BUFFALO, N.Y. — The spring weather was typically absurd for Western New York. The cherry blossoms here at Forest Lawn Cemetery bloomed about three days earlier, and by Saturday, the temperature reached 80 for the first time all year.
By Sunday afternoon, 37 degrees under charcoal skies. A hard rain pounded the winding asphalt path between the historic graveyard’s Mirror Lake and Scajaquada Creek. Then 20 minutes of intense sunshine until darkness prevailed again. The rain turned to graupel, white pebbles collecting in the manicured grass.
Back and forth, the sun and clouds switched off for two hours — a trifle when you’re here for an eternity.
Conditions were unfit for a tribute. Maybe on a better day, someone might’ve stopped by the Knox family mausoleum. Inside are brothers Seymour H. Knox III and Northrup Knox, co-founders of the Buffalo Sabres, a team that enjoyed the Stanley Cup playoffs that night for the first time in 15 years.
No visitors appeared, nor were there signs that anyone had been there. The mausoleum’s steps were bone dry. No trinkets or good-luck charms were left behind.
The Knox family mausoleum. (Tim Graham / The Athletic)
Like euphoric Sabres fans, Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane would appreciate some heavenly help. And maybe, with the NFL Draft starting Thursday night, he could divine some inspiration from Harry Houdini’s forefather, the Fakir of Ava, whose tall, obelisk monument sits directly across the road from the Knoxes.
The Fakir of Ava gravesite. (Tim Graham / The Athletic)
It was Terry Pegula, successor to the Knoxes, and Bills founder Ralph Wilson, as owner of both clubs, who referenced Houdini while answering a pointed question about why Pegula decided to fire head coach Sean McDermott and grant Beane consolidated power. Beane and McDermott experienced, after all, virtually identical failures and triumphs since they joined the Bills in 2017.
“That was my decision. I could be wrong, but it was success with the players. I don’t know if anybody knows it in this room, but Josh Allen wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for this guy,” replied Pegula, pointing at Beane, “pushing and pushing, and pulling a Houdini in that draft to get to a position where we could pick him. So that was my decision.”
Magicians make a living off fooling people. They also require mastering more than one trick.
What Beane did to conjure Allen in 2018 was magnificent. Six weeks before the draft, Beane acquired the 12th pick from the Cincinnati Bengals in a trade package that featured left tackle Cordy Glenn and the 21st pick. On the clock at No. 7, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers sent it to the Bills for Nos. 12, 53 and 56.
Allen pulled on a Bills ballcap minutes later and developed into one of the greatest quarterbacks of his generation.
Beane hasn’t made a show-stopping draft pick since.
He did well with running back James Cook in the second round and has made a few dazzling decisions in the middle and late rounds, such as nickelback Taron Johnson in the fourth, slot receiver Khalil Shakir in the fifth and cornerback Christian Benford in the sixth.
But there’s no glory in nailing tricks out of a kit from the Walgreens toy aisle.
For someone viewed by ownership as a master magician, Beane is long overdue for an encore.
Allen, Allen, Allen. What prestige! He’s worth the price of admission, even if a PSL is required. But too many other attempts have gone *poof* with Beane at center stage.
Edge rushers, given so much time and energy, remain mere props. Gregory Rousseau has been the best of the bunch, better than Boogie Basham and A.J. Epenesa, but no game-changer. Top fizzlers include first- and second-night picks such as cornerback Kaiir Elam, offensive lineman Cody Ford (trading up to take him with wideouts A.J. Brown and DK Metcalf still on the board), receiver Keon Coleman and running back Zack Moss.
“The Fakir of Ava, Chief of Staff of Conjurors to His Sublime Greatness the Nanka of Aristaphae” was a master showman from the 19th century. Isaiah Hughes emigrated from England and made Buffalo his home. First in grease paint and an exotic wardrobe topped with a bejeweled turban, and later in sophisticated evening garb, the Fakir toured the world. Packed houses were enthralled by his illusions and ventriloquism.
The Fakir (rhymes with Shakir) invented prize shows 150 years earlier than Oprah made them famous and handed out cheap baubles decades before bobbleheads. He would give away a house or a piano as the grand prize, an envelope stuffed with greenbacks, but audiences reportedly were giddy for the carnival tchotchkes too.
As he got older and wealthier, the ol’ Fakir advertised for an apprentice. Harry Kellar learned the Fakir’s craft, performed in his place and emerged as arguably the most influential magician, mentoring Howard Thurston and Houdini himself.
If only Beane could glean a bit of their sorcery to help the Bills win a Super Bowl.
Aside from Allen — and extracting the franchise quarterback is a heavy exception — Beane’s drafts haven’t been as productive as the Buddy Nix/Doug Whaley era.
Beane has drafted a solitary first-team All-Pro. Return specialist and backup running back Ray Davis earned that honor last season. Teams don’t win Super Bowls unless they have a few players considered among the best in the league at their positions.
Nix and Whaley drafted four first-team All-Pros: defensive tackle Marcell Dareus, cornerbacks Stephon Gilmore and Tre’Davious White and linebacker Matt Milano.
Beane has drafted four players who’ve made multiple Pro Bowls: Allen, Cook, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and guard Wyatt Teller (a fifth-round pick who played eight games for the Bills and was traded with a seventh-round pick to the Cleveland Browns for fifth- and sixth-round picks).
Nix and Whaley also drafted four multiple-time Pro Bowlers: Dareus, Gilmore, White and left tackle Dion Dawkins. (Gilmore reached one in his five seasons with the Bills, four more with the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers, also claiming 2019 Defensive Player of the Year).
When they sawed McDermott in half, Pegula lauded Beane’s scouting prowess by naming off all the top assistants who’ve worked in the Bills’ front office: Joe Schoen, Brian Gaine, Dan Morgan and Dennis Hickey. Pegula also could’ve added Terrance Gray, Malik Boyd and Dawson Lake. That’s an army of lieutenants who either already had been top NFL scouts and general managers or would interview for openings.
How many Nix or Whaley assistants can anyone name who held other top jobs, let alone are in the NFL today?
Both front offices endured dubious selections, with the previous regime banking on quarterback EJ Manuel to end a playoff famine that lasted four more years and finally made Whaley vanish into thin air after the 2017 draft.
Presto-change-o, Beane emerged from the Panthers organization.
At the time, Beane’s mentor was careful to explain that even the shrewdest evaluators are simply humans and leaned upon the dark arts to make his point.
“Everybody thinks general managers are born with these magic eyes and find players,” former Carolina Panthers GM Marty Hurney told me. “This is a job that entails a lot of diverse talents and is about bringing everybody together and listening and not being afraid to make the hard decisions, knowing you’re responsible for a lot of people.”
Hurney, for the record, drafted nine future All-Pros and eight multiple-time Pro Bowlers, including MVP quarterback Cam Newton and future Hall of Fame defenders Julius Peppers and Luke Kuechly.
Beane also used “magic eyes” in a 2017 interview while describing how work is an NFL scout’s true special power.
“Even if you did have a magic set of eyes, you can’t get to Alabama, to Washington, to all these schools if you think about the task of seeing all the potential players,” Beane told me. “There are hundreds of players you have eyes on. There were guys drafted in the first round this year that nobody was talking about a year earlier.
“My philosophy has always been to A, work hard, and B, surround myself with like-minded people who are ultra-competitive and have high character. If you have all those things, you’ll get to the right answer. If we nail it on a draft pick, it’s not Brandon Beane. The thing Brandon did was hire the right people that helped them find the right answer. As we build this roster, they are not ‘my guys;’ they are ‘our guys.’ It’s not about who is right as long as we get it right.”
Just as the big Fakir passed down his secrets to Kellar, who passed down his secrets to Houdini, Beane passed down Hurney’s wisdom to his protégé.
Beane evoked the metaphor again in 2022 when speaking about Schoen, who’d just been hired as the New York Giants’ general manager.
“Joe is a worker,” Beane told Giants reporters. “You know, there’s no magic. There’s no magic eyes that any of us have. It’s about doing the work, and the New York Giants will never have to worry that Joe didn’t invest the right time in evaluating a player, college or pro.”
The Giants seem on the verge of making Schoen disappear after the NFL Draft like the Bills did with Whaley nine years ago.
When new coach John Harbaugh came aboard in January, he demanded a direct line to owner John Mara that circumvents Schoen. As the Giants negotiated a trade last week that sent defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence to the Bengals for the 10th pick, Lawrence’s agent, Joel Segal, reportedly pushed Schoen aside to deal with senior vice president of football operations Dawn Aponte instead.
Expectations at One Bills Drive are high.
Pegula’s protestations about the sentiment notwithstanding, fans expect the Bills to levitate above what McDermott did. That was the whole point in firing him. Pegula talked about not being able to get over “the proverbial playoff wall” and promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady to get the job done while slapping Beane on the back.
This draft lacks fertile ground. There might be slightly more keepers among the 165,000 residents at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
“Sitting here today,” Beane said Monday about league-wide expectations for the first round, “it’s clear as mud.”
Then Beane perhaps revealed too much when answering another question. The Bills own the 26th selection Thursday night. He conceded the Bills don’t have that many first-round grades on players, but then went further in emphasizing the poor value.
This draft class has many GMs handcuffed, but Houdini was the master of escape. Beane indicated his preference would be to wriggle out of that spot.
“I’m going to have it ranked 1 to 26, like, no matter how the board falls,” Beane said. “And, no, I don’t have anywhere near 26 first-round grades. So that means I’m going into the second round. But I’m going to have it ranked, ready to go, and we’ll be ready no matter what.”
Beane was wearing a Sabres hat when he said that, but he likely won’t have anything on his head when the Bills’ front office gathers in its draft room Thursday night. The strict dress code historically has been to wear suits. There will be nothing for Beane to pull a rabbit out of.
Terry Pegula’s attention will be divided. The Sabres will play Game 3 of their series against the Boston Bruins in TD Garden while the first round unfolds.
Not even the mighty Fakir could help Pegula be in both places at the same time. But if the owner chooses to be at One Bills Drive, he will be able to watch Beane closely behind the scenes.
Let’s see if he can spot the trick this time.