The Buffalo Bills have found a replacement for Sean McDermott, and they didn’t have to look very far to find him. The club announced Tuesday that they would be promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady to the head coach role.
Brady, who joined the organization in 2022, will ink a 5 year deal and will begin to assemble his coaching staff over the coming days. Broncos defensive pass coordinator Jim Leonhard is rumoured to be a leading candidate to become the Bills’ next defensive coordinator on Brady’s staff.
The 36 year old’s offence ranked top five in several categories in 2025 including rushing yards per game (159.6 – 1st), time of possession (33:08 – 1st), red zone efficiency (66.2% – 3rd), points per game (28.3 – 4th), total yards per game (376.3 – 4th) and third down conversion rate (44.8% – 4th).
More importantly, he comes with a built in familiarity with QB Josh Allen, which on paper should keep the team’s offence humming at a high level next season.
“At the end of the day, this is Josh Allen’s offence,” Brady said in May of 2024. “You’re going to put together the offence around the guys that you’ve got… There’ll be some elements of things that I believe in, but it’s more of like, tell me who we have on our football team and the guys and what they can do well and we’re going to do that.”
As of this writing, Brady will be the youngest head coach in the NFL when the 2026 season kicks off. That feat however has an asterisk beside it at the moment as the Raiders, Cardinals and Browns have yet to announce who will be taking over their current head coaching vacancies.
Brady’s introductory press conference will take place Thursday, Jan. 29 at noon from One Bills Drive.
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