1. Beane impressed with Devin Singletary's offseason
When running back Devin Singletary returned to One Bills Drive after the offseason, the staff was impressed with the emphasis he put on taking care of his body. Now that Frank Gore is gone, the Bills will look to Singletary as someone who needs to take a step forward in his second season.
Bills general manager Brandon Beane said they'll look to Singletary as the starter, but are also excited to see how Zack Moss can help the offense.
"I think he's toned it up, and he's had a serious approach this offseason" Beane said. "I think Frank Gore was a great role model for him to learn from last year. I think he's picked Frank's brain on a lot of things. He's been very professional about getting his body right and getting ready.
"He missed a few games with the hamstring, so that was one of the things we were talking to him this year about--the offseason, making sure he was doing the proper stretching and strength training to prevent an injury such as that because we did miss him for those three weeks last year. So we'll count on Devin just like Josh [Allen] taking a step from year one to year two, we'll count on Devin to take that step. Now that Frank's gone, he's our starter. And then we're excited about Zack [Moss] and what he'll bring."
2. More opinions on McDermott and Dawkins' contract extensions
Bills general manager Brandon Beane hasn't spoken to the media since head coach Sean McDermott and left tackle Dion Dawkins signed contract extensions. Beane said extending Dawkins is proof the staff wants to keep their drafted players in Buffalo. He's proud of how Dawkins has grown since he was drafted.
"Super happy for him and well-earned," Beane said. "I know a lot of people have spoken on this already, but we love to say draft, develop and re-sign our own. So this is proof in the pudding of a young man who came in here as a rookie, had what I thought was a pretty nice rookie year.
"Year two we talked about, it was not as consistent as he would have liked or we would have liked. I thought he came back year three and was dialed in, and had a really nice year. We didn't have an offseason with him, but obviously we stayed in touch virtually. Really just happy with where he's at and think he's trending up, and he's the type of player that we want here for the long term."
Beane said McDermott has shown how valuable he is to the Bills by taking them to the playoffs twice and creating a strong culture in just three years.
"I think he very much earned it," Beane explained. "I think, I don't know that there's anything left that he could have answered at this point, other than us going and winning playoff games. But in the build, where we're at, I think he's checked all the boxes that a coach three years in that's gone through a total real rebuild like we've had to do here. Second to he and his wife, I can promise you I was the next happiest person that this got done. Buffalo's got the right guy in charge for a long time as the head coach."
3. Bills rank top 10 in NFL's latest Power Rankings
In the NFL’s latest Power Rankings, the Bills remained at their previous spot No. 6. Around the NFL writer Dan Hanzus thinks Buffalo earned the spot due to their growth since Sean McDermott took the job in Buffalo.
Buffalo Bills rank: No. 6
Previous rank: No. 6
The Buffalo Bills have established themselves as an ascendant AFC contender and one of the most stable franchises in football. (I wouldn't have guessed that back when Rex Ryan was tooling around Orchard Park in his Billsmobile.) The organization further solidified its foundation last week by locking up Sean McDermott with an extension that keeps the head coach in Western New York through the middle of the decade. This no-brainer move occurred on the same week that left tackle Dion Dawkins signed a four-year, $60 million extension. We've all had enough of the endless speculation about Josh Allen's boom/bust potential (Week 1, get here please), but you get the feeling that Buffalo will survive and adapt even if Allen doesn't turn out to be the long-term solution behind center.
