The Buffalo Bills sent a strong message following yet another early playoff exit in 2025: Merely making the postseason is not enough. After nine excellent regular-season performances, Sean McDermott was fired, closing the door on one of the most productive eras in Bills history.
On Tuesday, the franchise found the man it believes can succeed where McDermott failed, reportedly promoting offensive coordinator Joe Brady to become its next head coach, according to multiple reports. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the two sides have agreed to terms on a deal.
Brady reportedly signed a five-year deal with the team, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
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The Bills know the 36-year-old Brady well after bringing him on as quarterbacks coach in 2022 following his two seasons as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator. Josh Allen threw for over 4,000 yards in each of those two seasons and added 64 total passing touchdowns over that stretch. In 2023, Brady would take over offensive coordinator duties on an interim basis following Ken Dorsey’s dismissal. A season later, Brady was promoted into the full-time role and was voted a finalist for the Assistant Coach of the Year award.
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Brady will face extremely high expectations with the Bills. Under McDermott, the team reached the playoffs in eight of nine seasons. The Bills won at least one playoff game in six of those appearances, making it all the way to the AFC Championship twice, where they were defeated by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs both times.
That sets up a scenario where Brady will have to lead the team to the Super Bowl — or at least make multiple deep postseason runs — to make his early tenure with the team a success.
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That’s an unfair expectation to place on any coach, but that’s the reality when Josh Allen is your quarterback. Allen’s presence made the Bills one of the most desirable landing spots this offseason. Allen is inarguably one of the best quarterbacks in the game, a perennial Pro Bowler, a consistent threat to be named to the first team All-Pro team and an MVP winner. The 29-year-old is signed through the 2030 NFL season, ensuring he’ll remain in Buffalo for years to come. The only thing he’s missing is a Super Bowl win, and the Bills believe Brady will be the one to get Allen there.
While Buffalo was considered a strong landing spot the instant McDermott was fired, the timing of that move put the Bills behind the eight ball. John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski — two of the best head coaches on the market — had already committed to other teams by the time the Bills made the move.
Since the firing came after the divisional round of the playoffs, the Bills were prohibited from interviewing any coach on a still-active NFL team, meaning any assistants on the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Rams, New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks could not speak to Buffalo until their teams were eliminated from the playoffs. That wasn’t the case for teams that fired coaches before the divisional round. They were allowed to schedule interviews with assistants on those teams, though did face some restrictions regarding when those interviews could take place.
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In the end, that didn’t really matter, as the Bills opted to go with a coach already on its staff.
Notably, while McDermott was shown the door, general manager Brandon Beane was allowed to stay. The Bills promoted Beane to team president, and allowed him to lead the search for the Bills’ next coach. Beane ultimately decided on Brady, and the success of that partnership could determine how long Beane stays in his new role.
With Brady on board, the hard work can begin. As long as Allen remains healthy, the Bills should be considered perennial contenders to win the Super Bowl. While the Allen era has been incredibly productive, the Bills have yet to reach the big game with the All-Pro under center, something the team did four times in a row in the early ’90s with Jim Kelly.
Everyone knows how that run ended. Despite four straight Super Bowl appearances, the Bills are still looking for their first Super Bowl win. The team never made it back there with Kelly.
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The team hasn’t made it that far with Allen just yet, but the parallels are similar. After repeated seasons of falling short with Allen, Bills ownership decided it did not want to waste the prime of another generational passer.
It will be up to Brady to end that cycle and deliver Buffalo its first Super Bowl win in franchise history. Having Allen under center makes that task significantly more attainable, but it’s still a massive ask for any coach in his first year on the job, let alone a first-time head coach.
