Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane went on the defensive during a radio interview about his team’s 2025 NFL Draft class amid criticism that they didn’t address the wide receiver position well enough over the weekend.
In an appearance on WGR550’s “The Jeremy and Joe Show” in Buffalo, Beane immediately began his interview by addressing criticisms the two hosts had made before he joined the show.
“I was just listening to the last few minutes of your show before I came on here, it sounds like 2018 all over [again] with you guys,” Beane said. “You guys were b——g in 2018 about Josh Allen and you guys wanted Josh Rosen. Now, you guys are b——g that we don’t have a receiver. I don’t get it.”
After selecting wide receiver Keon Coleman with their top pick in the 2024 draft, the Bills waited until the seventh round to address the position in the 2025 draft, selecting Maryland’s Kaden Prather with their final pick. Even though Josh Allen won MVP in 2024, wide receiver has been viewed as a position of weakness for Buffalo as no one on the team last year reached the 1,000-yard mark following the Stefon Diggs trade.
Beane insisted, though, that the Bills didn’t need to make a rich investment at wide receiver in the draft.
“We just scored 30 points in a row for eight straight games,” Beane said. “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 b—h about, but b——g about wide receiver is one of the dumbest arguments I’ve heard.”
Buffalo has made multiple investments at wide receiver already this offseason as well. It signed former Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Joshua Palmer to a three-year, $29 million deal in March while also adding Laviska Shenault Jr. and giving its leading receiver from last season, Khalil Shakir, a four-year, $53 million extension. The Bills also hosted former Cleveland Browns wide receiver Elijah Moore for a visit on Monday.
Despite those moves, one of the hosts of “The Jeremy and Joe Show” said he didn’t believe the Bills didn’t invest enough to the position “relative to [their] peers.”
“I get it. I’m just like, let’s be realistic,” Beane replied to that notion. “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 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 largely prioritized defense with their nine picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, selecting six players on that side of the ball. Their first five picks were used on defense, picking Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston with their first-round pick.
Are the Ravens, Bills and Bengals on the rise or did they slide on a slope?
While Buffalo went defense-heavy in the draft, Beane said that the Bills could’ve drafted a wide receiver with one of their top picks had the board fallen a certain way.
“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.”
FOX Sports NFL Draft expert Rob Rang graded the Bills draft an “A,” making them just one of three teams to receive an “A” grade or better.
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.
Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
