Buffalo Bills players and administration alike arrived at One Bills Drive today, marking the start of the offseason. The day consisted of voluntary player workouts and media interviews. General Manager Brandon Beane addressed the media during the media session, in what will likely be his last time before the draft next weekend. As expected, the media frequented questions regarding the offseason and draft. Beane stayed tight-lipped per views status quo, and gave mostly generic, broad answers regarding their draft strategy. Yet, a few of Beane’s cloudy answers provides valuable insight into what the team may be planning for draft night. Let’s take a look at some notable snippets of draft information Beane slyly released.

The Defensive Line Class

“I think it’s solid. I don’t know if I want to label it off the charts great.”

This was the gem of the entire interview. In what has been considered a historically talented defensive draft class, Beane seems to think otherwise. He could be easily be blowing smoke, and trying to hide interest in exceptional players such as Ed Oliver and Montez Sweat. Each has the potential to drop to the Bills at the ninth pick, and Beane must realize that.

The counter to that train of thought is that Beane could truly believe that this defensive line class is nothing special. During his time with the Carolina Panthers, Beane was apart of a front office that placed significant importance on the defensive line. However, throughout his time as the Bills GM, Beane has supplemented the line with free agent signings and mid round picks. Despite his background, it’s plausible to believe he doesn’t value defensive line talent highly.

The Best Player Available

“Guys, I’m serious. We’re taking the best player [available].”

Beane said time and time again that the Bills would be drafting the best player available on draft night. The approach seemed to be guided by the team’s free agent strategy. He made a relevant statement regarding how he and the team wanted to go into the draft with no “glaring holes”. The front office accomplished that task, filling out the roster with robust depth. Bills front office has previously taken the best player available in Tremaine Edmunds and Tre White. You can make a fair assumption that Beane will select the best player available.

You can look further into the interview, to a later statement made by Beane, where he talks about merging need with skill. One thing is very clear: Beane has a stone cold poker face.

Trading Up

“Let’s go up and get him.”

Previous to this answer, he speculated on the idea of a player ranked highly by the Bills front office dropping past their assigned grade on the player. There’s no BS clouding this statement by Beane. The front office has established an aggressive draft mentality and will target the player they want. They did it with Edmunds and Josh Allen, making it safe to assume they’ll do it again. Beane wasn’t messing around with this answer- he wants other teams to know that his line is open.