Two former Bills defensive coaches are returning under new DC Jim Leonhard. The team is rehiring Bobby April III and John Egorugwu, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. They will coach the Bills’ outside and inside linebackers, respectively.
Buffalo is also making two new hires, with Schefter adding the team is bringing in Drew Terrell as its wide receivers coach and adding former Oklahoma defensive coordinator Jay Valai as its cornerbacks coach. Terrell interviewed for the Chargers, Commanders and Falcons’ OC jobs last month.
April is coming to Buffalo after three years as Stanford’s defensive coordinator. More notably with regards to this Bills hire, April worked with Leonhard at Wisconsin from 2018-22. April served as the Badgers’ OLBs coach during that span, which featured Leonhard as the Big Ten program’s DC and interim HC. Before heading to Madison, however, April was linebackers coach under Rex Ryan in Buffalo from 2015-16. April is the son of former NFL ST coordinator Bobby April Jr.
While April’s Bills stint occurred before Brandon Beane‘s arrival, the current GM was on staff when Egorugwu was in place previously. The Bills hired Egorugwu from the Ravens in 2017. Egorugwu, who completed a notable jump in being a 2015 Ravens hire weeks after he had pledged to work at then-Division I-FCS Missouri State, was on Sean McDermott‘s staff from 2017-20. The final three years featured him as assistant LBs coach. Egorugwu spent the past four seasons as the Giants’ linebackers coach under Brian Daboll, having reunited with ex-Bills coworkers Daboll and Joe Schoen after a season at Vanderbilt.
Terrell spent the past three seasons as the Cardinals’ pass-game coordinator under Drew Petzing. Terrell had spent the previous three seasons as wideouts coach in Washington under Ron Rivera. Valai spent the past four seasons as Oklahoma’s co-DC, having previously coached at Texas and Alabama. He worked under Bob Sutton as a quality control assistant with the Chiefs in 2018. While Valai was a former Wisconsin DB, his tenure did not overlap with Leonhard’s time as a player or a coach with the program.