Brandon Beane (born July 27, 1976) is an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
executive who is the
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
for the
Buffalo Bills of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL), a position he has held since 2017. Prior to joining the Bills, Beane served in the personnel department of the
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...
organization from 1998-2016.
Career
Before joining the Bills, Beane held various roles of increasing responsibility with the
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...
. He turned down a journalism job for a low-paying internship with the Panthers and eventually rose to become the team's assistant general manager. Beane has worked alongside general managers
Marty Hurney
Marty Hurney (born December 20, 1955) is an American football executive who is the executive vice president of football for player personnel for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as an administ ...
and
Dave Gettleman
David Alan Gettleman (born February 21, 1951) is a former American football executive in the National Football League (NFL) who was the senior vice president and general manager for the New York Giants from 2018 to 2021 and the Carolina Panther ...
, and with head coaches
Dom Capers
Ernest Dominic Capers (born August 7, 1950) is an American football coach who is a senior defensive assistant for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the inaugural head coach of the Carolina Panthers and ...
,
George Seifert
George Gerald Seifert (born January 22, 1940) is an American former football coach and player. He served as the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers and the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Seifert owned the second-grea ...
,
John Fox, and
Ron Rivera
Ronald Eugene Rivera (born January 7, 1962), nicknamed "Riverboat Ron", is an American football head coach for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He attended the University of California, Berkeley in the early 198 ...
.
During his 18-year tenure, Beane's Panthers appeared in Super Bowls
XXXVIII and
50, but lost to the
New England Patriots and
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...
respectively.
Buffalo Bills
On May 9, 2017, Beane was hired by Buffalo as the general manager, joining former Panthers defensive coordinator
Sean McDermott
Sean Michael McDermott (born March 21, 1974) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL coaching career as an assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001, ...
, who had been hired as head coach.
After the Bills fired previous general manager
Doug Whaley
Douglass G. Whaley (born December 16, 1972) is an American football executive and former collegiate player. He is the current Senior Vice President of Player Personnel for the XFL and from 2013 to 2017 was the general manager of the Buffalo B ...
, they opted to hire someone familiar to McDermott due to conflicts within the previous head coach-GM tandems under Whaley.
Within the first season, Beane traded away many of the players Whaley had signed, drafted, or extended, including receiver
Sammy Watkins, cornerback
Ronald Darby, linebacker
Reggie Ragland, and defensive tackle
Marcell Dareus. Though Beane arguably had his sights on a long-term rebuild while purging unfavorable contracts for the Bills, some sports commentators criticized his tactics. In 2017, Beane's first season with the team, the Bills ended their 17-year playoff drought. Beane has since drafted players such as quarterback
Josh Allen Josh or Joshua Allen may refer to:
* Josh Allen (offensive lineman) (born 1991), former American football player
* Josh Allen (quarterback) (born 1996), American football quarterback in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills since 2018
* Josh Allen (defensi ...
, linebacker
Tremaine Edmunds
Fe'Zahn Tremaine Edmunds (born May 2, 1998) is an American football linebacker for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Virginia Tech and was drafted by the Bills in the first round of the 201 ...
, and defensive tackle
Ed Oliver and brought in numerous offensive free agents with the team's new cap space.
On December 10, 2020, Beane signed a contract extension through 2025.
Personal life
Beane was a high school quarterback before injuries cut short his athletic career. He graduated from
UNC Wilmington with a degree in communications,
and he has two sons, Tyson and Wes, with his wife Hayley.
References
Living people
Buffalo Bills executives
National Football League general managers
Carolina Panthers executives
People from Stanly County, North Carolina
1976 births
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