johnson

….how we feeling?

We goin Sean Taylor and Darrell Revis over here‼️ Who ya’ll got?!

I said what I said. Benford has since leapfrogged Bernard but Khalil Shakir has always been #1 on my list.

Shakir is the Bease role with elite run after the catch. Josh Allen is at his very best when he’s not only taking but churning out the underneath stuff. Imo its the fastest way for 17 to find his rhythm.

The Bills kick off the ‘25 season by prioritizing supporting their biggest investment.

Great sign and a well deserved raise for Shakir. 4yrs, $60 million, $32 million guaranteed.

The James Cook situation

Gut feeling right now on Feb 24th. IF, Cook stands firm on the $15 million per season. Like, 15 is the jump off and don’t bother me with a penny less. IF, he stays hardline on that number the Bills will trade him sometime before the season starts. Maybe before or at the draft or a player for player type swap just before training camp. Few different ways it could go down. My opinion is they are grappling with that option right now and it is 110% on the table.

I feel like the LAST thing the Bills want to do is trade James Cook. But if they are forced to do so the return on him would be substantial.

That said,

James Cook is in a unique position of having a brother just 4 yrs older than him that has lived that exact star NFL RB life. He’s been through it all and that includes securing a big, lucrative 2nd contract. 5yrs, $63 million with a $12.5 million AAV, for those scoring at home. It’s a huge moment for James. It’s a tough go for RB’s in the NFL and I can’t blame either of them one bit for wanting to secure James’ financial future. For now and life after football. He’s earned it. But can the Bills give it to him?

To be even more transparent on the subject, I own exactly one current Buffalo Bills jersey. The number on that jersey is 4. I do not want to trade James Cook. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve mumbled to myself, “Jesus Cook is so effing good”. My thought process here is BIG picture. All things considered, I just don’t see how the Bills can give him that kind of money and it doesn’t negatively affect other parts of the roster. In a time when they are not out of the woods yet but starting to see the light when it comes to salary cap issues. Making one tough decision that will likely push them into multiple others as they inch closer to opening that new stadium.

Plenty of details, tons of context to this discussion. How we feeling Bills Mafia? Are you shelling out $15 million per season or nah?

The James Cook situation

Gut feeling right now on Feb 24th. IF, Cook stands firm on the $15 million per season. Like, 15 is the jump off and don’t bother me with a penny less. IF, he stays hardline on that number the Bills will trade him sometime before the season starts. Maybe before or at the draft or a player for player type swap just before training camp. Few different ways it could go down. My opinion is they are grappling with that option right now and it is 110% on the table.

I feel like the LAST thing the Bills want to do is trade James Cook. But if they are forced to do so the return on him would be substantial.

That said,

James Cook is in a unique position of having a brother just 4 yrs older than him that has lived that exact star NFL RB life. He’s been through it all and that includes securing a big, lucrative 2nd contract. 5yrs, $63 million with a $12.5 million AAV, for those scoring at home. It’s a huge moment for James. It’s a tough go for RB’s in the NFL and I can’t blame either of them one bit for wanting to secure James’ financial future. For now and life after football. He’s earned it. But can the Bills give it to him?

To be even more transparent on the subject, I own exactly one current Buffalo Bills jersey. The number on that jersey is 4. I do not want to trade James Cook. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve mumbled to myself, “Jesus Cook is so effing good”. My thought process here is BIG picture. All things considered, I just don’t see how the Bills can give him that kind of money and it doesn’t negatively affect other parts of the roster. In a time when they are not out of the woods yet but starting to see the light when it comes to salary cap issues. Making one tough decision that will likely push them into multiple others as they inch closer to opening that new stadium.

Plenty of details, tons of context to this discussion. How we feeling Bills Mafia? Are you shelling out $15 million per season or nah?