After their latest success, who knew the Payments group was simply as dysfunctional as different groups within the AFC East?
On Wednesday morning, Payments proprietor Terry Pegula and basic supervisor Brandon Beane spoke with reporters for about an hour two days after coach Sean McDermott was fired.
Shortly after it started, folks started to see why Pegula hasn’t spoken to the Buffalo media since 2019. He threw McDermott underneath the bus a number of occasions. Probably the most egregious a part of the press convention got here when Beane was requested about drafting broad receiver Keon Coleman.
Not solely did Pegula interrupt Beane’s reply, however he additionally undermined a number of members of the Payments group and McDermott.
“Can I interrupt? I’ll address the Keon situation,” Pegula stated. “The teaching workers pushed to draft Keon.
“I’m not saying Brandon wouldn’t have drafted him, but he wasn’t his next choice. That was Brandon being a team player and taking advice of this coaching staff who felt strongly about the player. He’s taken, for some reason, heat over it and not saying a word about it, but I’m here to tell you the true story.”
Beane later clarified that Coleman was his decide.
“Terry’s point was that we might have had a different order of personnel versus coaching, and I went that way,” Beane stated. “But ultimately, I’m not turning a pick for a player that I don’t think we can succeed with. So don’t misunderstand that.”
The Payments drafted Coleman with the primary decide within the second spherical of the 2024 draft. Nevertheless, he has suffered by means of two mediocre seasons. Coleman was a wholesome scratch for 4 video games in the course of the 2025 season and the workforce disciplined him in November.
Pegula has little subject with throwing McDermott and his teaching workers underneath the bus. What does that say about offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who is anticipated to interview for the teaching place?
This press convention was similar to October, when Jets proprietor Woody Johnson not solely publicly threw Justin Fields underneath the bus following a 0-7 begin, but in addition put the bus in reverse and ran over Fields time and again.
If that wasn’t dangerous sufficient, Pegula additionally defined why he fired McDermott following the loss to the Broncos within the AFC Divisional Spherical. Pegula says he didn’t think about firing McDermott till after the sport.
“If I can take you into that locker room, I feel like we hit the preverbal playoff wall,” Pegula stated. “Thirteen seconds, missed field goals, the catch. I just sensed in that locker room, where do we go from here with what we have, and that was the basis for my decision.”
What’s Pegula speaking about? McDermott went 98-50 in his 9 years with Buffalo. His naysayers would say McDermott was 8-8 in his eight playoff appearances. Nevertheless, the Payments have a 73-27 file since 2020, the perfect within the NFL throughout that span.
A number of Payments gamers additionally confirmed their displeasure on social media about McDermott’s firing.
“This s–t here is so stupid, honestly sickening,” Payments defensive sort out Jordan Phillips stated on his Instagram. “The best coach I’ve ever been around.”
Phillips ought to know as a result of he spent his first 4 seasons with the Dolphins, the identical group that hasn’t received a playoff sport since 2000. He additionally performed with the Giants, Cardinals and Cowboys.
Security Damar Hamlin and different gamers additionally thanked McDermott and had been shocked by the transfer.
The grass isn’t at all times greener on the opposite aspect, however Pegula and the Payments ought to know this. They’re the identical group that had a 17-year playoff drought (1999-2016) till McDermott led Buffalo to a playoff berth in his first season in 2017.
If something, McDermott, together with Josh Allen, ought to have been praised for simply getting the Payments to the playoffs.
Buffalo, with Beane in cost because the GM, hasn’t put a adequate workforce round Allen and the Payments took a step again this yr. As famous by Benjamin Solak of ESPN, the Payments have drafted 56 gamers since choosing Allen in 2018. Solely two of them, working again James Prepare dinner and tight finish Dawson Knox, have made it to the Professional Bowl.
Allen is the one cause the Payments have escaped the mediocrity the Jets and Dolphins have endured for a lot of the final 25 years. Having an elite quarterback has masked lots of the Payments’ points, together with possession.
