It’s not as if the Buffalo Bills have done everything in their power to distance themselves from the Sean McDermott era. Actually, they’ve done quite the contrary.
Naturally, as a rare internal promotion hire, Joe Brady has regularly praised the culture turnaround and perennial success McDermott accomplished as Buffalo’s head coach from 2017 to 2025. So has Brandon Beane.
Despite the (justified) deference for McDermott, with Brady at the helm and Beane in tow, the Bills have unmistakably ushered in a new
era in franchise history.
And thanks to some recent digging from a Bills beat reporter, we have more key information on one way this new Bills regime is making its own mark.
Nick Sabato of the Niagara Gazette, Lockport Union-Sun and GNN Sports wrote a fantastic feature on the new “Bills Red” distinction after conversations with Brandon Beane on the new label for players.
We’ve all heard about the ‘Bills Blue’ tag draft prospects could receive during the McDermott era. It was sparingly given to pristine “culture, character, and work ethic the Bills were searching for,” Sabato wrote.
Sabato’s investigation into the new, Brady-era label stemmed from the head coach mentioning ‘Bills Red’ during his combine press conference.
It has nothing to do with culture, character, or work ethic.
“When we get through Bills Blue, we say they must check all these boxes,” Bills general manager Brandon Beane told GNN Sports. “If they don’t check one of them, they’re not Bills Blue. Red’s not exactly like that. It’s not like an official thing in our manual. But it’s kind of understood an edgier attitude (or) personality to whatever side of the ball.”
Sabato pinpointed Alec Anderson as the player Brady was referencing when ‘Bills Red’ first became public knowledge in Indianapolis. Buffalo is now looking for those type of players, too. This is not to suggest the Bills weren’t looking to draft/sign physical players during the McDermott era, there was just never a distinction for those types.
The trade to acquire DJ Moore was the first major transaction in the Brady era, and instantly felt like a loud-and-clear signal of a new direction the Bills were headed with their new head coach.
The free-agent add of C.J. Gardner-Johnson that soon followed clearly aligns with the ‘Bills Red’ philosophy. In their post-draft pressers, Brady and Beane repeatedly summoned the word “edge” when methodically providing the club’s evaluations of many of the team’s 10 draft selections.
The biggest ideological difference between ‘Bills Red’ and ‘Bills Blue’ stems from where the organization was at the outset of McDermott’s tenure compared to where it is ahead of Brady’s first season as Buffalo’s head coach.
In 2017, after the borderline disastrous and indisputably embarrassing Rex Ryan era, the Bills did need a better crop of players on the roster, yet a cultural paradigm shift was likely just as critical. Therefore, the creation of and dedication to ‘Bills Blue’ was essential to the McDermott era.
The tremendous culture establishment — and more importantly, a massive influx of talented players — have made things significantly different in Orchard Park for Brady and Co. This is a Bills team entering its sixth-straight season as one of the NFL’s Super Bowl contenders. During in tenure, McDermott repeatedly reminded everyone his team wasn’t simply looking to acquire “choir boys,” and I believe that was the case.
However, repeated signings of familiar players did become a hallmark of the McDermott era, and although we probably won’t ever know how much ‘Bills Blue’ labels factored into those decisions, it does feel safe to assume culture fit was strongly considered.
It’s completely sensible to believe the Brady Bills need that extra ‘edge’ to get over the hump in the playoffs to win a Super Bowl, hence the creation of ‘Bills Red.’
This Beane quote at the end of Sabato’s piece is the perfect endcap on ‘Bills Red’, which right now, feels like the biggest departure from the McDermott era:
“Every year you say not the most talented team won, the most physical team won,” Beane said. “… Tone-setters, like guys coming across the middle. Legally, how much can you intimidate them? Obviously the rules have changed over the years and you can’t decapitate a guy, but there are ways of how physical you can be within the rules of the game to send messages at whatever position you play.”
