Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane was interviewed by Kevin Clark for his show, This is Football, at the league meetings. One of Clark’s regular questions to GMs is which player they would like another chance to evaluate and go back in time to draft.
For Beane, his answer is the Los Angeles Rams wide receiver, Puka Nacua. And for obvious reasons. Nacua went on to set several rookie receiving records including receptions and receiving yards after being passed up 176 times.
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Here is what Beane had to say about Nacua,
I thought what Puka did a really good job with the Rams. You knew he’s a tough player player but not [a player you’d expect] to produce what he did. I thought [Sean] McVay and those guys really used him well, and it was like a perfect fit too. I don’t know if he would have done that everywhere, but McVay had a vision, knew how to use him. As his stats were piling up, I kept watching how they were doing it was a perfect fit
Beane has taken swings in the draft at the position with some mixed success, but no one that had the record setting season that Nacua produced in 2023.
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Beane seems to keep the Rams team building strategies (success’s and failure’s) in the front of mind. Heading into last years draft Beane used a Rams-like example of how not to construct a roster, saying,
“…you see that happen from a team here or there like ‘man, we can’t do any more. We got to get rid of some of these huge salaries and the only way to do it is either try to kick it further down the road, making it harder or start trading, releasing and taking those hits.”
Nacua need up being drafted in the 5th round, 177th overall. The Bills made four selections by that spot including WR Justin Shorter from Florida with pick 150. To be fair to Mr. Beane, the Rams undervalued Nacua as well. They had selected seven players before 177 and took three players before him in the 5th round.
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