2 – How will the defense adapt to a scheme change?
Buffalo’s defensive scheme might be one of the more significant changes we witness in the club’s preparations for the 2026 campaign.
With new defensive coordinator, Jim Leonhard, subscribing to a much different scheme than the one employed here over the last nine seasons, there will be a stark contrast. But he doesn’t believe in throwing everything out from the previous regime, especially in an all-important transition year.
Leonhard understands what his players will have to undergo with the scheme change having been through it himself multiple times as a former NFL safety.
“With Rex Ryan in that scheme, Mike Pettine, Jim O’Neill, I was in the system for six years in four different places,” said Leonhard. “So, to see how it morphed from one place to the next of what you kept, what you changed in terminology, how the personnel dictates how you really set up the game plan. And overall, just the scheme starting in the offseason.
“So, as a player, being able to do that through four different phases of my career, that really sparked my interest in coaching where, ‘If I get into coaching, this is what it’s going to look like.’ And I was able to take that straight to Wisconsin and implement it. We want to create a defense that we can all be proud of. A defense that the NFL doesn’t want to play against.”
Buffalo’s new defensive play caller believes there is a level of versatility on the roster that will allow him and the defensive staff to piece things together and then assess where some holes might need to be filled.
“There is going to be change,” Leonhard admitted. “It’s been a system that they’ve played in for a long time and just the structure of what they’ve done and how they’ve done it, and why they have done it. It’s going to be a change for them, but we’re excited as a coaching staff to create something that is best for their skill sets and fits their personalities. I am big on flexibility and being able to play to your best players and force offenses to deal with their own problems.”
And knowing Leonhard is an expert teacher, the learning curve for many holdovers from last year’s roster should find the transition more than manageable.
