Jim

Leonhard

It’s no secret that Joe Brady will continue to run the offense in Buffalo as head coach, but now we know who’ll be heading up the Bills’ defense in the post-Sean McDermott era. Leonhard’s hiring, which was first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, takes him off the table for teams like the Ravens and Chargers that also had interest in the 43-year-old coach. A former walk-on safety at Wisconsin, Leonhard played 10 years in the NFL before returning to Wisconsin to start his coaching career and remaining there for seven years. He’s only coached in the NFL for the last two seasons, but had his fingerprints on one of the league’s best defenses as the defensive pass game coordinator in Denver. Leonhard takes over a Buffalo defense that finished 20th in DVOA.

Leonhard was an NFL safety for 10 years, including a season with the Ravens, before becoming a coach. He coached college ball, primarily at Wisconsin, for eight years before joining the Broncos. With Denver’s defense emerging as one of the league’s best units over the past two seasons, Leonhard now has multiple teams reaching out to him about their defensive coordinator vacancies. He also has an interview with the Bills lined up. Leonhard would join Jesse Minter, another rising star among defensive coaches, if he lands the Baltimore job.

Leonhard, a former Bills safety, has spoken to Buffalo about the team’s defensive coordinator opening. Now he’s getting interest from Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers, who lost defensive coordinator Jesse Minter to the Ravens this month. In LA, Leonhard would take over a stellar defensive group that last year allowed the league’s seventh lowest yards per play and the fifth lowest offensive success rate. Only three defenses allowed a lower EPA per rushing attempt than the Bolts.

Leonhard has been on the Packers and Cowboys radars at various points this offseason, though neither could have him in for a full interview before they settled on Jonathan Gannon and Christian Parker, respectively. The former Bills safety and Wisconsin defensive coordinator drew a lot of acclaim in coaching circles and would be a nice rebound for the Bills after they moved on from Sean McDermott.

It was part of an announcement of eight names that the Jets had preliminary interviews with, those other names are: Browns safeties coach Ephraim Banda, Packers defensive run game coordinator DeMarcus Covington, Vikings defensive passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach Daronte Jones, Broncos assistant head coach and defensive passing game coordinator Jim Leonhard, internal Jets DB coach and defensive pass game coordinator Chris Harris, and Lions safeties coach Jim O’Neil. (Mathieu Araujo, the Dolphins cornerbacks coach, was also revealed earlier today.) Martindale hasn’t had any outside interest since last offseason, when he interviewed for the Falcons and Colts defensive coordinator roles.

Shortly before issuing this report, ESPN’s Todd Archer let it be known that the Falcons had denied the Cowboys’ request to interview DC Jeff Ulbirch. The Cowboys are smartly casting a very wide net to fill their vacant defensive coordinator role. Leonhard served as the Broncos’ DB coach and defensive passing game coordinator in 2024 before swapping out the DB coach role for an assistant head coach promotion in 2025.

Leonhard spent 10 years in the NFL as a safety, and per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler is well respected in NFL circles. Leonhard was hired as Wisconsin’s defensive coordinator in 2017 and served as interim head coach in 2022. With Jonathan Gannon taking over as the Cardinals’ head coach, the Eagles look to be exploring options outside of the building for his replacement.

Leonhard will turn down his second NFL coordinator offer in the last three years. He also passed on Illinois head-coaching job earlier this offseason. Leonhard is committed to staying at his alma mater in Wisconsin, where he’s a successor to HC Paul Chryst. With Leonhard out, Green Bay will turn its attention to Rams safeties coach Ejiro Evero.

The Packers have narrowed their search to Leonhard and Rams safeties coach Ejiro Evero. Leonhard, who coaches for his alma mater, has turned down other opportunities, including the Illinois head-coaching job in December and the Rams defensive coordinator position in 2018. He’s viewed as a possible successor to Wisconsin HC Paul Chryst. The Packers’ job looks like Leonhard’s if he wants it.

We assume Kerley will see the majority of returns, though Westhoff expects at least 35-40 percent touchbacks until the weather turns colder. Westhoff is hesitant to use Jim Leonhard on punt returns, so Kerley and possibly McKnight will handle those duties as well.