Brandon Beane, Sean McDermott are Atop NFL GM Power Rankings
Few Buffalo Bills fans will disagree with the latest subjective list presented by NFL.com: The GM Power Rankings, in which general manager Brandon Beane and coach Sean McDermott sit at the very top for their work to transform the Bills into short-term and long-term title contenders.
Their record together in Buffalo is 49-32 in the regular season and 3-4 in the postseason after taking over a team that hadn't been to the playoffs since losing to the Tennessee Titans in the Music City Miracle to end their 1999 season.
"The Bills' transformation since McDermott's hire in January 2017 could be taught in a college-level course on how to rebuild a franchise," Greg Rosenthal writes.
McDermott gets a mention with Beane in the rankings because he was the one who brought Beane to Buffalo from Carolina, where McDermott was the defensive coordinator and Beane a rising star in the Panthers' front office.
Interestingly, the Beane/McDermott tandem is the only one among the top 5 to have never won a Super Bowl in any capacity.
Despite McDermott's defensive background, the Bills have built a juggernaut offense around quarterback and MVP favorite Josh Allen to go with a defense that finished last season having surrendered the fewest yards and points in the league.
What's more, the two-time defending AFC East champs have succeeded in changing the power structure in their division by becoming the first repeat winners other than the New England Patriots since 1991.
Beane has worked particularly hard this offseason to clear tens of millions in salary cap space in order to bolster their roster with the likes of edge rusher Von Miller, Pro Bowl guard Rodger Saffold, running back Duke Johnson and wide receiver Jamison Crowder.
Throughout the process, he also found a way to satisfy star receiver Stefon Diggs with a rich contract extension that allowed everyone to exhale, particularly Allen, who has aimed more passes (330) at Diggs than anyone else since the two first took the field together to begin the 2001 season.
Diggs has caught 230 of them.
Rounding out the top 10 are Les Snead of the Los Angeles Rams, Kevin Colbert of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Brian Gutekunst of the Green Bay Packers, Jason Licht of the Tampa Bay Bucs, Brett Veach and Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs, Mickey Loomis of the New Orleans Saints, Duke Tobin of the Cincinnati Bengals, Tom Telesco of the Los Angeles Chargers and Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots.
Nick Fierro is the publisher of Bills Central. Check out the latest Bills news at www.si.com/nfl/bills and follow Fierro on Twitter at @NickFierro. Email to Nicky300@aol.com.
