LAS VEGAS – Kevyn Adams knew the story about the Buffalo Bills drafting Josh Allen. Hearing the tale recently from the man responsible for the franchise-altering pick resonated differently than monitoring the news coverage from afar, though. Sabres General Manager Kevyn Adams is trying to balance urgency and his long-term plan to help the team end its playoff drought.
A swath of the fan base was livid when Bills General Manager Brandon Beane used the seventh overall pick in 2018 on the raw, strong-armed quarterback from the University of Wyoming instead of UCLA's Josh Rosen. People booed. They feared that the Bills had made another bad decision at the sport’s most important position only a few months after their 17-year playoff drought ended with Tyrod Taylor as the starter.
Allen’s development into a superstar propelled the Bills to Super Bowl contender status and provided Beane with a lesson he chose to pass along to his counterpart with the Buffalo Sabres. “Trust your instincts,” Adams said, sharing Beane’s message during a one-on-one interview with The Buffalo News. “You have to be able to handle the noise and emotions from the outside.
I was just with him the other day, and he's the one person in town, the one person, that I can talk to and have the most honest conversations. I know that he knows because he's sitting in the exact same seat and that's an amazing resource for me to have.” The Bills used the immediate dividends of an exceptional draft in 201.