The annual coaching carousel is well underway after the season has concluded for all but the few teams remaining. For the Buffalo Bills, Sean McDermott will remain the head coach, but the staff around him is experiencing some changes. Here’s a little bit about which coaches are staying, leaving and possibly being promoted or coming in. 

Joe Brady- In:

Today the Bills announced that Joe Brady will remain the offensive coordinator in Buffalo after conducting some interviews with Brady and other coaches. This hiring seems very reminiscent of the official Ken Dorsey hiring after being promoted from Quarterbacks coach when Brian Daboll left.

Joe Brady saw much success in the 9 games he called plays. The Bills went 7-2 over this span averaging just under 28 points per game going up against some of the strongest defenses the NFL had to offer this year. The two losses came in games where the Bills scored 34 against the Eagles and 24 against the Chiefs.

After the promotion midway through the season, the Bills were likely operating on some hybrid variation of Dorsey’s and Brady’s respective playbooks. We suspect that there were certain wrinkles from Brady’s offense slowly injected at practice on a weekly basis so that it was more of Brady’s offense than Dorsey’s by the end of the season. While the Bills found success with Brady looking like a natural play-caller in a short span, fans should be excited to see what he can do with a full playbook of his own and a full offseason cycle to prepare for its deployment come training camp. 

Eric Washington- Out:

Eric Washington was the Defensive Line coach for the Bills the past four seasons after being hired in 2020. He was promoted to Senior Defensive Assistant in 2022. The Chicago Bears just hired Washington to be their defensive coordinator moving forward.

The defensive line underperformed for the first three years of Washington’s tenure when considering how much capital Brandon Beane invested into the unit . Beane has spent two first round picks and a second round pick on the defensive line to draft Ed Oliver (2019), Gregory Rousseau and Boogie Basham 2020). He had also invested heavily into the defensive trench during free agency by signing; Mario Addison, Vernon Butler, and Quinton Jefferson (2020),  Efe Obada (2021), Von Miller, Daquon Jones, Shaq Lawson, Jordan Phillips, Tim Settle (2022)

This past season with the linebackers playing as well as they did, the defense still gave up 5th worst yards per carry at 4.6 (Pro-Football-Reference). The Bears had one of the best rush defenses in the league. They must be looking for what Washington could bring to the pass rush. The Bills had the 4th most sacks in the league and had the 8th best pressure percentage while blitzing at a below average rate. This suggests that the line was able to generate pressure at a consistent rate while only rushing four at the line of scrimmage.

Bobby Babich- Possibly Promoted:

Bobby Babich joined the team in 2017 as the assistant defensive backs coach. He was promoted to Safeties Coach in 2018. As we all know, Micah Hyde and Jordan Poyer were one of the best safety tandems in the NFL. From 2017 on, Micah Hyde was voted  2nd Team All-Pro twice, and Poyer received the nod once. 

In 2022 Babich was named linebackers coach where he helped Matt Milano to a career year where he received an All-Pro selection as well. With the loss of Tremaine Edmunds to the bears in 2023, many Bills fans believed the team was lacking a true starting linebacker to pair with Milano. Second year player Terrel Bernard went on to have one the best linebacker seasons of the year leading many to believe he was snubbed of an All-Pro selection. Tyrel Dodson also had a great year filling in for Milano. 

Babich reportedly interviewed for a DC position in Green Bay and Miami as well. 

Mike Caldwell- Possibly Coming In

The Bills reportedly interviewed Ex-Jaguars DC Mike Caldwell. Caldwell is known for running a 3-4 scheme rotating different linebackers near the line of scrimmage to give the opposing offense different pre-snap looks. This differs from the 4-2 Nickel and 4-3 defense that McDermott deploys. 

Caldwell was brought into the Jaguars staff under Doug Peterson in 2022. In his first season the Jaguars gave up 353 yards per game which was 9th worst in the NFL. The 2023 season was not much better. The Jags defense let up 342 yards per game marking 11th worst in the league (Pro-Football-Reference).

Sean Desai- Possibly Coming In

The Bills reportedly hosted Ex-Eagles defensive coordinator Sean Desai for an interview to fill the position in Buffalo. 

In mid-December this year, the Eagles opted to bring in Matt Patricia to call the plays for the defense and sent Sean Desai to the booth. Coming from the Fangio tree, his defensive scheme this year led the eagles to give up 356 yards per game. In terms of passing yards per game, the team had the 2nd worst average in the league. Against the run they were just below average, letting up 4.3 yards per attempt, however they were a top 10 team in rush yards per game (Pro-Football-Reference).

Nobody- Possibly Coming In

It is very possible that the Bills are going to do their due diligence in hosting some interviews for the Defensive Coordinator position, but McDermott will decide to keep the duties for himself. He could leave Babich where he is if he is not hired elsewhere, and the Bills could run it back with mostly the same staff.