In retrospect, it is almost comical to suggest Brandon Beane overplayed his hand back in 2018, when, as the Bills general manager, he engineered a draft-day trade-up to land franchise quarterback Josh Allen.
Beane moved up from No. 12 to No. 7 in the first round by sending Buffalo’s first-rounder as well two second-round picks (No. 53 and No. 56 overall) to the Buccaneers. It was a costly move, the kind of gamble that gets a team executive fired if it does not work out.
Six years later, Beane is still on the job.
And while it is easy to view Allen as a star now, six years ago he was a strong-armed and somewhat scattershot thrower from the University of Wyoming, a physical specimen that needed to be refined. The Browns liked Baker Mayfield better and made him the No. 1 overall pick. The Jets preferred Sam Darnold and took him at No. 3. At the time, there was no real groundswell that the Browns and Jets made huge mistakes and that Allen should have been their pick.
