The switch might work.
But based on what we heard last week, the reasons sound disingenuous.
Much of the fan angst from the Buffalo Bills’ decision to fire coach Sean McDermott emanated from the diametric decision to promote general manager Brandon Beane.
On Tuesday, the Bills promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady to head coach.
The sequence of events is uninspiring and feels very personal.
Bills owner Terry Pegula is happy enough with his operation that he’s handing out plum promotions — except to the man many credit with establishing Buffalo’s culture after a 17-year playoff drought. That man got fired.
Pegula sat alongside Beane for nearly an hour and told us the team must change. Pegula spoke of the emotional wreckage he saw in the locker room after the overtime playoff loss to the Denver Broncos. He spoke about a “proverbial playoff wall.” He spoke about not wanting to waste his MVP quarterback anymore.
“He felt that this team needed a different voice after what he witnessed and was a part of in the locker room after the Denver game,” Beane said of Pegula’s decision.
Then the Bills hired the coach Josh Allen has listened to most for four years, the offensive coordinator whose team had the ball with a chance to win each of the last three times it was eliminated from the postseason.
Brady has done some of the masonry in that playoff wall.
Yes, it’s possible McDermott lost the locker room, although reactions from players such as defensive tackles DaQuan Jones and Jordan Phillips and nickelback Taron Johnson refuted that notion.
But Brady’s voice is not new; his performance during four years of Buffalo’s frustration is not unimpeachable.
The move could pay the most glorious dividend, a Lombardi Trophy.
But it doesn’t feel like we’ve been told the entire truth.
Bills owner Terry Pegula and general manager Brandon Beane spoke about how the team must change. (Jeffrey T. Barnes / Associated Press)
Brady was among nine candidates Buffalo spoke with, although nobody received a second interview. The front office on Tuesday quickly let reporters know Brady articulating his vision as the team’s CEO “was a home run.” That was considered McDermott’s strength, too, when he was chosen in 2017.
We won’t know about Brady’s maiden staff for a little while, but now he will have to walk through One Bills Drive and fire offensive assistants, or he won’t, and confusion over firing McDermott will grow even deeper.
Brady, 36, has never assembled a staff. His first defensive coordinator will be the most critical hire. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported Denver Broncos defensive pass coordinator and former Bills safety Jim Leonhard is a leading candidate for the gig. The Bills already lost special teams coordinator Chris Tabor to the Miami Dolphins.
Brady’s largest offensive staffing question will be replacing offensive line coach Aaron Kromer, who maintained a substantial role in play calling as a de facto run game coordinator. McDermott once explained to me how Kromer fed Brady which run plays to call in real time during games. James Cook became Buffalo’s first NFL rushing king in half a century. The Bills also led the NFL in rushing yards, their 5.0 yards per carry second to only the Baltimore Ravens.
Kromer protégé Austin Gund was Buffalo’s assistant O-line coach and could return.
Buffalo must also square the circle Pegula drew around receiver Keon Coleman last week. In trying to defend Beane for drafting Coleman 33rd overall in 2023, Pegula pointed a finger at the coaches.
Pegula later told the Associated Press he wasn’t referring to McDermott, which puts Brady, passing game specialist Marc Lubick, receivers coach Adam Henry, and assistant receivers coach DJ Mangas on the hook.
The past eight days have consolidated power at One Bills Drive. That means the credit will be consolidated, as will be the blame if this change doesn’t equate to a Super Bowl appearance soon.
Rather than Beane and McDermott reporting individually to Pegula and drafting Allen, every substantial leader left in the building is aligned from Allen on up.
Allen was involved in the head coaching interviews and will be viewed as having signed off on Brady, who will report to Beane, who got his wish to name the head coach of his choice and who will report to Pegula.
But the Bills said they needed a new voice, needed to maximize Allen, needed a new direction.
Brady has been here four years already. Let’s see how much longer he can make it.