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<\/p>\nCHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 Brandon Beane\u2019s first house in Buffalo had a pool and an indoor basketball court that the previous owners installed.<\/p>\n
The trades and free-agent deals executed in the Bills\u2019 front office under Beane might have helped Dan Morgan and Joe Schoen on their paths to becoming general managers. But it was on Beane\u2019s halfcourt setup in the basement where the three talent evaluators \u2014 all of whom got their start in Carolina \u2014 would let off some steam and scratch their competitive itches.<\/p>\n
Schoen, the New York Giants\u2019 GM, talked Beane into putting a hardwood court \u2014 featuring the Bills\u2019 logo \u2014 over the concrete flooring. The 3-on-3 games were not for the meek and mild.<\/p>\n
\u201cDan and I are super competitive. Beane is too, obviously,\u201d Schoen said. \u201cDan is so big and strong that if you go into the lane on him, you\u2019re gonna get knocked about 10 feet the other way. I\u2019m a Division III athlete and he\u2019s a Butkus Award winner, so I\u2019ve dang near gone into the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan left Buffalo \u2014 and the basketball and racquetball games he\u2019d play with Beane \u2014 in 2021 to become the Panthers\u2019 assistant GM under Scott Fitterer. Schoen remained as Beane\u2019s assistant GM until leaving in 2022 to succeed Dave Gettleman.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re best of friends but uber-competitive and want to win at everything,\u201d Schoen said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great relationship. The three of us had a lot of fun working together.\u201d<\/p>\n
A lot of players have flowed up and down the Charlotte-to-Buffalo pipeline since Beane and Bills coach Sean McDermott left Charlotte in 2017. But Sunday marks the first time the teams have met since Morgan was promoted to replace Fitterer in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crazy how things come full circle,\u201d Morgan said last week in his office at Bank of America Stadium.<\/p>\n
When the Panthers drafted Morgan, a Miami linebacker, in the first round in 2001, Beane was working in the team\u2019s football operations department. Morgan always enjoyed talking with the Panthers\u2019 young scouts and other staffers, including Beane.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t run the streets together,\u201d Beane said. \u201cBut we had good conversations, good laughs sitting there in the equipment room with Jackie Miles and Donnie Toner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan became a fixture in the middle of the Panthers\u2019 defense, setting a Super Bowl record with 18 tackles in the 32-29 loss to the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston in February 2004.<\/p>\n
By the time Morgan retired and took a position as a Seattle Seahawks\u2019 scouting intern in 2010, Beane had moved into the Panthers\u2019 scouting department. Beane appreciated how Morgan worked his way up the scouting ladder in Seattle.<\/p>\n
\u201cDan didn\u2019t need to do this. He had plenty of money from his playing days. When you hear he\u2019s doing what every other guy does to get in the league, you got a lot of respect for how he did this,\u201d Beane said in a phone interview. \u201cThis was not John Elway or somebody getting put to the top of the totem pole. He had to go to a new team that didn\u2019t know him \u2014 the GM or the staff \u2014 and go prove himself just like the rest of us did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schoen, a Panthers scout from 2001-07, also respected Morgan\u2019s grind.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re talking about a guy that was a first-round pick that had three first kids and is married, and drove across the country to make $40,000 a year,\u201d Schoen said. \u201cTalk about sacrificing a lot to come up the right way. Dan Morgan\u2019s picking people up at the airport for the Seattle Seahawks.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Dan Morgan has been with the Panthers since 2021 when he was the assistant GM. (Kirby Lee \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n
Beane was Gettleman\u2019s assistant GM during the Panthers\u2019 Super Bowl season of 2015 and stayed in Carolina for 19 years before heading to Buffalo. One of Beane\u2019s first hires was Schoen before bringing Morgan to western New York in 2018 as director of player personnel.<\/p>\n
Morgan moved into the neighborhood where Beane and Schoen lived, and they would hang out together with their wives, all of whom had grown up in western North Carolina. (Hayley Beane and Marie Schoen were born in the same hospital in Shelby; Ashleigh Morgan is from Asheville.)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was like old times here. It was kinda cool,\u201d Beane said. \u201cIt was a good working relationship in the office. But we go home, the wives enjoyed hanging out. So we\u2019d grill out or go grab a bite.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bills made the playoffs twice in Morgan\u2019s three seasons in Buffalo, including a berth in the AFC Championship during the COVID season of 2020.<\/p>\n
Morgan recalled scrolling through X in a conference room in 2020 and seeing a post from Minnesota Vikings receiver Stefon Diggs saying, \u201cit\u2019s time for a new beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan told Beane and Schoen, who were the only others in the room due to social distancing restrictions, the Bills should think about trading for Diggs. \u201cAnd all of us were like, \u2018Yeah, let\u2019s do it,\u2019\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIt literally happened pretty quick after that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schoen said Morgan brought an aggressive philosophy to Buffalo from Seattle, where GM John Schneider had a long history for making draft-weekend trades. \u201cDan was always an idea guy and he was always aggressive with his thoughts,\u201d Schoen said. \u201cI appreciated that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan, who oversaw the Bills\u2019 college and pro scouting, was high on defensive end Greg Rousseau, the Bills\u2019 first-round pick in 2021 who had 25 sacks over his first four seasons. Morgan also pounded the table for cornerback Dane Jackson, a seventh-rounder who didn\u2019t pan out in Buffalo or Carolina.<\/p>\n
Beane said he liked how convicted Morgan was when he liked a player.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur motto is: Do the work and say your piece. Some guys do the work and they kind of wait to see how the room\u2019s kinda leaning, then they might pipe in,\u201d Beane said. \u201cDan\u2019s not afraid to go 1-on-6, 1-on-5. I\u2019ve heard it\u2019s part of the reason (Panthers owner) Dave Tepper always liked him. He\u2019s not a yes man, for sure. That\u2019s not who Dan is. And I think that\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Morgan was introduced as the Panthers\u2019 GM alongside head coach Dave Canales on Feb. 1 2024, he famously said the Panthers needed more dogs \u2014 players who were passionate about football and winning.<\/p>\n
Beane uses a similar phrase in his scouting meetings.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re always looking for tough dudes. Not necessarily law-breaking, tough dudes, (but) dudes that bring an edge,\u201d Beane said. \u201cI thought really with some of the guys they brought in in free agency \u2014 the (Tre\u2019von) Moehrig kid \u2013 and some of their drafted players, that\u2019s definitely a similar thing (as the Bills).\u201d<\/p>\n
Beane said there\u2019s a fine line between adding good character guys to the locker room, but not filling it with \u201call choir boys, either.\u201d He believes Morgan shares that view.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wants a certain level of toughness, which I think he\u2019s done a really good job of getting that O-line (right),\u201d Beane added. \u201cI\u2019ve watched their film. They\u2019re really playing as good as they\u2019ve played in years, and that\u2019s a credit to him and the coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morgan said his background with Beane and Schoen makes them easy to call when seeking feedback or discussing potential trades. \u201cIt\u2019s like calling your best friend and you can bounce stuff off them, literally anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Two years after the Panthers turned down two first-round picks from the L.A. Rams for edge rusher Brian Burns when Fitterer was GM and Morgan was the assistant, Morgan and Schoen swung a deal that sent Burns to the Giants, albeit for a far smaller return. The Panthers received second- and fifth-round picks (plus a swap of fifth-round selections) for Burns, who\u2019s tied for the league lead with nine sacks.<\/p>\n
Morgan executed a trade with Buffalo during the 2024 draft when Beane was looking to move out of the end of the first round to add value later in the draft. Morgan took wideout Xavier Legette with the 32nd pick.<\/p>\n
Beane said there\u2019s built-in trust when dealing with Morgan or Schoen. \u201cNobody\u2019s trying to screw somebody,\u201d he said. \u201c(It\u2019s) like, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s just get down in the dirt. Do you wanna do something or not?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Beane is heading to the Carolinas early this weekend to scout Alabama\u2019s game at South Carolina, where his son, Wes, is a recruiting intern for Shane Beamer. (Another son, Tyson, is a scouting assistant for the Giants.)<\/p>\n
If he gets to Charlotte early enough Saturday night, Beane hopes to meet up with Morgan. They two will talk football and catch up over a beer. There will be no basketball this weekend. In fact, Beane sold the house with the indoor court.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a cool house if you\u2019ve got kids,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a cool house if it\u2019s just you and your wife.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHARLOTTE, N.C. \u2014 Brandon Beane\u2019s first house in Buffalo had a pool and an indoor basketball court that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[1807,3687,977,349,99],"class_list":["post-248730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}