The Buffalo Bills are beginning a new chapter after naming Joe Brady as their head coach on Tuesday.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bills and Brady agreed to a five-year contract as the team’s next head coach after shocking the NFL world by firing Sean McDermott following an AFC Divisional Round overtime loss to the Denver Broncos.
Schefter added that Brady is “expected” to target Denver Broncos defensive pass coordinator Jim Leonhard as the team’s new defensive coordinator.
This past season was the seventh consecutive year the Bills made the playoffs under McDermott but failed to reach the Super Bowl.
“I feel we are in need of a new structure within our leadership to give this organization the best opportunity to take our team to the next level,” team owner Terry Pegula said in the announcement of McDermott’s firing. “We owe that to our players and to Bills Mafia.”
Despite those playoff disappointments, McDermott still went 98-50 during his nine-year tenure with eight postseason appearances, five AFC East titles and a level of consistency the majority of the NFL would love.
He just so happened to be in charge of the Bills at the same time Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid were building a dynasty with the Kansas City Chiefs. That Chiefs team was the one to eliminate Buffalo in four of those playoff appearances, including in two AFC Championship Games.
Still, Buffalo’s level of consistency and playoff appearances, paired with a star franchise quarterback in Josh Allen, made it one of the most attractive coach openings in an offseason where the Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins also made changes.
Brady couldn’t ask for a much better scenario since Allen will be just 30 years old next season. He figures to remain one of the best quarterbacks in the league for years to come and is just one season removed from his MVP effort during the 2024 campaign.
There is no reason to think there will be any drop off with Allen moving forward, and his partnership with the team’s new coach will go a long way toward determining if the Bills can get over the postseason hump.
If they do, Brady will become a legend for Buffalo fans still dreaming of the franchise’s first Super Bowl title.
Being so familiar with Allen should help him in that pursuit of a Lombardi Trophy, as he was the Bills’ offensive coordinator the last two seasons after serving as the quarterbacks coach the previous two.
The team finished in the top six in scoring and the top 10 in yardage in each of Brady’s four seasons to this point. Buffalo has been an offensive juggernaut of late, and the front office clearly believed Brady, who also helped lead LSU to a national title as its passing game coordinator in 2019, had plenty to do with that success given this development.
And now he will look to build on it in a more high-profile position.
