Bills welcome 3 new coordinators

Well, we are officially 5 days into the Joe Brady era at time of writing, and the Bills have filled the big 3 coaching spots.

At defensive coordinator (DC) - Jim Leonhard, special teams coordinator (ST) - Jeff Rodgers, and finally at offensive coordinator (OC) - Pete Carmichael. These are the first big additions to Joe Brady's coaching staff for the 2026 season.

Let's start with special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers. This hire will be polarizing for sure. Rodgers comes to Buffalo after spending the last 6 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. Some Bills fans may remember the blocks executed to perfection by a Cardinals special teams unit in the opening game of the 2024 season in Highmark Stadium and the Cardinals scored a kickoff return TD halfway through the 4th quarter.

Rodgers had previously worked with Denver, Chicago and Carolina as special teams coordinator. Rodgers is a man with plenty experience to say the least. To say last season was sub-optimal for the Cardinals special teams would be an accurate reflection. However, the Cardinals had 3 different punters last season and struggled to find any sort of rhythm all year long on special teams (much like the rest of their squad). They ranked top 5 in averages punts (compared to Buffalo's 30th), but fell in the middle of the pack for the remaining statistics. However, in Rodgers prior years the Cardinals ranked inside the top 10 in the same categories. Rodgers is a smart special teams coach. Overall, I view this as a good hire. Especially with Ray Davis coming off the all-pro KR nod, let's hope Rodgers can get the best out of him.

Next we move onto Pete Carmichael. Joe Brady in his press conference put a lot of emphasis on the Sean Payton influence to his coaching style, therefore this hire shouldn't come as a surprise to a lot of Bills fans. Carmichael and Brady worked together during Brady's time at New Orleans where he was a coaching assistant and Carmichael the OC. Although Carmichael was not the play caller during his time in New Orleans (due to Sean Payton), he did call plays in the two seasons after Sean Payton left. Carmichael's first season calling plays was not anything special, the Saints ranked lower-middle of all stats offence. You could attribute this to the lack of talent the Saints had during that time, maybe a learning curve calling plays, but Carmichaels second season was much improved. This is once the Saints acquired Derek Carr. Carmichaels offence jumped into the top 10 ranks. With Carmichael helping develop the game plan, I'd expect a bit of a change in offence and look to more mid 2010's Saints offence. Changes I'd expect are more play action (no complaints), more receptions from backs, and an established slot player. With Carmichael coming back, I fully expect either Thornton, or the return of Cooks next year. My hopes with the hire of Carmichael is that Coleman can become that established slot receiver. The win quick so QB has a quick release player. Expect the Bills to run an offence where there is a constant deep ball threat (Cooks, Thornton) and an established slot receiver like Coleman, a big body who can revitalize his career in a Michael Thomas-esque manner. Overall, this hire definitely won't jump off the page to a lot of Bills fans, but I think once you get into the thought of the changes this can open up for Josh Allen and the passing game, I think this is a good hire. Let's hope Beane still feels the need to go after another receiver though.

Finally, Jim Leonhard. Wow are Broncos fans upset to lose him! With Vance Joseph like to find a head coach job (eventually), Broncos fans would've hoped the successor would've been Jim Leonhard. The once former Bills safety is coming to Buffalo from his position as the defensive passing game coordinator and assistant head coach. Shockingly, like Joe Brady said, another Sean Payton coaching tree hire. Do I love this hire. This is a guy who knows what it means to play for Buffalo and knows how to get the best out of the talent. Because let's face it, although he had an excellent season there's no denying it. There's not much of a future on this team for Tre White. At 30 years old, with his injury history, you have to imagine the costs outweigh the benefits. Does Beane think like this, who knows... all I know is the hire of Jim Leonhard gets me excited for our DB's. For starters, the coverages he would help scheme and the pressures applied by those corners during his time in Denver were elite. Yes, he was not calling plays in Denver, but he spent 5 years calling plays in Wisconsin. The man is no stranger to calling plays on defence. I am super excited to see who he suggest to bring in for the development of this DB room. With Max Hairston possessing all the elite traits to be an excellent corner in this league, and Dorian Strong pre-injury looking like another Benford, this hope may just get me through the off season. The hire of Jim Leonhard will bring up some new pressure schemes for Buffalo. Hopefully Jim can scheme up something good when it matters and get some pressure on opposing QB's. The Bills ranked last in the post season (again) for sacks. We have to start getting some pressure on QBs when it matters most. I firmly believe Jim has a good chance with a young defensive core of making that happen.

Overall, I like all these hires. I don't think we can know for sure exactly how much the offence will change, but to have that voice in the room advocating for letting Allen loose is nice. Special teams can hopefully step up and could we even see an elevated Ray Davis? Only time will tell. What's going to get me through the off season is the hope, the promise of having a new look, new scheme, and new pressure defence.

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