Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane took some time on Thursday to address all the latest happening surrounding the team since the start of free agency this week.
From re-signings of their own last week, to the additions of receiver Emmanuel Sanders and quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, the duo had plenty to discuss.
With that, here are 12 takeaways from the press conference:
Why Trubisky was signed
Well who saw Trubisky being a Bills quarterback? Turns out he is. On Thursday, Buffalo signed him to a one-year deal and Beane said that Trubisky is going to replace Matt Barkley as the team’s QB2.
So the pressing question: Why?
Beane said the Bills see more similarities to Josh Allen.
“Physically, very talented. Athletically, can do some of the same things that Josh can do with the RPOs that Brian Daboll uses in the system,” Beane said.
The GM added that the stop in Buffalo might be one and done for the 26-year-old as well.
“This is a reset for him, we don’t expect him to be here long term,” Beane said.
Emmanuel Sanders’ fit
McDermott said the addition of Sanders is not something to overthink. The coach essentially said it was John Brown out, Sanders in. The reasoning for adding another piece is because the Bills didn’t want to give their offense any reason to struggle after their 2020 breakout.
“You never want to lose your fastball in terms of what we were able to do last season,” McDermott said.
Matt Milano returning
Candidly, Beane said if it wasn’t for COVID-19 causing financial changes in the league, linebacker Matt Milano would have be re-signed long ago. Maybe even last offseason. But because fans were not allowed at games in 2020, causing revenues and the 2021 salary cap to drop to $182.5 million … it took some time.
“All along, we had hoped to get Matt back. I think if we hadn’t had the pandemic and lowering of the cap and uncertainty of where everything would be, I think we would have gotten Matt extended last year,” Beane said.