Buffalo’s latest early playoff exit led to the firing of long-tenured head coach Sean McDermott, but after interviewing nine candidates for the job, the team stayed in-house to replace him. Joe Brady, McDermott’s offensive coordinator for the past two-plus years, became the Bills’ head coach on Tuesday.
Although Brady carries no head coaching experience, the Bills believe they found a “CEO of their football operation” in the 36-year-old, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says. Indeed, Brady won the Bills over during the “CEO portion” of his interview, Jordan Schultz reports.
“When we started this process, we were looking for a CEO-type head coach,” said general manager Brandon Beane, who added that Brady will provide a “fresh, new vision for the Buffalo Bills” (via Katherine Fitzgerald of the Buffalo News).
As he adjusts to his CEO position, Brady will continue to call the offensive plays in 2026. Asked how he’ll handle juggling both roles, Brady said he learned from former boss Sean Payton, whom he assisted in New Orleans from 2017-18.
“I’ve been in the room and seen how his day-to-day goes, and seen what that looks like from a game-planning standpoint,” Brady told One Bills Live. “Being with the defense also, and then, okay, now I can get ready to go call a game … That’s 20-plus years of doing it from Sean Payton, so I’m understanding of that. There’s going to be growing pains with it.”
Less than a week into his head coaching tenure, Brady has already pried two notable assistants from Payton’s staff in Denver. After hiring Pete Carmichael Jr. as his offensive coordinator on Friday, Brady brought in Jim Leonhard as his D-coordinator on Saturday.
Before joining Payton in Denver as an offensive assistant in 2024, Carmichael was his OC with the Saints from 2009-21. Payton, not Carmichael, called the offensive plays during their long-running partnership in New Orleans. Carmichael will now take on a similar role in Buffalo.
The Bills’ Brady-led offense is coming off its second straight top-five finish in points. Quarterback Josh Allen won the MVP award in 2024, Brady’s first full season in charge. Allen took an active role in the Bills’ HC search, sitting in on all interviews, though he wasn’t involved in assembling a list of finalists or the hiring itself, Peter Schrager of ESPN reports. The 29-year-old is fully on board with Brady’s promotion, though (via Syndey Ciano of the team’s website).
“He’s a real human that guys can get behind and understand and play for,” Allen said. “I thought in his interview, the vision that he had for this team … He’s going to continue to keep working hard and trying to find ways for our team now to be put in successful positions.”
Bills will be 9-8 next season.
Maybe if Josh is injured for a month.
Ok, so the offense which scored 30 pts per game for last 2 yrs with a more aggressive defensive scheme will lose more games.
Ppl real just like to hate on Josh or just like to do their ignorance
If Josh gets hurt or the offensive line gets decimated, etc… injuries change everything. It’s possible every season can go south.
I mean, they did lose against Denver entirely because of him.
I like the defense direction and hopefully Beane will find a couple of WRs who can catch the ball other than Shakir. The big questions will be on the new HC’s performance in games (can he call the offense and control the big picture)? The GM also has some holes to fill while restructuring contracts to give the Bills some cap room. I fear some fan favorites like oft-injured Milano and TE Dawson Know may have to go to make that happen.
Milano has an 11M void year that hits the books next month. He’d be 11M against the books to play for someone else. If resigned for 2026, it could actually save a million or two against the cap and fill a roster spot. It would create about 4.5M dead cap in 2027 if its a one year deal.
So 11M against the cap in 2026, with a open roster spot to fill, if they move on; or slight savings to even on the 2026 cap to keep him with about 4.5M in 2027 dead money.
Unless he has no fit in Leonhard’s system, or no desire to continue in Buffalo, my bet is he is a Bill next year.
I agree Sherminator, Beane has a lot of work to do. I’d like to see Knox back if it’s possible. The TE group was a position of great strength. Milano isn’t good enough anymore. He was awful this year. Shaq Thompson was more impactful. Linebacker upgrades are needed urgently. Bernard was useless all year, I know he was injured, but he’s not durable and too small to begin with.
What a mess.