With the ascension of Joe Brady, the Buffalo Bills are promoting from within as they embark on the post-Sean McDermott era.
The Buffalo Bills hope “Brady” will once again provide success atop the AFC East.
The Bills have named offensive coordinator Joe Brady the successor to ousted head coach Sean McDermott. The team said that Brady will get a five-year deal in his first tour with the top headset.
Brady has been stationed with the Bills since 2022 and spent the last two seasons as Western New York’s offensive coordinator. Buffalo ranked fourth in both yardage gained and points scored last season, which saw the Bills extend the NFL’s longest active playoff appearance streak to seven. At 36, Brady becomes the youngest active head coach on the NFL circuit, succeeding Kellen Moore of New Orleans.
Brady is perhaps best-known for his success with the 2019 LSU football team, which is often regaled as one of the greatest college football clubs in recent memory. Under his watch as passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach, quarterback Joe Burrow won the 2019 Heisman Trophy while throwing to fellow future NFL standouts Ja’Marr Chase and Justin Jefferson. For his efforts, Brady was regaled with the 2019 Broyles Award, which is presented annually to the top assistant coach in college football.
Success in Baton Rouge led Brady to take on the offensive coordinator duties with the Carolina Panthers for a season-plus. He would then join Buffalo as the quarterbacks coach in 2022 following an in-season ousting from Charlotte.
Brady took over offensive overseer duties midway through his second season in Orchard Park after his predecessor Ken Dorsey was let go. A renewed focus on the run game allowed Buffalo to breakout of a .500 rut and finish the year as winners of six of its final seven. During the 2024 campaign, an NFL-record 13 different men scored touchdowns for the Bills en route to their fifth consecutive AFC East division title.
We’ve agreed to terms with Joe Brady on a 5-year contract to become our next head coach! pic.twitter.com/zYiukOSz6g
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 27, 2026
Joe Brady Will Be Tasked With Getting Buffalo Over The Super Bowl Hump
The pressure will immediately burden Brady as he takes on his first head coaching gig. With franchise quarterback Josh Allen leading the way, Buffalo has been one of the more successful teams of the 2020s. The Bills have won eight playoff games in this ongoing decade, tied for second with the Los Angeles Rams and behind only the Kansas City Chiefs.
But Buffalo has yet to break through to the Super Bowl despite its plethora of talent, which led to the ousting of the tenured boss McDermott. The Bills’ latest postseason departure came in heartbreaking fashion, as they dropped an overtime thriller to the top-ranked Denver Broncos on the AFC Divisional round earlier this month. That extended the Bills’ AFC title drought to 32 seasons, fourth-longest in the conference behind the Cleveland Browns, New York Jets, and Miami Dolphins.
The dynamic and relationship between Brady and Allen will no doubt linger under a larger microscope with the former’s promotion. Allen was said to have played a role in the Bills’ selection process, which reportedly also auditioned another Brady predecessor in Brian Daboll, as well as recent NFL returnee Phillip Rivers.
“What I love about Josh is his demeanor, his approach, his mindset is as impressive as it gets,” Brady said of Allen in June, per Maddy Glab of the official team site. “It’s infectious around the team. When he walks into the building, you don’t see a guy that or don’t feel a guy that just won the MVP last year. You feel a guy that’s hungry and is trying to figure out ways to get better and embracing his new teammates.”
With Buffalo’s reported hire, the lingering vacancies on the NFL head coaching front now reside in Arizona, Cleveland, and Las Vegas.
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
