The Season with Peter Schrager: Bills GM Brandon Beane

Brandon Beane joins Peter after a training camp practice in Rochester. In the chat, they discuss the machinations behind the selection of first round pick Dalton Kincaid, the bounceback from last year's disappointing finish, and updates on both Von Miller and Stefon Diggs. Beane, then, shares his career story-- jumping from the PR side of the Carolina Panthers front office to the operations group, to ultimately, the world of player personnel. An avid golfer, Beane also takes us through his favorite course, his best round, and his ideal golfing trip.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
The Season with Peter Schrager is a production of the
NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio. Hey, everybody, welcome to another
episode of the Season with Peter Schrager. We are now
in the second week of August. Preseason football is upon us.

(00:30):
There's a full slate of games this weekend. We already
had the Hall of Fame game last Thursday, the Hall
of Fame induction ceremonies. Hard Knocks's premiere in this week
Football's here, like football is here and it feels good.
And if you listen to this podcast, you come to
get your little taste of football, but also learn something new.
I thought one of the most interesting stories of the
week was that Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel came out

(00:52):
and said he'll have assistant head coach and his defensive
line coach Terrell Williams beat a head coach in the
preseason opener against the Bears on Saturday, and it seems
like it's something that'd be on the bottom line. Taker, Oh,
that's nice story. This is like an incredible realization I
just had and an epiphany that, oh my gosh, like
these preseason games mean nothing. Let assistant coaches, coach. We

(01:13):
always talk about how hard it is to get an
opportunity to showcase your skills when you're an assistant and
kind of climb that ladder. This is the opportunity. I
love this from Vrabel. So here's Terre Williams, who has
twenty six years of coaching under his belt, twelve in
the NFL. He's been, you know, Titans defensive line coach
since Vverbel got there in twenty eighteen. And now all

(01:36):
of a sudden, you're like, all right, give an opportunity
to this guy. And over the last few years the
Titans and not a not a headline team by any means,
but their defensive lineman Jeffrey Simmons been to the Pro
Bowl a bunch of times. They've had undrafted guys like
Tierre Tart and Nikwon Jones and Jayden Peevy all make
the team. And one of the reasons is Big T

(01:56):
who's the coach, and you know his assistant, Clinton McMillan,
he's going to go and do the defensive line. Those
guys have been huge. And you know, we talk about
the issue with the coaching hires and how it's usually
nepotism more so only offensive coaches. This is almost like
unlocking a key. And I didn't expect it because I
had not heard about it. And here Verbel drops this,

(02:17):
and I thought, Okay, what if this was required? What
if every coach, and not just not the first year coach,
but like, say your guy like Rabel, who's a made
man and he's in his fifth year. Say your Andy Reid,
who's in your twenty something year, you know, as a
head coach, and you're already nearly a decade in with
the Chiefs. Maybe one of those three preseason games, an

(02:37):
assistant coach is the head coach and he wears the
hat and he gets to do it all, and it's
him leaving the team out in the tunnel. Here's the
parameters I would make it if a coach is there
for five years or more with a team, So five
years or more go through the list. That's a lot
of coaches. At least one of those games has to
have an assistant coach as the head coach, and that

(03:00):
could be anyone. You could put your long time offensive
line coach in there. You can get your defensive coordinator
out there, or you can do what Mike Frabel does.
And he's got a defensive line coach in Terro Williams
handling the head coaching duties. I'm going to watch this
game on Saturday. Yes, Justin Field is playing, so I
want to see that. I also am really interested in
will Levis and then of course Malik Willis as well

(03:20):
from the Titan side. But I'm also curious to see
if we could even notice a difference if you've got
an assistant coach getting a chance to be a head coach.
And I want to hear his response afterwards that that
was my big takeaway from this week's news. And the
other one was Sean Payton coming out pretty aggressively and
pretty hard, and that's really been coach Payton's mantra this summer.
It seems like saying he doesn't want any guys wearing

(03:44):
Gilligan hats on preseas, which means like those bucket hats,
they all there. But also no in game interviews during
the preseason, which has become a staple of these local broadcasts,
like he's not here for that. We had a really
spirited debate on Good Morning Football about this, and I
was like, it's a preseason, like let if Jerry Judy

(04:04):
or you know you, Russell will an add to the
local broadcast. They get two of these, maybe three of
these a year. Let them interview with the local news
guy who's the sideline reporter, local newscal and Jason mccordy
was like, hell no, like get rid of that. This
is about getting better and the veterans should be watching.
And I'm like, all right, there you go. There's the
ex player versus the talking head difference right there. Some

(04:27):
other quick things before we get to our guests. Who's
a great one one? Aaron Aaron warn Kaufman, my producer.
Have you seen Oppenheimer? I haven't yet, unfortunately not gotten
to the theater. I saw it last night. Are you
a Nolan head? Like, are you a guy who has
seen all the Nolan movies? And like or one of
those he's got people who first night they'll see it.

(04:48):
But have you gotten to most of Chris Nolan films?

Speaker 2 (04:51):
I have, except for Tenant and surprisingly Interstellar I also
haven't seen, which I've heard is great, but it's great.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
I am a Chris Nolan fan, but I'm not one
of those guys who's rushing to the theater the first
night However, my wife, my son, my daughter are away.
This week, I had an open night. A lot of
guys decided to go out and rage with their friends.
I call my friend and say, can we please go
see Oppenheimer? It's three hours long. I don't think I
have three hours open the rest of the year. Have

(05:21):
you been to the movie theater called the Ipiic in
South Street Seaport. No, okay. So it's like one of
these IMAX deals in New York City, but it's a
smaller theater and they serve you food, almost like the
Alamo Draft House, I guess, but it's like high end
and here's the comedy of it. So I went with
my friend Alex, who happens to be a Bills fan,

(05:42):
very appropriate with Who's coming on as our guest. And
Alex and I have seen movies together in the past.
I remember we saw The Post, which was epic. We
saw that a couple of years back. I think we
saw The Big Short together, the two of us, like
we see movies together. Then we took our sons to
see Sonic together a few years back as well, So

(06:03):
that's my movie.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Guy.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
We look up at the IPIC there like there's a
six fifteen showing, but there's only two seats available, and
those two seats are on something that is basically a
Shay lounge, and the three of us together together, and
it was in the first row. So a three hour movie.
Cuddling with my friend Alex, watching the movie with my

(06:30):
neck just ninety degrees. And let me tell you something,
I freaking loved it. I loved it, loved it. I
loved it. I loved it. It was awesome. There's been
the day after. It's what I always do. I listened
to all the podcasts. I'm like, all right, what are
the guys at the Big Picture have to say? And
then like Chris Ryan starts breaking it down, and I'm
listening to Andy Greenwald and whoever else is Sean Fantasy

(06:51):
and Amanda Dobbins, and I'm like, what do they got?
And then I do a little deep dive on Oppenheimer
himself and what are the historical inaccuracies. I'm not gonna
spoil anything. This movie's great. Anybody who tells you that
the last hour is too long or drags on doesn't
appreciate great writing and a great reveal at the end,
and this final scene where it's Oppenheimer and Einstein, and

(07:16):
it's I'm not gonna spoil anything. It leaves you speechless,
like all these Christopher Nolan movies do with the exclamation
mark at the end where you're like ah, then they
go to the credits. I loved it, loved Oppenheimer. Can't
wait to discuss it with Aaron Rodgers when he sees
it again, because when I asked him about it, he
said he saw it at nine o'clock at night, which

(07:37):
you cannot do. You have to be like fully in
this movie moves and the cameos from not only a
list actors. I'm not spoiling anything, but like Remy Mallick
has like four lines in this movie and he's awesome.
Casey Affleck shows up and is tremendous and plays a
heel and is just evil in this movie and you're
like ah. But also guys that I haven't like, Josh

(08:00):
Hartnet has a big role. I haven't seen Josh Hartnet
and a lot of movies lately. I love Jason Clark.
That's the actor. You know him from Zero Dark thirty,
but you also know him from that Winning Time series.
He plays Jerry West. I think in that one, and
he's great. So just cameo's galore, familiar faces, some surprise
cameos at the end that you're like, is that who

(08:21):
I think that is? And it is, and I would
be shocked if not only is it Killian Murphy or
Silly and Murillian.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
I think it's yeah, I don't know. I think it's
Silly and Murphy.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
I remember seeing him in that movie Red Eye with
like Rachel McAdams, so they going like years ago and
being like that guy's spooky looking. Well, he's amazing as
Jay Robert Oppenheimer. If he's not nominated for Best Picture,
Robert Downey Junior as Best Supporting Actor, and I'm gonna
throw in Emily Blunt as Best Supporting Actress, I would
be shocked. All three of them were amazing. I love

(08:54):
the film, and of course Nolan not only directed it,
but he wrote it. That is my recommendation. See that
as far as your Friday nights, can I make another
recommendation for everybody This Friday night, the Detroit Line announced
that they're going to be offering an alternate broadcast of
their first preseason game against the Giants on Friday night.

(09:14):
The main broadcast of course, will be on the Lions
TV Network and the Lions Radio Network, but yours truly
will be hosting the alternate broadcast on Detroit Lions dot
com and the Detroit Lions mobile app. I am so
excited for this. Here's how it's gonna work. I'm basically
Peyton and Eli hosting this thing. And it's a shreger cast,

(09:35):
if you will, for the Detroit Lions. And I'm gonna
have Lions legends and guys who work for the team
now and and other celebrities come on here and there,
and it's gonna be cool. It could be a complete bust,
it could be terrible, but it's an alternate broadcast. We're
trying things. I so appreciate the guys not only at
the Lions, but a company called kiss We and they're

(09:56):
gonna be giving me this opportunity. They called me earlier
this summer say would you be interested in coming on
as a guest or a host. I'm like either one,
let's do it. The guests that we've booked for this thing,
it is a heavy, heavy hitter lineup. I love this.
Brad Holmes, who I think has the most listens of
this podcast. The general manager. He's going to be coming
on and joining me. Chris Pielman, who is the special

(10:19):
assistant to the President and the CEO and chairperson there now,
but Lions legend and was also he was the analyst
when I was a slideline reporter for years for Fox.
Gary Danielson's going to be joining. He's the lead college
football anals for CBS, obviously doing SEC and now Big Ten.
He's a Lions quarterback for nine years. He's coming on.
Glover Quinn, who is a long term safety Golden Tate.

(10:39):
How about Jalen Rose University of Michigan, standout Detroit native,
diehard Lions fan coming on. Here's what I love. Aaron
kirk Gibson's coming on with me. Michigan state legend but
also a Tiger's outfielder for years and was from Pontiac, Michigan,
and all the old Darren McCarty, Red Wings right winger
and four time Stanley Cup champion. I love that we're

(11:01):
getting Darren McCarty on this thing. Dave Briquette, who's the
Lions beat writer for the Detroit Free Pest forever and
as a Pro Football Hall of Famer. My friend Stacy
Dale's NFL Network reporter, and of course we know her
history as a wonderful college basketball player and an All
American and a WNBA player for years. I'm fired up.
So who knows. It's seven o'clock on Detroit Lions dot Com.

(11:24):
It's gonna be a sensation. It's Schragger Cast. It's what
we do. It's basically this with a bunch of guests,
and I'm studying the depth chart for the Lions. I
swear I'm looking at the Lions depth chart. I don't
know a lot of these guys, so there's a lot
of chances for me to sound stupid. But Lions fans,
if you enjoy this kind of banter and you enjoyed
my interview with Brad Holmes, check it out. And if
you're not a Lions fan and you're a Giants fan,

(11:46):
or you're just a fan of this podcast and what
we've got going in this kind of vibe, I would
say check it out. Detroit Lions dot Com the alternate
broadcast of the Giants Lions preseason opener for both teams.

Speaker 2 (11:59):
I know it's tough because they don't always not everyone
plays a ton, but do you have any player in
particular on the Lions roster you see on Friday.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
I want to see if Gibbs plays, right, that was
the guy that yeah, yeah, that just loved him. Yeah yeah,
Holmes loved him. He's a top fifteen pick.

Speaker 4 (12:16):
You know.

Speaker 1 (12:17):
Then there's other stories because like I've been doing my
research and I've fallen in love with a wide receiver
who I think my play a lout in the second
half named Dylan Drummond. Drummond story is cool, Aaron, real
quick before we get to our guests here, it is.
You'll like this, all right. Never was all conference in
anything at Eastern Michigan in the MAC. He was like
this under the radar. Guy doesn't get the comm bye,

(12:39):
nothing like draft weekend. He's golfing the entire time, doesn't
even pick up his phones. He knows he's not getting drafted.
He's a wide receiver. But usually when you don't get
drafted and you're a good player in college football, you'll
you'll try to get signed as an undrafted free agent.
Like in the hours after the draft. There's probably like
a couple hundred guys that happens to, where all the
teams are like, all right, we're gonna have ten extra
guys that we signed as undrafted free agents, so we're
going to have him on the roster and they're going

(13:01):
to fight for a spot. He wasn't one of them.
So take the three hundred guys who get drafted, the
two hundred guys who get undrafted free and signings, that's
five hundred guys. He's not one of them. They have
a rookie mini camp tryout in the spring and he
shows up and he's you know, ipsil Ante is where
Eastern Michigan was. He shows up, plays well, three days

(13:21):
and he's about to leave and he's like, I guess
that was that doesn't hear anything, gets a call and
they're like, are you still in the Building's hegether? They're like,
we'd like to sign you to a rookie contract just
to come to training camp. And so Dylan goes and
signs it. And to a man, I'm not trying to
hype him up all too much. I don't even know
if he makes the team, but everyone that I speak
to in Detroit is like, Dylan Drummond is crushing it,
like he is having a great camp. So I am

(13:44):
excited to see that guy, Dylan Drummond jersey number eighty
three for the Detroit Lions. I assure you no other
podcasts and the world is talking about Dylan Drummond right
now in the second week of August. Awesome.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
Nice, Well, I'm excited to watch him now.

Speaker 1 (14:00):
Yeah, and watch Thedetroit Lions dot Com broadcast. Plenty of
other stuff going on. We'll hit it throughout the next
couple of weeks, but all your teams are on this weekend.
Enjoy it. It also means it's the end of NFL
Network sending people all over to camps and having them
in their polo shirts and the director's chair and interviewing

(14:21):
the players and getting great soundbites. It's been fun. My
funniest video of the week that I loved was Scott
Hansen from NFL Red Zone. Hi Scott Hanson. Here Scott
Hansen going into the Jaguars facilities men's bathroom and being
so impressed by the technology that they have that grades
your hydration. Essentially you deposit yourself Like he was using

(14:43):
crazy words. He was explaining it on this video about
beeing into the urinal and the urinal tells you if
your hydration levels are correct, and he's like, if it's
in the red, you gotta go see a trainer immediately.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
You're about to see.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
The most advanced urinals in all of professional sports.

Speaker 6 (15:00):
Jacksonville Jaguars Headquarters.

Speaker 5 (15:02):
All right, that's a censor that will measure your hydration level.
If the light turns green when you go, you're good that.
If it's yellow, you need to high drate some more.
If it's red, you're probably gonna get a notice from
the athletic trainers.

Speaker 6 (15:23):
Maybe have an IV.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
I'm like NFL Plus has all sorts of stuff, and
I appreciate like analytics programs and and here's a game
preview from this analyst. I might not click on any
of that stuff if you told me there's a Scott
Hansen weekly show where he goes to different NFL facilities
and tries out the bathrooms and just tells us and
does like a review as if he's like Dave Portnoy,

(15:47):
you know, I think Jamie heard all said it great.
She was like, you know, one flush like instead of
one bite, like you know the rest of the rules.
You know, I would be in on it. And then
a twitter you know, person not twot at our show
because we had Hanson talking about this urinal and like
this incredible urinal this second, like this like ai urinal
tells you about a Twitter person you know, hit up

(16:09):
the show and was like it was like, you know,
it's actually not a terrible idea. Hanson in one stall,
a guess in another stall. You just have you know,
the two of these guys with behind closed stall. We
don't see their faces, we hear their voices, we hear
whatever else action they've got going on. And it's a
full interview show. It Scott Hansen from a bathroom in
a facility NFL plus guys, I can't just give these
ideas away for free. There's got to be an apartment

(16:31):
there that's working on these. This is gold, take it
and do what you want with it. And with that
we get to our guest. I really love this dude.
We'll get them on right after this. Our next guest

(16:58):
is the man making the key decisions in the front
office for one of the NFL's best teams over the
last several years. They're a Super Bowl contender year and
year out, and they're a lot of people are taken
this year and right now we are on the eve
of the start of the preseason slate, so it was
a good time as they wrap up their training camp
trip out to Rochester to bring on our guy GM

(17:19):
of the Buffalo Bills, Mister Brandon, Bean Brandon, what's up man?

Speaker 3 (17:22):
How you doing? Buddy?

Speaker 1 (17:24):
Doing great?

Speaker 3 (17:25):
Appreciate you having me all like always, Buddy.

Speaker 1 (17:27):
I love having you on. I think you're the first
recurring guest in the history of this podcast. We've had
lots of coaches, lots of coordinators, lots of gms, but
you're the first guy I've ever asked to come back
on because I loved how much fun we had on
the first one, and now you're here for the second one,
and let's dive right in. At this point in training camp,
when it's beyond hey, everybody, let's unpack our bags, when

(17:49):
you're not sleeping in your own bed and you're now
onto week two, is it one of those where it's like, Okay,
we're good, like we're set, let's get the season going.
Or is it you wish he had a couple more
days to kind of work out the kinks.

Speaker 4 (18:00):
Yeah, I mean, I enjoy training camp. I enjoyed up
here in Rochester. It's a great setup here Saint John Fisher.
It's you know, every team is its own team. You
have a lot of the same players, but every team
forms its own bond. And uh those teams that bond together.
I go back to the teams that we had success
on in Carolina, the team that we had that made

(18:21):
it to the AFC Championship a couple of years ago. Like,
those guys genuinely loved being around each other. Uh, it's
we all know, it's not always the most talented team.
It's it's the best team because you're gonna have adversity.
Obviously we faced our fair share of that last season.
And and so this is kind of where that bond
really starts.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
At camp away, you're just kind of on your own.

Speaker 4 (18:42):
You're in drm rooms, you're you're hanging out the cafeteria,
whatever it is. So I enjoy it, but it is
getting to the point where, uh, you know, I know
the guys are starting to get tired of hitting each other,
and so they're ready to hit someone else. And uh
so and plus from my standpoint, I know that the
pass rushers know Dion Dawkins move or Spencer Brown's move
or vice versa.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Let me see them get some you know, some fresh
meet and how how they you? You know from that standpoint, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
You guys are one of the few teams left that
actually travels for training camp. Obviously the Cowboys and we
can name a few. The advantage of going to like
a college campus and being Josh Allen and von Miller
needs to be in dorms for two weeks. Like the
advantage of that though, give me the give me the
plus four it because I remember covering the Giants when
all the big fellows are argue just it was over.
It's all Beny, the beds are too small, and they're like,

(19:30):
this is just We're just we're veterans making millions of dollars.
What are we doing? What are these What are the
advantages of going off campus and off site and really
having that bonding experience.

Speaker 4 (19:39):
Yeah, I mean I think our football ops, guys, Brendan
Rugs are DFO. I think they do a great job
of getting bigger beds in here they find so the
guys aren't sleeping in true dorm beds like you think
eat his dorm rooms. So we're not at the ritz
Carlton by any means. But it's not a long stretch
and I just think, like I said earlier, the bonding

(20:01):
having to just you know, no one's trying to rush home.
No one's wife's all or girlfriend or whatever. Hey, we
got to get home. You got to do this. It
just to me, it takes the pressure off of everyone.
Your singular focus is football here for a couple of weeks,
and then then you kind of return to some normalcy
and again building that bond. You know, Sean and I

(20:22):
both believe it's just super important for the long stretch
that you know, of the season of seventeen games.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
I would imagine the star players don't have roommates or
do they.

Speaker 3 (20:31):
No, they don't.

Speaker 4 (20:33):
You know, we we bunked some of the young guys,
but no, none of the guys.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
Josh Allen is not like.

Speaker 4 (20:43):
Micah and Jordan there. They got their own room, so
they're they're in good shape from that stamp.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, you mentioned last year at the end, like the adversity.
I've gotten through it a million times on our show.
I've talked about our pocket like there was there you
understandably nothing left in the tank by the end. No,
it's not an excuse. It's just no team I can
remember in recent years has gone through a two month
span with all the weather stuf, and then tomorrow and
just straight through to the end of the season where

(21:09):
it's like, God, they've gone through a lot. Do you
feel like the team is refreshed or is there a
hangover from all that where you like can kind of
sense that, you know, the stink of the end of
last year. And I don't mean to say stink, but
you know what I mean. Yea, it is still with
this team as we had to twenty twenty three.

Speaker 4 (21:25):
No, I think you know, as I said, every teams
a new team, and it's our job to learn from
what Yes, there was adversity, there was things that come up,
but it's what you do with it and how you
take that and the scars of not winning. You know
that trophy that the Chiefs, you know won again last season.
It's it's it's what you do with it, learn from

(21:47):
the mistakes, things we could have done better. Yes, there
was adversity, but there's things we could have handled ourselves
and we know that. And so this is a fresh group,
a new team, and so we got a fresh outlook.

Speaker 3 (21:57):
Everyone's looking ahead to this season and.

Speaker 4 (22:01):
Trying to make sure that we don't repeat, you know
the mistakes that ultimately cost us, you know, a chance
of the Super Bowl.

Speaker 1 (22:08):
When we had you on last time. You took us
step by step through the drafting of Josh Allen and
how convicted you guys were, and we're gonna make this move.
We're gonna get this guy. We're gonna do it. And
we found our guy, Dalton Kincaid. Everywhere I looked in
the mock drafts, everyone I talked to you said, Okay, look,
Kincaid and probably Myers, the Notre Dame kid, they're probably

(22:30):
gonna go in the top twenty. And then after that
there might be a Darnell Washington, there might be other guys,
but tight end position is really good up top with
these two guys. You're sitting there in the mid twenties
at the end of the first round and there's Dalton Kincaid.
Can you take us through the drafting of Dalton Kincaid
from your perspective And did you ever think in a
million years you guys would have the opportunity to draft
that guy at a Utah.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
Yeah, I mean, we really liked Dalton a lot. We
tried not to get it out there.

Speaker 4 (22:55):
We tried to keep our cards close to the vest,
and you know, you do pay attention to macks for
a lot of reasons, one to kind of prepare who
you think is gonna be.

Speaker 3 (23:04):
They're not that they're gonna have every team.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
But if again, if you're looking at thirty mocks and
every single one of them has a you know, Will
Anderson going before you pick, you don't really you know,
need to go too deep. It's usually pretty accurate. And
so you know, no one really was projecting Dalton. Does
people you know, have some guards, people had some receivers,

(23:27):
you know, And so it was kind of I felt
like we laid under the radar there from that standpoint.
And again probably ten days, two weeks somewhere in there,
I don't remember. I was, you know, you're kind of we're,
you know, our board, we're wrapping it up, and you're
looking at them, looking to see who's on our board
that we like and versus what people think is going
to be there.

Speaker 3 (23:46):
And I thought ten days out, I was like, we
got a good chance at Dalton. I really did.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
But but then as I'm starting to do my homework
and things were running close, so I'm starting to hear
Dalton going in the teens and he's not going to
get past this team and you know, barely past twenty
and so at that point you're you're making, you know,
alternative plans if he doesn't get to you, you know,
whether you trade back or could someone else that you

(24:12):
like be there. And so ultimately, you know, I had
told you know, our ownership, you know, and Terry Bogula said,
you know, if he gets close, I may get a
little aggressive here to try and get him. And ultimately
we were able to move up a couple of spots
and get him.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
What were the machinations of that trade? Because I remember
with Giants, Jacksonville, the Ravens, there's all these teams. Are
you on the phone calling you know, all of them
and saying, let's trade for the pick? Or is it
one of these where they call you and said do
you want to trade back?

Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (24:40):
I mean the day of the draft, you know, I
had guys checking around, but I had you know, Jacksonville
was one of the teams that said they might be
open to move back.

Speaker 3 (24:53):
The Giants.

Speaker 4 (24:54):
You know, I talked to Joe and he said, you know,
he thought they might be willing to move back.

Speaker 3 (24:59):
And I said, listen.

Speaker 4 (25:00):
I again, by that day, I didn't think he would
be there.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
I said, honestly, I think we're probably going back with
you know, and not going up.

Speaker 4 (25:08):
That was my you know, truthful feeling if I, if
I was putting odds in Vegas that I would go back.
But then it got you know, when he got past
like twenty one, you know, or so I was like, man,
we got a chance here.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
And the run of wide receivers was starting.

Speaker 4 (25:24):
It was starting, and so I called Joe and said, hey,
what do you think We'd already nailed down what it
would be so we didn't.

Speaker 1 (25:32):
Have to argue beforehand. You're like, it's hypothetically, this.

Speaker 3 (25:36):
Is what we're going to do. That way, we don't
have to argue about it. You're an agreement. I'm in agreement.

Speaker 4 (25:40):
And he's like, well, listen, I'll do it if if
if our guy's gone or whatever. And so I'm like,
all right, well, then next thing I know, he texts me.
He goes we're moving up and he's Jackson just gotten
on the clock.

Speaker 3 (25:57):
You're like what.

Speaker 4 (25:58):
So before it was announced publicly, I started calling Trent
Balky and saying, you know, ultimately, you know, trimp I
know you're trading here.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
What what will you? You know? What can we do?
And he he didn't want to trade the pick.

Speaker 4 (26:17):
I really didn't, but Joe and then made their pick
and then he said, I'll call you back. And so
it went back and forth several calls, and he basically
made me tell him who we.

Speaker 1 (26:27):
Were going to pick, and you had to be honest
and I had.

Speaker 4 (26:29):
To shoot him straight and I would never lie in
that standpoint, from a trust standpoint, and he was nervous
about it, but he was willing to do it, and
he still got the tackle they wanted and we got done.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
It's so fun. And I know I'm on the media
side and the fans listening are like, but it is
as simple as that, as Hey, you and Joe are like,
there's a chance this might happen. We've got three days
here before the draft. We're killing time. Let's work out
the deal now, as opposed to doing it on the clock.
And then he has to text you and be like,
we're actually moving up. We like bangs out of Maryland.
We're taking him. And you're like, ah, all right, It's
it's got to be such a pressure cooker to be

(27:03):
there and then you only get one first round pick
of year, so you don't want to mess up, and
you don't want to get it wrong, and you don't
want to regret not getting the guy and have to
think after you guys get Dalton Kincaid, who put up
huge numbers at Utah. You guys were absolutely thrilled.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
Yeah, we were.

Speaker 4 (27:16):
You know, we really liked him through the process and
just thought he'd be a great fit for here.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
And and you know, he's.

Speaker 4 (27:22):
A smart kid, he's still an up and commoner and
just you know, pairing him with Dawson Knox, you know,
we thought could give us another added dimension that teams
have to defend.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
You know, we don't. We don't. We haven't used twelve
person al a lot.

Speaker 4 (27:36):
So this gave us a chance to add that to
Ken Dorsey's you know, kind of his playbook.

Speaker 1 (27:41):
Yeah, you're not going anywhere. You and Sean both are
pretty secure in that market, and you have this team together.
The stability of both the two of you guys together.
When you speak to your team and when you address
the the younger guys and maybe some of the veterans,
and they know that you're not going anywhere. How important
is that for you guys to come and know that, hey,

(28:02):
year to year, there's some consistency here. We're building something.

Speaker 4 (28:04):
Yeah, I mean it's I tell you when when I
interviewed for the job, you know, Sean was already there.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
I'm interviewing with the Beagoulas.

Speaker 4 (28:13):
And you know, so I'm talking to Terry and Kim
getting to know him, and one of the things I
brought up was stability. You know, I said, you know,
I felt like the AFC East teams were doing Bill
Belichick a favor by constantly turned over.

Speaker 3 (28:26):
I said, you know, it's two things.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
One, you haven't found a quarterback this organization since Jim Kelly.
So first and foremost, we have to start that plan,
you know, if you're going to hire me, And then
I want to know, like Kim, we this is the plan.
This is not an overnight thing. You know, as I
begin to work with Sean and we share ideas, you know,
if you're going to hire me to start working with Sean,

(28:49):
you know, I think we see things pretty similarly. From
from what I know about Sean. We haven't gotten deep
into the weeds. I had to get the job first.
But you know, they said, well, we gave Sean a
five year deal and we would do the same for
whoever gets this gym job. And I said, and I
hope you'll us, you know, play that out, And they said, no,

(29:10):
we you know, there has been a little turnover here,
but we want to be one of the franchises that's
looked at as not quick trigger, not just reacting to
you know, to media pressure, fan pressure, but doing the
right thing. And I tell you they've they've been great.
And you know, Sean and I both are very fortunate
to work for them, and they they're involved, but and

(29:33):
they want to know and they're doing everything that owners
should do. But they're also giving us the resources to
run the team and and and do the best we can.
And now it's on us to see if we can somehow,
you know, get this trophy finally to Buffalo here at
some point.

Speaker 1 (29:48):
Yeah, and those fans want it. AFC East is interesting
because for years I felt like it was just the Patriots,
and then now it's like your time. The Bills are
the team. Dolphins had a great season last year. Obviously,
you guys beat them in the playoffs. At the end
this pass offseason, the Jets loaded up. They're obviously going
to be a factor. The Patriot rates are still looming.
You look at this gauntlet and then your schedule, which

(30:10):
is also the NFC East. Is the AFC East as
good as it's been since you've gotten there. Do you
feel that way or is it like hell, no, we're
the team and they can come and try to get
the crown, like we don't care about what they did.

Speaker 3 (30:20):
Yeah. I think it's from top to bottom.

Speaker 4 (30:22):
It's as competitive as as you know, I can remember
it even back when I was in the NFC. Just
the Patriots dominated for so long, and so I think
everyone knew, you know, we got to, you know, make
make bold moves.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
And I think all teams have done it.

Speaker 4 (30:39):
Yes, Miami, you know, unfortunately too was out for them,
and they're you know.

Speaker 3 (30:43):
Playing Skylar Thompson, rookie quarterback. The kid played a heck
of the.

Speaker 1 (30:47):
Game played well against you guys.

Speaker 4 (30:49):
Really the game was in the balance well into the
fourth quarter for US holding on and so you know,
obviously we lose.

Speaker 3 (30:57):
Next week the Jets. The Jets beat us there.

Speaker 4 (31:00):
It was a tight game here, you know, and now
you add an MVP guy and Aaron Rodgers just that
move along, I get it why people are picking them
to be in the Super Bowl, like it's fair. And again,
the Dolphins with Tua back, are going to be They
beat us down there with Tua, and we had a
tight game that we won, uh in Buffalo's, so I

(31:20):
expected to be a dogfight New England.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
You know Bill Belichick, greatest coach of all time.

Speaker 4 (31:26):
You had Bill O'Brien who's had a lot of great
offensive success, you know, down Obama, but in Houston and
in New England. So I don't know if there's a
tougher division. Maybe someone would argue maybe the NFC North
or something.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
But yeah, maybe NFC North might be more more contested,
I would say, But as far as strength of team,
I think it's a FC North and a FC East
this year in my view.

Speaker 3 (31:51):
That's that's that's the way I see it.

Speaker 4 (31:53):
And again you're you're right, we're also playing, uh, the
NFC East and the Eagles. They're a tough team. The
Giants had a heck of a run. Dablon Joe done
a heck of a job there, cow Balls really good.

Speaker 1 (32:05):
And then your boy Ron, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (32:06):
You know, I think Marty and Ron have done a
heck of a job that team. You know, if you
just look at their you just look at their but
they've got to figure out is Sam how the guy?

Speaker 3 (32:15):
Yeah, I know that's what they got to prove.

Speaker 4 (32:17):
We we liked him as well, but you know that's
going to be a contested division, you know in the
NFC East.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
A couple of questions quickly and then I want to
have some rapid fire stuff about you personally. But uh,
the von Miller like time is that does every day?
I haven't been following you guys on a dayt dabasis
are the locals asking you that every single day and
asking Sean like, what's the latest of vonn When's he
gonna be ready? Or is it pretty established in your
building that he's going to be good to go? And
he's good to go?

Speaker 4 (32:42):
Yeah, I think we're just you know, we're definitely having
conversations not every day with vond but every week checking in.
He's doing his daily stuff with you know, our medical
team and rehab, and he's in a great spot mentally.
He's been through an ACO before, so he knows the process.
It's more than just the physical rehabit's the it's the
mental part of it.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
Too, And so.

Speaker 4 (33:04):
You know, we're not saying whether he could play Week
one or not not out of the question.

Speaker 3 (33:10):
You know, I would you know right now, probably coin
toss is probably the best way he could.

Speaker 1 (33:14):
I think you would sign up for that a couple
of weeks ago.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
Right, Yeah, I know Vaughn wants to play in it.
You know, he's still got to be clear. Doctor Cooper
out in Texas did his surgery, so he still got
to get final clearance there, and so we'll just we'll
take it slow with him. We've tried to beef up
around in case he's not ready to handle that.

Speaker 3 (33:33):
But we'll probably know a little closer to the season.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
Running back room is interesting. Obviously Singletary was there for years,
not there now. Around the league that was such a conversation,
And there are teams like the forty nine ers who
have Christian McCaffrey, who you know very well and is
an outstanding player and gets a lot of paid money,
and Derrick Henry and even Saquon for his one year
deal is making ten million dollars. You guys have a
different strategy with it, or you have at least I

(33:57):
don't know if it's by design or not, but it
doesn't seem like there's a lead dog in that room.
Obviously Cook and now you got Harris from the Bill
from the Patriots. But is that a philosophical thing or
is this one of those where, hey, we'd love to
see James Cook run for eighteen hundred yards and we'd
pay him the same way or is that just how
your team is built. We're going to focus on different
positions and the running back spot is going to be
kind of a committee deal.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
Yeah. I mean, listen, you always want the best players.

Speaker 4 (34:18):
I mean, you're not going to turn down I was
there in Carolina we drafted Christian McCaffrey, so a heck
of a talent. You know, great move by San Francisco
kind of helped turn their season around last year. So
you're always looking to add good players like that no
matter what position.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
But it is you do have to pick and choose.

Speaker 4 (34:38):
You know, when you're picking at the bottom of the round,
you know your cap constraints. You're paying a quarterback. You've
got to pick some areas where you know what we'll
go with, you know, a less expensive model, whether it's
draft capital or you know, signing. You know, a veteran,
you know for you know, a reasonable price. And so

(34:59):
we liked how James Cook played last year, especially down
the stretch. Thought he did some really good things. And
Damian Harris has had some really good moment matter of
fact against.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
Us, he said, well against you guys best.

Speaker 4 (35:10):
Games, So at least I don't have to worry about that.
But hopefully he'll do that for us. And so he
just had some health hiccups along the way. That's probably
been his biggest issue, not how he plays. And Latavius
Murray had a really good year last year. We brought
him in born and raised in Syracuse, plays in Florida,
but he grew up a Bills fan, so it's been

(35:30):
fun to have him here a big time leader. And
we lost Nim Hines unfortunately, but we feel like we're
in good hands with these guys and we'll kind of
see how it goes.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
You know, Latavius, our show has been on since twenty
sixteen when he was on The Raiders. Latavius used to
come on our show and he had such a good
time on our show. He was in New York and
asked can I come on? And he said, well, actually,
Nate Burleson's out, do you want to host, and so
twenty sixteen version of Latavius Murray was a host on
our show. We had a blast, he had thoughts, he
had takes. Sure Enough, here we are seven years later,

(35:58):
he's on another team, and I would imagine he's going
to make the squad and he's still make an impact.

Speaker 3 (36:03):
That's funny. I told him.

Speaker 4 (36:04):
It was like, I thought your film was even better
last year and pore he talked about some training methods
he did.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
I thought he really started on New Orleans practice squad.

Speaker 4 (36:13):
They play him in a game, then Denver plucks him
and he's a big time leader. He's a big, old
school heavy body back, you know, I think a good
compliment to you know, to the other guys we.

Speaker 3 (36:24):
Have in the room.

Speaker 1 (36:25):
The Dig stuff, was that all just you know, people
trying to fill headlines or is everything? I mean, you
know what I'm talking about When he was tweeting and
I can't even follow it, to be honest, because I'm
just like, that's a wide receiver. Stefan Dig's a great guy,
great teammate. I'm not going to get caught up with this.
But then there was rumors that he wants out and
the Giants were interested. I don't even you tell me.
Are we all good with Stefan Diggs as we head
towards twenty twenty three.

Speaker 4 (36:46):
Yeah, we're We're in a great I think STEP's in
a great spot. We're in a great spot. I think
sometimes you just you know, season's end end abruptly, and
when you work as hard as he or others on
this team do, and you come up short, like we
did last season, you leave frustrated. You don't get to
come back for a week and hang out and talk
about how it finished or whatever. Everybody kind of go
is their merry ways. So like anything, there can be

(37:09):
a lot of smoke in the off season and people
are looking for headlines. But you know, we felt like
once we kind of all sat down and shared where
we where we can get better, where we see things,
and how we're going, that we we would all get
on the same page. And I think that's that's what happened.
And Steph's had a great camp. It's been really good.
Him and Josh have you know, picked up right where

(37:29):
they've generally left off. And so no, we don't.

Speaker 3 (37:33):
I don't. I don't see anything.

Speaker 4 (37:34):
I think it's more I think it's more for the
outside noise than than what actually goes.

Speaker 1 (37:38):
You know, there are certain morning TV shows that need
to fill three hours every day in June Brandon, so.

Speaker 3 (37:45):
Turn around. But now it's been good. It's been good
to have step back in here.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
All right, quick stuff about you, because I love this.
If I lived in Buffalo, I think I would weigh
six hundred pounds. And I say that just because of
the food and how good it is and the wings.
And when I came up in the in the winter
for a game, you and I got together. We went
to a spot and even remember what it was called.
We had some wings. It was fine. But then when
I said the place that we were going there, every
single person I spoke to was like, no, you gotta

(38:10):
go to this one. You gotta go to this one,
you gotta go to this one. Are you a wings guy?
To that point? Because you're an incredible shape and so
is Sean McDermott. And I'm wondering, how do these guys
resist being just five hundred pounds and being slobs eating
wings every night?

Speaker 4 (38:21):
Well mcdermot's in a lot better shape than I am.
I'm trending the wrong way fast, just trying to tread water.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Just ask my kids. They tell me I'm fat. I
am all the time.

Speaker 1 (38:32):
That term treading water is basically my August diet. Just
treaded water. Put me through it.

Speaker 4 (38:38):
Man, It's it's fun. But now it's I do like wings.
I am particular.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
You got a spot.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
There's some good spots, but bar Bill is my spot.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
Everyone says this, as there's one in Rochester too. I
think I've been tested, I've been tweeted. All right, they
just opened it, all right, commercial for barb Bill. Tell
me why it's the good. It's the best wings. Do
you go straight barbecue or buffalo or do you have
like one of these crazy like honey terry, Yucky Malibu blaze,
Like I don't do that stuff.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
Cajun honey butter barbecue.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
Cajun honey butter barbecue. My mouth is watering. That sounds incredible.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (39:10):
Uh. They also have just regular honey butter barbecue if
you don't like. My wife likes those because she doesn't
like the spice to it.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
But either one's great. I generally like the.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
Little kick to mine. But they got a great Lagger
beer as well. It's just it's a great place.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
But the wings are Is it crispy wing or is
it like a smothered in saucewan. I don't like a
crispy like crunch. I like a smothered in sauce wings.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
More smothered in sauce.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
Okay.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
And it's just it's hard to say. They literally like
brush brush it on. It's just it's truly is.

Speaker 1 (39:43):
Is like you're going there tonight. I can tell them
by the way we're talking. I think you like that
lust in your eyes thinking about it.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
You're trying to to start thinking about me salivating here.

Speaker 3 (39:51):
In a minute. Uh.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
Okay, Your your journey, which I've talked about before, is
amazing because you didn't start off being a general manager
in the NFL. You actually took a different route real
quick for the listeners, the public relation side of the
Carolina Panthers and how you made the jump because we
had Brad Holmes on earlier this summer and he told
us his story and I was so inspired by it,

(40:13):
same kind of thing PR of the Saint Louis Rams
and made the jump from PR to the scouting department.
Did your path if you don't mind in as long
as you want to take honest honestly. But you get
in there from the PR side, and then where do
you go from there?

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (40:27):
I did six weeks for PR, basically a training camp
that was back when training camp was six weeks.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
We got there.

Speaker 1 (40:33):
Where was it was it in Carolina?

Speaker 3 (40:34):
It was in Carolinas. Yeah, we were Wafford College, Spartan Burks
out Wawford. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
So it was there through the whole preseason and then
and then moved over to football Ops for the season.

Speaker 3 (40:46):
I was kind of doing a little bit of player development.

Speaker 4 (40:48):
I was helping the equipment guys, like I was folding tiles,
helping a practice. And then halfway through the season they
started traveling me on the road to help the equipment guys.
I'm holding rain jackets and things for the guys that
rub their cleats all and like whatever need to be done.
You just it's all hands on deck. And then after
that season they hired me full time as a football
ops assistant, you know, helping set up training camp, lining

(41:11):
up travel, picking guys up at the airport, taking them
for physicals.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Who is your most notable pick up at the airport
when like a big name free agent came in, Do
you have a good story.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
Oh yeah, I had the funniest visit ever. I had
a few. But we brought in on the same day
Charles Haley and Nate Newton.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
Carolina.

Speaker 3 (41:31):
I don't remember this to Carolina. So Charles Haley did
not sign. I think he ended up signing Detroit, but
we signed Nate Newton. That was his last year.

Speaker 1 (41:39):
Okay, So they both get off the same flight from Dallas,
like where are they?

Speaker 4 (41:43):
They were not on the same flight, but they knew
each other. But they Oh, they obviously knew each other.
If you had like one of those cameras in a van.
I can't repeat all what was said.

Speaker 3 (41:55):
Uh, there was.

Speaker 4 (41:56):
There was a lot of stuff, but it was We
had a lot of laughs.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
And uh it was.

Speaker 4 (42:01):
Cool because as a kid, I'm watching these guys grow
up fresh out of college and I'm taking a for
a physical and.

Speaker 3 (42:07):
They're busting each other's chops.

Speaker 4 (42:09):
They're telling stories again because they were back together, and
I spent an evening, you know, getting them to the
hotel and I picked them up at like six thirty
in the morning, take them for the physical, they meet
the coach, then I take them for lunch, and then
they go back and meet some meet some more coaches,
and I take them back to the airport and basically
Nate Newton's telling them, hey, man, I'm gonna sign here.

(42:30):
I love it here, and Charles Haley He's trying to
talk Charles Haley into it and I love this ba
and forth, and so I go back and report to
Marty Hernie what the deal is.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
I'm telling Marty like, well, I think.

Speaker 1 (42:42):
Newton's in fence.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
Yeah, he's trying to convince him.

Speaker 4 (42:47):
And so it was definitely we covered some r rated
and beyond of their life, but it was that was
probably the most notable. But I picked up Reggie White
as well from that, right, Yeah, yeah, he finished in
Carolina as well. One of the nicest.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
People in the world, and it was sad that his
life and the way it did.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
But yeah, he was telling me get him, get him
out there, pick him up early. He wanted to get
in the hot tub for forty minutes to get himself loose,
and yes, you know, it's just it was cool. So
definitely had some some characters.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
Eric Swan.

Speaker 1 (43:23):
Eric Swan, which is one of my favorite football stories
of all time, did not play college football with a
six overall pick from the cars.

Speaker 3 (43:29):
Yeah, so I was around some cool news. It was
it was fun. You learn a lot.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
You also knew a young Steve Smith, right, Yes, yes
it was young. What was twenty something? Steve Smith like.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
Even more unfiltered, That's what I would say. But I
love him.

Speaker 4 (43:47):
His heart was always genuine. You knew where Steve never
hid how he felt. Still really doesn't today. But I
would say, Steve, you're still getting a filtered version of Steve.
I've seen many unfiltered versions. In the two thousand and
one was as unfiltered as a game.

Speaker 1 (44:03):
Yeah, I love all this stuff. Your one piece of
advice to a kid who approaches you in the elevator
at the combine and says, excuse me, stir. Here's my
resume printed out. I'm twenty two years old. I just
graduated from John Carroll or I went to Amhurst, and
I want to get into being a GM and I
drove myself to Indianapolis. What would be your one piece
of advice for me getting into the league.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
Yeah, I mean to me, it is hard, it really is.
But go get experience wherever you're at. If you're in college,
go work in the athletic office. If you've got a
football program there, go work for there. If you've got
a minor league baseball team in town, like, just get
skins on the wall. Work with different people. A You're
going to meet different people from different walks of life.

(44:44):
You may work with someone in an NBA team that
actually knows someone in the NFL, or a tripa a
baseball team that knows someone in the NBA or the NFL,
whatever it is. Just get out there, work. Don't worry
about the money. Tell people that do not worry about
the money. If you want to be in sports, don't
chase the money. Yes, I'm fortunate now, but this was

(45:06):
a long shot here. I enjoyed every step of the journey.
And if I was, you know, still a football office
assistant or you know, director of football operations, whatever titles
I've had, I guarantee I would have been just as
happy life I was living.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
So you gotta love it. It's crazy hours.

Speaker 4 (45:25):
You got to make sure if you're getting married, girl,
you know, a wife or husband or whatever it is,
that they are on board the weekends, because I've seen
many get in a few years in their their their
other half does not like the schedule, and it starts
causing some friction and they got to make a move.
So just try to tell them to be upfront with
whoever their significant other is and and you know, just

(45:49):
just be ready for if you're living in one side
of the country and someone calls you the other side,
be able to apartment up in a day and say I'll.

Speaker 1 (45:57):
Be there tomorrow, Brandon, I love this. And back to
the significant other thing. Here's what I've learned now that
I've got two kids and you've obviously your great dad.
Be present when you are around, right, make the most
of that time, because that's a major compromise. I'm not
going to be you know, I'm not going to be
there for any weekends over the football season. But hey,
I've got a rare job where there are a couple
of weeks in June in early July where I am around,

(46:19):
Like it, wouldn't you be that? That be your piece
of advice to make the most of that time.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
Oh, you got to, you could, because you're going to
be a better employee for the organization if if your
home life's good and you're doing everything there, if you're
if you're leaving things out and you don't want to
regret We've seen it in this in this sport where
you hear coaches or you know whatever, executives that didn't
wann't really around their kids and they missed their whole

(46:43):
their whole livelihood or they're you know, watching them play
sports or play the piano or whatever their passion, whatever
their kids passion is.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
You know, it's very important for me to.

Speaker 4 (46:52):
Make sure to tell our staff here, and I know
Sean does as well as Listen, we got plenty of hours,
but if your kids playing a game and you can
get there, it's not going to interfere with this job.
I expect you to be there. It will be pissed
if you If.

Speaker 1 (47:04):
You do, I love that.

Speaker 3 (47:06):
Yeah, So it's you.

Speaker 4 (47:07):
Gotta you gotta have that that that balance because it's
hard enough as it is with the hour. So when
you can get home and support your you know, your
significant other and definitely your kids, that's huge.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
You know.

Speaker 4 (47:19):
The last thing you want to do is be great
at work and screw it up at home.

Speaker 1 (47:24):
Man, that's great. My last one with you because I
texted you earlier this summer that I'm picking up golf
for the first time. I've told the podcast listeners my
wife has a gift bought me clubs. I got the
clubs I got in the course, and I've been trying
to mooch off people to be invited to their clubs.
I've played the public courses. I've done it all. I've
been trying. I'm terrible. But you you've always been playing.

(47:45):
So I'm gonna ask you three golf questions. Rattle them
off rapid fire. One your favorite golfer at the moment
is home.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
Oh, that's a great one.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
Probably Rory. Yeah, yeah, big Rory fan. And he's actually
his wife from Rochester.

Speaker 3 (48:03):
Up here and really yeah and her family.

Speaker 4 (48:07):
Thanks for Okilla, And I think he is a member
here at o'kill across the streets. So I've enjoyed watching
his game and I think it's it's been cool to
watch him Back to PGA.

Speaker 1 (48:15):
Tour, I love it. The coolest course you've played at.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
It's I go back and forth.

Speaker 4 (48:22):
I mean in America, Pebble Beach, just it's just so beautiful.
It's not the hardest, but just the scenery is It's crazy.
But went to Scotland last summer, did you? And eight
of us went over there and the courses over there,
I mean, all of them are great, but there's a
couple that were just kings barns over there.

Speaker 3 (48:41):
Was was was amazing.

Speaker 4 (48:43):
There was there was a few that were just you know,
blow your blow your socks off.

Speaker 3 (48:47):
I loved if you could tell me I.

Speaker 4 (48:49):
Can go anywhere to play golf for a week right now, Scotland.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
I would go right back to Scotland really and do
that again. It's it's did I see.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
That the Ryder Cup is in Italy this year?

Speaker 3 (49:00):
I don't know it made someone said that.

Speaker 1 (49:02):
I'm like, that sounds cool. So uh, back to the Scout.
Have you ever played on I assume you've been to
the Masters because I see Josh Allen there all the time.
I figure he's taking his GM who's paying hie hundred
million dollars, He's going to take you as a guest, right.

Speaker 4 (49:14):
I have not gotten to play it, but I have.
I did meet someone this year, you know, through someone
at the Kentucky Derby and they're planning to take me
out there.

Speaker 3 (49:26):
You know I was going to do it.

Speaker 4 (49:27):
I actually doing a pot I did a podcast with
him that's coming out later.

Speaker 1 (49:31):
So whatever, don't any money, let me just come.

Speaker 3 (49:34):
That was the deal.

Speaker 4 (49:34):
Do the podcast and we would go out to uh Augustus.
So that's supposedly coming up sometime in the next twelve months.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Dude, I can't wait. And my last one with the
golf because I think when Nick, you know, I'm a casual,
your real deal. What's the best round you've ever played?
And where did you play it?

Speaker 4 (49:50):
The best round was sixty nine. It was a country
club in Buffalo back here. I shot it in the
summer of twenty eighteen. It was my second summer.

Speaker 3 (49:58):
Yeah. Yeah, at double bogie the first hole, Did you really.

Speaker 1 (50:00):
Because I was going to say, like, when you have
a round like that, do you even have room for
a bogie or is it just par park the whole way?

Speaker 4 (50:05):
Yeah, screwed up and bladed a sandwich on the first
hole across the green and ended up making double and
after that I had no blem issues. I had three
birdies after that to get It's a par seventy, so
I got got.

Speaker 3 (50:18):
It back to one under.

Speaker 1 (50:20):
Have you read a home on one?

Speaker 3 (50:21):
Yes, two thousand and eight.

Speaker 1 (50:23):
Look, if I asked you, like, who was the third
round picker that you guys had last year, you might
you might you might stumble No. Two thousand and eight.
Where was it?

Speaker 4 (50:31):
Yeah, it was a place called the Witch. It's down
in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. So I was playing with
a few guys down there, and yeah, it was. It
was on the back now I think it was Hold
twelve was one hundred and sixty yards and the guys
in the group's all going before I did.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
I thought they were messing with me.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Yeah, I gotcha, I started it was.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
It was wild.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
The parallels of playing golf and being a GM are
there any? Do you see any similarities? Or is this
your total? You know, take your foot off the pedal.
That's where you go to escape.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
It is where I go to escape.

Speaker 4 (51:02):
I mean you listen, like in anything that you that
you want to be good at, to be mentally tough,
and you're gonna have adversity.

Speaker 3 (51:08):
You can have adversity on the course. You can have
adversity in this job, and.

Speaker 4 (51:11):
So just find the positive from it and learn from
what you did wrong.

Speaker 3 (51:17):
And so those are probably the parallels.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
Love it, Brandon, No thirty five minutes, Just like that.
Appreciate it, bro, fantastic.

Speaker 3 (51:24):
Easy, always easy with you, buddy, anytime you know that great.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
I've got to make my super Bowl pick in the
next couple of weeks. It might be Bills, it might
not be, but you don't hold it against me when
it's not right. No, no, no, it's usually wrong anyway.

Speaker 4 (51:36):
Actually, yeah, everybody picked us last year, so I just
assumed nobody pick us, and let's just.

Speaker 1 (51:41):
Be probably better off. Let's go play football. Bill's Jets
Monday night, Week one. Brandon Bean, you'll be up in
that in that booth watching with your binoculars. I'm sure
I'll see you on the broadcast and hopefully i'll see
you there. You're the man. Thanks for joining GM and
the Buffalo Bills. Brandon Bean.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
Thanks, Peter, I'll see you so, buddy.

Speaker 1 (52:17):
Brandon Bean's the man. I love having him on and
I'm rooting for him, I really am. I feel like
a Bill super Bowl one of these years would be
a great thing for the city, but also for that guy,
as you could tell, good friend of mine and a great,
great evaluator. Another good friend of mine is on the
phone at the moment. Yes, the phone. He doesn't do zoom,
he doesn't do riverside, he doesn't do any of these things.

(52:39):
He does the phone. And then we have to use
his audio from the phone. Whould drop it And it's
one of my best friends from growing up, and he's
been a regular guest during the football season. You haven't
heard from a much. It's my buddy, Dietro Deetro. What's up, man,
Peter Schrager.

Speaker 7 (52:51):
Thanks for having me back again. Every time I'm on,
it's always a tough follow. Now I'm following Brandon Bean.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
Brandon Bean's an Executive of the Year, one of the
greatest GMS in the last twenty years. And now here
you are a childhood pala mine and you are the
main event or the dessert, however you want to put it.
But I want to bring you on specifically, not for
your football thoughts. I know you've got football thoughts. I
know you've got lots of thoughts on Saquan's contract, but
more about what these next few days meant to you

(53:18):
and me as kids. And let me explain to the listeners.
Dietro and I went to summer camp together. This is
not for everyone. This is very niche a Northeast thing,
if you will. Dietro and I went to summer camp together.
We didn't grow up in the same town. He grew
up in a town in Long Island. I grew up
in New Jersey. Our parents could not stand us. They

(53:39):
would send us away to a sleepway camp where we
learn how to build fires and sing songs and tell
scary stories and do pranks. But the last few days
of the summer camp season was something called color war.
And right now colour war is starting at our camp,
Camp La Conda, where we went, and camps across the

(53:59):
main Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, locate, geography, whatever you want
to say. Camps are all going on right now, and
it's colour war. It's the last thing of the summer detro.
Why don't you tell our listeners who may have never
heard of summer camp or never heard of color war,
what color war is?

Speaker 3 (54:17):
Okay, So.

Speaker 7 (54:19):
Taking to the fact that you start up at summer
camp right around the third week of June, so you're
there for about six weeks in a row, and it's
you and call it maybe about twenty other guys that
are in your age group, and the whole summer all
you're doing, you're hanging out, you're having a good time,

(54:40):
you're playing sports, you're going swimming, you're doing everything that's
just based around you. Just having fun for six straight
weeks at a summer camp, and it's unbelievable. And then
all of a sudden, the last week of camp, they say, Okay,
there's four hundred campers or so that are here this summer.

Speaker 3 (55:01):
We are going to split you up into two teams.

Speaker 7 (55:04):
There's two hundred on this side and two hundred on
that side, and it goes by age, whatever group that
you're in. And for the next three and a half
to four days, you are going to be split up
with the guys or girls your age, and you are
just gonna do every athletic competition against one another in
just wild competitive nature, scores being kept.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
Everybody's split apart. It tears you.

Speaker 7 (55:29):
It tears you apart so much that the old saying
in slip boy camps was.

Speaker 3 (55:33):
No color war in the bunks.

Speaker 6 (55:34):
Remember that beater, no color, No color were allowed on
the bunks. When you're out on the soccer field, the
basketball court, that color war.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
You're up.

Speaker 7 (55:41):
If you're out in the dining hall and you sit
at the table, says color are You're screaming back and forth,
back and forth at each other. But when you get
back to the bunk, everybody has to take a step back.
No Color were allowing the bunks because otherwise you'd overflow.

Speaker 8 (55:51):
And just it would be too competitive that there might
be fights that are up in the bunk and you
just spend three or four days doing everything competitive against
the guy that maybe slept in the bunk bed above
who it was your best friend for the past six weeks,
and now you guys hate each other because.

Speaker 6 (56:10):
You're on opposite sides of the aisle.

Speaker 7 (56:12):
It's it's just the most amazing four day span of
the summer for you.

Speaker 6 (56:16):
And this right now, this sort of second week of August.

Speaker 7 (56:20):
If you're someone who's in our age bracket and you
went to Sleepway camp, did this. If you're logging on
the Facebook, you're logging on Instagram, whatever it is you,
you your friends.

Speaker 6 (56:31):
Of yours that I have kids.

Speaker 7 (56:32):
You're seeing all the live stories that are popping up,
and everything is happening you.

Speaker 6 (56:37):
You can't escape it. But then it's so amazing, and
all of a sudden, guys you haven't spoken to twenty
years are texting you and being like, oh my god,
you remember this from Color. Remember It's just the most
amazing flashback. I love it.

Speaker 1 (56:51):
We were texting about it. It's like I got to
come on the podcast and explain the school field. Don't
even know it is. But I don't remember who won
Color War any year, but I remember exploits from Color War,
like I remember there was something called the relay and
then you heroically threw a softball through a tire before
our friend. And it's still it was probably thirty years ago,
it's still one of your best athletic moments, if not

(57:12):
your best life moments.

Speaker 7 (57:13):
Right, It's something that set me up for the path
of success.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
How old were you when you threw a softball through attire?

Speaker 6 (57:22):
I was fifteen?

Speaker 1 (57:25):
And what would you say? How did that set you
up for a path of success?

Speaker 7 (57:29):
It just let you know you win there. You always
have that story in your back pocket. You'll always do.
And you know, as you get a little bit older
and you grow up on Long Island or in New
Jersey or in that camping world, as you go off
to college and you start to meet new people, you
start to sort of make connections and you meet someone
who knows someone or a friend of a friend, and

(57:51):
it's it's the most amazing icebreaker you can have, is
if you know a camp's friend's friend or a friend
of somebody who went to camp with someone you know,
or something like that. And right away you bring up Colorward,
you bring up the souffle throat. They know, everyone knows
how it is because every camp out there has some
sort of a final event that everybody's watching that when

(58:13):
you're eight, nine, ten years old, you wish.

Speaker 6 (58:16):
And you hope and you can't wait to be.

Speaker 3 (58:18):
Able to do that.

Speaker 7 (58:19):
And then when you actually do it and you win,
you're able to tell that story to anybody who's been
in the camper world and they get it and they
respect it, and the ice is broken, and you can
discuss anything you want, whether it's friends, if you're in
the business.

Speaker 6 (58:31):
World, anything you want. The walls come down and any
the doors are open to you.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
Todd, thank you. Let me ask you one more question
because you had to take that no one else had.
Sean Payton's comments on Nathaniel Hackett go I.

Speaker 6 (58:46):
Mean me personally, I kind of love those comments. I mean,
the Broncos.

Speaker 7 (58:54):
Were more or less the worst team in the league
last year, and you know, Nathaniel Hackett, whether whether it's
his fault or not, he's the head coach that's all
his fault.

Speaker 6 (59:04):
They hired Sean Payton for a reason.

Speaker 3 (59:05):
John Payton and.

Speaker 6 (59:06):
Has a long line of credibility behind him.

Speaker 7 (59:10):
You know, there's very few coaches left in the league
that have Lombardi Trophy's sitting on their walls.

Speaker 6 (59:15):
Right there. He has the right and the credibility to
come in and turn things around and say what he
has to say to gain his team moving forward. What
does he care what he has to say about the Jets?

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Rightfully? So there it is. Can wait to have you
on during the season again. Go enjoy your summer and
I'll text you about color all right, buddy, love it.

Speaker 3 (59:31):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (59:32):
There you go, guys, that's the season with Peter Schreger.
We have the usual monologue. We had a guest in
Brandon Bean, and we had my buddy Detro. We are
in regular season form right now. I want to thank
everybody back at the LA Studios. I want to thank
the great Aaron Wan Kaufman. I want to thank Brandon Bean,
my buddy Ditro, and of course Jason English and all

(59:53):
the folks who put this thing together. Keep on coming
back next week. We got some good ones. We're gonna
start doing this. I thought this would be interesting. We're
gonna get our usual array of guess but I don't
like necessarily like the fantasy football and al But there
are certain fantasy football podcasts that I really like some
of the people on there, and I thought we would
serve one of these weeks do a little fantasy football preview.

(01:00:14):
Maybe we won't. We'll see, but I'm thinking next week
we're gonna do it, and it's gonna be good. Hang tight, listen,
and go win your league till next time. This is
the Season with Peter Schreger. The Season with Peter Schrager
is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.

(01:00:36):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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