Bills GM annoyed by tanking talk

The Buffalo Bills have been the talk of the town since orchestrating two trades Friday, and most of that talk has centered on tanking.

The Bills jettisoned receiver Sammy Watkins to the Los Angeles Rams for cornerback E.J. Gaines and traded corner Ronald Darby to the Philadelphia Eagles for wideout Jordan Matthews. The Bills also collected second- and third-round picks for next year's draft, but general manager Brandon Beane dispelled any notion of the team tanking in 2017.

"I was very annoyed," Beane said on PFT Live, according to Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith. "We would not have tried to get Anquan Boldin on our team if we were tanking. We would not have tried to get Jordan Matthews. ... We would not have tried to get E.J. Gaines. We would have just tried to get more draft capital if we weren't worried about 2017.

"We're going to compete our tails off for 2017."

Beane's comments shouldn't come as a surprise. It's hard to tell a roster of professionals sweating it out during training camp that the upcoming season won't matter.

But with a new GM and a new head coach in Sean McDermott, it will take some time for them to field the roster they envision will produce the most long-term success.