Bills Are Hiring Joe Brady As Their Next Head Coach

The Buffalo Bills are promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady to head coach after firing Sean McDermott. Brady was the first person the Bills’ head coach search team interviewed last Wednesday. The whole process took just a week to complete.

The deal is for five years, per reports, but the pressure is going to be on with a promotion like this. It’s not a total reset, but rather a retooling of the coaching staff and roster. This is the move of a team that expects to take the next step soon.

Coaches who have been promoted to replace their former boss have not been very successful in recent history.

“A couple keys in the Bills’ hire of Joe Brady—there was a HC as CEO piece of every candidate’s interview with Buffalo, Brady hit a home run on that. And Brady’s promotion allows for scheme continuity, and easy alignment with GM Brandon Beane (who made this call), and the scouts,” said Albert Breer.

Brady also interviewed for the Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins and was still in the process of the interviews for the Las Vegas Raiders head coach job. He met with the Arizona Cardinals, as well.

At minimum, Buffalo will need to hire two new coaches. Special teams coach Chris Tabor took the same job with the Miami Dolphins and offensive line coach Aaron Kromer announced his retirement. It is also likely we will see a new offensive coordinator in place since the Bills said they were looking for a CEO-type head coach.

Who is Joe Brady, the Bills new head coach?

In Brady there’s familiarity for the Bills, obviously. Hired in 2022 to be the team’s quarterbacks coach under offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, Brady has a well-established relationship with quarterback Josh Allen. Following Dorsey’s dismissal, Brady was promoted to interim offensive coordinator ahead of a Week 11 game against the New York Jets. The offense shined in Brady’s first game at OC, winning 32-6 at home. Brady was officially hired as Buffalo’s offensive coordinator beginning with the 2024 NFL season, and he never looked back.

The offense under Brady in 2024 finished second in points per game, 1oth in offensive yards per game, and ninth in both passing and rushing yards per game. Following that up, the 2025 season saw Brady’s system finish fourth in both points per game and yards per game, 15th in passing yards per game, and first in rushing yards per game.

Running back James Cook III led the NFL in rushing yards and had 12 touchdowns while being named Second-Team All-Pro, while Allen finished one score shy of 40 total touchdowns despite a less-than-ideal wide receivers room.

More information to come.

Buffalo Bills head coach interviews

The Bills interviewed or requested interviews with ten people for the job in various ways, virtually and in person. Brady was first followed by former Giants head coach Brian Daboll, Colts defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo, former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel, former Chargers/Colts quarterback Philip Rivers, Commanders running backs coach Anthony Lynn, Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver, Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski, Broncos passing game coordinator Davis Webb, and Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase.