Orchard Park, N.Y. -- Buffalo Bills general manager Brandon Beane knows what's at stake.
As he enters his first draft as a general manager, Beane finds himself in a unique spot. He knows his team needs to find a franchise quarterback. He also has six picks in the first three rounds of a draft in which six quarterbacks could be drafted in the first round. Opportunities like this don't come around often.
So when Beane held his pre-draft press conference and was reminded that this might be the franchise's most important draft since the Bills picked Jim Kelly back in 1983, he laughed.
"I hadn't heard that until you just said it," Beane said. "Thanks, I won't be sleeping for the next ten days. Every draft, I take this as no different. I get it. I really do. But we're at 12. I don't know what's going to be there at 12. I don't know what quarterback's going to be there. I don't know if we're going up or going down. That's really how it is as I sit here. I know everybody assumes we're trading up. First of all, I said before, even if I wanted to trade up right now, even if I said, 'I know the guy I want to get and I need to get to this spot,' it takes a partner to do it and be willing to move out. Again, I think I'll lose sleep every year. You're always going to have holes. You're always going to want to make your roster more competitive and better. That's the thing. We want to find the best football players that we can to help us in 2018 and beyond."
There's a bit more at stake in this draft. The Bills systematically traded away players to acquire picks for this draft. The quarterback crop is stronger than it has been in years, and the 2019 group doesn't look like it will stack up. Beane is still finalizing his quarterback board, but spent his half-hour press conference trying to reveal as little as possible about how he feels about certain prospects.
"It doesn't leave this building," Beane said. "So, no, my wife doesn't know. It's very tight. Listen, I'm not talking about guys in the second round, third round, whoever. Any position. I think it's bad form. You're competitively hurting yourself. Anything you can do to competitively hurting yourself is bad. We keep it pretty close to the vest what we're doing."
All Beane will says is that he's met with all of the top quarterbacks. Beyond that, he's not going near the questions.
"At this point, we know them pretty well," Beane said. "As I was alluding to at the Senior Bowl and the Combine, that was a big part of the process. All I'll really say is they're great young men and there's a reason they're all getting talked about."
Maybe once the draft is over, Beane will be able to exhale and share some of what he really thinks. For now, he's not sharing that with anyone. He's also probably not getting too much quality REM sleep.
"Until it gets here, all you can do is be anxious," Beane said. "Do the work. I feel good about the work and if you do the work, generally, it should fall into place."
Usually Beane plays a round of golf with his scouts the morning of the draft. The weather in Buffalo probably won't allow that. Beane's schedule might not, either. He may have more on his plate than any other general manager in the league, but that's exactly how he wants it.
"I'm a competitor," Beane said. "I love it. I love my job. I love everything about it. This is where my staff and I show that we've done the work and we're competent people."