The Bills have announced their coaching staff under new head coach Joe Brady and it notably includes a former head coach.
Buffalo has hired former Panthers, Broncos, and Bears head coach John Fox as senior assistant coach.
Fox, 71, led the Panthers to an NFC Championship in 2003 and the Broncos to an AFC Championship in 2013. He was last with the Lions in 2023 as senior defensive assistant.
Additionally, Buffalo announced Rob Boras has been promoted to run game coordinator/tight ends coach, Joe Danna has been promoted to secondary coach, D.J. Magnus has been promoted to assistant receivers coach, Jason Rebrovich has been promoted to senior defensive assistant, Kyle Shurmur has been promoted to assistant QBs coach, and Alvin Vaughn has been promoted to defensive assistant.
Several coachers remain from the previous staff under head coach Sean McDermott: assistant offensive line coach Austin Gund, pass game specialist/game management coach Mark Lubick, running backs coach Kelly Skipper, assistant special teams coach Turner West, and offensive assistant/fellowship coach Milli Wilson.
The club has also hired Terrance Jamison as defensive line coach, John Egorugwu as inside linebackers coach, Bobby April III as outside linebackers coach, Jay Valai as cornerbacks coach, Craig Robertson as defensive quality control coach, Pat Meyer as offensive line coach, Bo Hardegree as quarterbacks coach, and Drew Terrell as receivers’ coach.
Buffalo previously announced Pete Carmichael will be the team’s offensive coordinator, Jim Leonhard is defensive coordinator, and Jeff Rodgers is special teams coordinator.
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Multiple former NFL players received presidential pardons on Thursday.
Via ESPN.com, White House “pardon czar” Alice Marie Johnson announced Thursday that President Trump gave pardons to defensive tackle Joe Klecko, offensive lineman Nate Newton, running back Jamal Lewis, running back Travis Henry, and halfback/fullback/tight end Billy Cannon.
None were currently incarcerated; Cannon died in 2018.
“As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again,” Johnson wrote on social media. “So is our nation.”
Klecko, a Hall of Famer, played 11 years for the Jets and one with the Colts. Via ESPN.com, he pleaded guilty to perjury in 1993 for lying to a federal grand jury investigating insurance fraud.
Newton spent 13 years with the Cowboys and one with the Panthers. The six-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro pleaded guilty, per ESPN.com, to federal a drug trafficking charge in 2002, after police found $10,000 in his truck — along with 175 pounds of marijuana in car driven by an accomplice.
Johnson said Newton, who won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys, “personally” got the news from owner Jerry Jones.
Lewis spent six years with the Ravens and three with the Browns. He was the 2003 AP offensive player of the year, after rushing for 2,066 yards. Lewis had seven 1,000-yard seasons. Per ESPN.com, he pleaded guilty after using a cell phone to set up a drug deal, not long after he arrived in the NFL as the fifth overall pick in the draft.
Henry played seven years in the NFL, with the Bills, Titans, and Broncos. He pleaded guilty in 2009 for conspiracy to traffic cocaine, per ESPN.com.
Cannon won the Heisman Trophy in 1959 before spending a decade in the AFL and one year in the NFL. Via ESPN.com, Cannon pleaded guilty to counterfeiting in the 1980s.
No reasoning was given for the decision to grant the pardons.
The first-degree murder case against former NFL linebacker Darron Lee could include an effort to seek the death penalty.
Via Meg Doyle of NewsChannel9.com, Hamilton County, Tennessee, District Attorney Coty Wamp said during a Wednesday bond hearing that the evidence against Lee includes two “aggravating factors” that would qualify Lee for capital punishment. After the hearing, Wamp told Doyle that a decision has not yet been made as to whether the death penalty will be pursued.
Lee was denied bond pending trial. The case against bail included testimony that Lee had moved from Florida to Tennessee in violation of the terms of probation for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Lee was also on probation for a 2023 incident in Ohio, for an incident in which Lee pushed a woman and punched her in the face multiple times.
In this specific case, the details are troubling. Gabriella Carvalho Perpétuo was found dead in a rented home. The scene was described in court as chaotic and violent.
“There was blood going up the staircase, on the hand railing there was blood, on the walls there was blood, on the floor in the living room there was blood, in the floor on the hallway and the stairs . . . there was blood in just about every room except one,’ Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office Detective Brian Lockhart testified during the bond hearing.
Lee told investigators that the deceased had narcolepsy and likely fell in the shower.
Lockhart also testified that the microwave oven was shattered, and that broken glass was scattered throughout the premises. Detectives found cleaning supplies upstairs, including “bleach wipes, a spray bottle, and a full bag.” The charges against Lee include a claim that he tampered with evidence.
Lockhart said in court that the victim suffered “severe injuries, including severe brain trauma, a broken neck, bruising across her body, a large bite mark on her shoulder and thigh, stab wounds to her legs, and significant facial trauma.” The cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Lee was a first-round pick of the Jets in 2016. He spent three years with the Jets, one with the Chiefs, and one with the Bills.
The Seahawks won Super Bowl LX less than 24 hours ago and some have already turned their attention to Super Bowl LXI.
Sportsbooks have set the odds for who will be raising the Lombardi Trophy in SoFi Stadium on February 14, 2027. The Seahawks are at the top of the list, but they aren’t the only team on that rung.
They aren’t even the only NFC West team. The Rams join the Seahawks at +950 at DraftKings at the moment.
The Bills have the top odds of any AFC team with the Eagles, Patriots, and Ravens tied for the fourth spot. The Packers, Lions, Chargers, and Chiefs round out the top 10.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Cardinals and Dolphins are both at +25000.
Darron Lee, a first-round pick of the Jets in 2016, has been charged with murdering his girlfriend.
Via Fox 17 in Nashville, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office took Lee into custody on Thursday, after deputies were dispatched to a residence at which first responders were performing CPR on a female. Per the HCSO, she died as a result of her injuries.
The HCSO Criminal Investigative Services Detectives made a preliminary finding that the victim’s death was resulted from a homicide. Lee was identified as a suspect.
Lee has been charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. Via TMZ.com, Lee is being held without bond.
The former Ohio State linebacker was the 20th overall pick in the 2016 draft. He spent three years with the Jets, one with the Chiefs, and one with the Bills. Lee appeared in 58 career regular-season games, with 38 starts, and he was a member of the Super Bowl LIV championship team in Kansas City.
The Bills are bringing in a new quarterbacks coach.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Buffalo is hiring former Tennessee quarterbacks coach Bo Hardegree for the role.
Hardegree served as an interim play caller in each of the last two seasons. In 2024, he took over after the Raiders fired Luke Getsy midway through the season. In 2025, he took over play-calling from then-head coach Brian Callahan and kept it once Callahan was fired.
Hardegree, 41, has also served as an offensive assistant coach for the Broncos, Bears, Dolphins, Jets, and Patriots.
He will replace Ronald Curry, who held the role for each of the last two seasons. There’s been no word on whether or not Curry will remain with the organization in a different role or if he’s headed elsewhere.
Bills head coach Joe Brady has landed a wide receivers coach.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that they have hired Drew Terrell for that role. Terrell was the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator for the Cardinals during the 2025 season.
Terrell also interviewed for offensive coordinator vacancies around the league last month. He was a wide receivers coach for the Commanders from 2020-2022 and spent the last three seasons in Arizona.
Prior to joining the Commanders, Terrell was on the Panthers’ staff and he also coached at Michigan and Virginia Tech on the collegiate level.
The Bills hired Pete Carmichael as their offensive coordinator and Brady is set to call the team’s offensive plays.
Bills President of Football Operations & General Manager Brandon Beane knows that the coaching change in Buffalo has not met with public approval. And he doesn’t care.
Beane told Tyler Dunne that he’s aware of fan polls showing overwhelming opposition to firing Sean McDermott as head coach and replacing him with Joe Brady, but Beane doesn’t listen to outside noise.
“Fuck the outside. It’s about the right selection for this team,” Beane told Dunne. “And if we win, they’ll love it. It’s the same thing I said when I took Josh Allen. If I’m wrong, the moving company will be at my house. So, I understand. And I’m not going to have regret of choosing someone to appease the outside if I thought it should have been something different. If I’m wrong, I’ll fucking take my job and fucking go home.”
The press conference Beane and Bills owner Terry Pegula held to announce McDermott’s departure was widely panned, but Beane stand by the decision.
“I would love for everyone to cheer every move, but it’s not about winning the press conference. It’s about winning games,” Beane said.
McDermott won plenty of games in Buffalo, but not enough in the playoffs. If Brady doesn’t win in the playoffs, Beane may not be in his job for much longer.
The Bills are continuing to fill out their coaching staff under new head coach Joe Brady.
With defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard now in place, the club has added some more defensive assistants.
Via multiple reports, Buffalo is hiring John Egorugwu as linebackers coach and Jay Valai as cornerbacks coach.
Egorgwu is returning to the Bills, as he previously served as a defensive quality control coach in 2017 and assistant linebackers coach from 2018-2020. He was Vanderbilt’s linebackers coach in 2021 and the Giants’ inside linebackers coach from 2022-2025.
Valai had been Oklahoma’s cornerbacks coach and co-defensive coordinator since 2022. While most of his coaching experience has been at the college level, he did serve as a defensive quality control coach for the Chiefs in 2018.
The Bills are hiring Bobby April III as their new outside linebackers coach, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
April was Stanford’s defensive coordinator the past three seasons but recently accepted a job with the University of Minnesota to coach the rush ends. April had not even settled in when Jim Leonhard, the Bills’ new defensive coordinator, came calling.
Leonhard and April worked together at the University of Wisconsin.
April also has familiarity with the Bills, having coached the team’s linebackers from 2015-16 under Rex Ryan. He then went to the Badgers, where he and Leonhard met.
April was the outside linebackers coach at Wisconsin from 2018-22.
He spent two seasons with the Eagles and two with the Jets earlier in his career.
