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VIDEO: Bills introduce new GM Brandon Beane

Michal Mroziak
/
WBFO News
(From left) Kim Pegula, Brandon Beane, Terry Pegula

The Buffalo Bills and owner Terry Pegula introduced Brandon Beane as the team's new General Manager on Friday morning.

Beane comes to the Buffalo Bills after working for nearly two decades with the Carolina Panthers franchise. He began there as an intern and, over the years, took on various roles in football operations including a brief stint as interim general manager.

Bills co-owner Terry Pegula said the team hired Beane because they were impressed with his all-around abilities in a football front office.

"You may not know how much scouting he's done and he's done a good job of it," Pegula said during a news conference Friday in the team's media room at One Bills Drive in Orchard Park. "His all-around front office (work), contracts, the whole thing. He was a GM in everything but title."

Beane also worked closely in Carolina with Sean McDermott. Before joining the Bills as their new head coach earlier this year, McDermott worked as the defensive coordinator for the Panthers. Beane spoke of their interactions with their previous employer.

"Sean and I would literally go back in his room and, he was responsible for the defense, had the depth chart up for the defense." Beane said. "We would talk about players and talk about where we had strengths and where we had weaknesses. I would bounce ideas off of him of where we could get players. We were always talking about how to make our roster better."

McDermott's influence quickly rose within the Bills organization through the late winter and early spring. But Beane says neither McDermott nor he are a "czar" and, along with Terry and Kim Pegula, build the Bills through collaboration.

"As I've done every step of my life, I'm just going to hit the ground running," Beane said. "You're going to find that I'm a hard worker, I'm humble and I just want to do what's best.

"It's not going to be my team. It's not going to be Sean's team. It's not going to be Terry's or Kim's. It's going to be the whole Buffalo Bills collaborative approach. I think that's what wins. I've seen that in Carolina and that's what you're going to see here."

Beane and McDermott, who replace Doug Whaley and Rex Ryan respectively, have the task of returning the Bills to the playoffs. The team has missed the postseason for 17 consecutive seasons.

Beane's introduction was the second time in as many days that Terry Pegula welcomed a new leader to one of his pro sports franchises. On Thursday, he formally unveiled Jason Botterill as the general manager of his hockey team, the Buffalo Sabres.

Michael Mroziak is an experienced, award-winning reporter whose career includes work in broadcast and print media. When he joined the WBFO news staff in April 2015, it was a return to both the radio station and to Horizons Plaza.
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