Bills promote OC Joe Brady to head coach on 5-year deal

Alaina GetzenbergJan 27, 2026, 11:50 AM ET

CloseAlaina Getzenberg covers the Buffalo Bills for ESPN. She joined ESPN in 2021. Alaina was previously a beat reporter for the Charlotte Observer and has also worked for CBS Sports and the Dallas Morning News. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

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The Buffalo Bills have promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady to head coach on a five-year deal, the team announced Tuesday.

Brady replaces Sean McDermott, who was fired last week after the Bills were eliminated by the Denver Broncos in the AFC divisional round of the playoffs. McDermott had spent nine seasons as head coach in Buffalo, taking the team to the playoffs in eight of those seasons.

Broncos defensive pass coordinator Jim Leonhard is expected to be a leading candidate to become the Bills’ next defensive coordinator under Brady, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

RankW-L31-101stPPG29.12ndEPA per play0.141st– ESPN Research

Brady, 36, has been with the organization since 2022, initially joining McDermott’s staff as the team’s quarterbacks coach. He was promoted to interim offensive coordinator in November of the 2023 season after then-offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey was fired. Brady was then the team’s full-time offensive coordinator in 2024 and 2025.

Since promoting Brady (Week 11, 2023), the Bills have ranked first in EPA per play (0.14) and second in points per game (29.1). The Bills had nine games with 30-plus points this season, tied with the Rams for the most in the NFL. Quarterback Josh Allen won his first MVP award in 2024, and running back James Cook III finished with the rushing title in 2025. The Buffalo offense in 2024 also broke records for most points (525) and touchdowns (65) in a season in franchise history.

Brady will continue to call the offensive plays in his role as head coach, a source said.

Brady has interviewed for a variety of head coaching jobs over the years, including multiple ones this offseason. He was the first candidate the Bills interviewed. Allen has publicly spoken in favor of Brady in the past, as have other offensive players.

“[Brady’s] one of the most positive guys in the building,” Allen said last season. “He’s always got juice and energy for the guys. I think that’s something that we love and appreciate about him, and he’s as real as they come.”

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Team owner Terry Pegula said the decision to move on from McDermott became clear following the overtime loss to Denver, upon seeing the devastation and emotion on Allen’s face and around the Bills’ locker room.

Allen, who turns 30 in May, was involved in the coaching search, sitting in on interviews. General manager and president of football operations Brandon Beane led the search. Pegula; his daughter Laura Pegula; director of business operations Pete Guelli; and assistant general managers Brian Gaine and Terrance Gray were also involved in the process. The search was a wide-open one, per Beane.

Beane also said that they were not necessarily looking for an offensive-minded coach; however, seven of the nine candidates interviewed have a primarily offensive background.

“This is a bigger job than just a playcaller and schemer,” Beane said last week. “I think we’ve seen where guys have been excellent playcallers but they got to the head coach seat and they couldn’t handle the adversity, the conflict management. … It’s a CEO job. It really is. … We’ve got to make sure we get the leadership, the CEO part.”

Brady, a William & Mary graduate and former college wide receiver, has a very close relationship with Allen. Before his time with the Bills, Brady was the offensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers (2020-21) and the passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach at LSU during the team’s 2019 national championship season. He is originally from Pembroke Pines, Florida, and his first job in the NFL was on Sean Payton’s staff with the New Orleans Saints as an offensive assistant in 2017-18.