Bills head coach Joe Brady has filled one spot on his offensive coaching staff.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that they will hire Pat Meyer to be their offensive line coach. Aaron Kromer held that job in Buffalo for the last four seasons, but is expected to retire.
Meyer and Brady were both on the Panthers’ coaching staff during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Meyer moved on to the Steelers in 2022 and remained with the team through the 2025 campaign.
Prior to Carolina, Meyer spent three years as the Chargers’ offensive line coach and he was an offensive assistant in Buffalo for two seasons.
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Josh Allen has undergone foot surgery, but should be just fine by the time the offseason program begins.
Allen told reporters in a Thursday press conference that he had his fifth metatarsal repaired in his right foot. Allen had been dealing with a foot issue for a while, but said he re-aggravated it during Buffalo’s Week 16 victory over Cleveland.
“I had a broken bone — little broken bone in there,” Allen said. “So they went, took it out, cleaned it up. Obviously, not an ideal situation, painful throughout the weeks. But, again, gameday different story — just being able to put that to the side and just go out there and play football.”
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport notes the usual recovery timeline for this type of injury is eight-to-10 weeks.
If Buffalo’s season had not ended already, it stands to reason Allen wouldn’t have had surgery already. But Allen also insisted that he’d find a way to be on the field if it had been necessary.
“I’m not even lying, if we had a game this week, I would figure it out to play the game,” Allen said. “It’s a little painful right now. But it wasn’t a crazy surgery. So, not too long. OTAs, I’ll be back and it shouldn’t hinder anything.”
Allen finished the regular season having completed 69.3 percent of his passes for 3,668 yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He rushed for 579 yards with 14 TDs.
In the postseason, Allen completed 71.6 percent of his throws for 556 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions in two games. While he rushed for 99 yards with two TDs, he also had three fumbles.
Wide receiver Keon Coleman became an unexpected focal point of Bills owner Terry Pegula’s press conference to discuss the firing of former head coach Sean McDermott last week.
Pegula jumped in to answer a question about whether the team has done enough to fortify the wide receiver position under General Manager Brandon Beane and said that Beane was a “team player” when the Bills selected Coleman at the top of the second round in 2024. Pegula said “the coaching staff pushed” to draft Coleman, whose first two seasons brought inconsistent production and off-field issues that led to multiple benchings.
The answer fostered speculation that Coleman will not be back with the Bills in 2026 and quarterback Josh Allen was asked at his Thursday press conference if he thinks the wideout can still succeed in Buffalo.
“He will come back from that,” Allen said. “I’m not going to give up on ‘0.’ He’s got too much ability. I will not give up on him. We’re going to work tirelessly, him and me, as well as everybody else in this building to make sure that whenever we step foot on the field that we’re going to find ways to win football games and he’s going to be a part of that.”
Coleman blossoming into the kind of player the Bills hoped to land a couple of years ago would be a positive step for the Buffalo offense, but the offseason will have to play out before we know just who Allen will be throwing to in Joe Brady’s first year as the team’s head coach.
The Buffalo Bills spoke to 20 different potential candidates for their head-coaching job. They didn’t talk to Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, because they missed the window to interview Kubiak virtually during the bye week.
To interview Kubiak (or any other assistant coach employed by the Seahawks or Patriots), the Bills would have had to wait until after the Super Bowl. They chose not to do so.
G.M. Brandon Beane explained the decision during new coach Joe Brady’s introductory press conference.
“Because of when this change was made and when we started our search, we were no longer allowed to talk to coaches that were still in the postseason,” Beane said. “To the point, the way we did it was we said, ‘Let’s go ahead and start this process with all available coaches. Their seasons have ended.’ . . . But we can’t even — because of the rules — we can’t even Zoom anyone on either of the remaining teams. And you hate to rule it out, but I think you would unfairly hurt them, because all the staffs are going to be filled up. And I just don’t know if it would be fair to them or the Bills to wait any longer.”
Three years ago, the Cardinals got into a pickle by talking to Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon during the bye week prior to the Super Bowl. Any contact with Kubiak would have put the Bills in line for a similar problem. They had to keep away from Kubiak until the confetti falls. And, by then, the Raiders (in theory) could be on the brink of hiring him.
It’s one of the fundamental problems of the current rules of the coaching carousel.
“I’ve long been a proponent of changing the hiring process,” Beane said. “If you guys remember, and I’ve brought up rules changes but I don’t make the rules, and my job is to make sure I’m always doing what’s best for the Buffalo Bills. And so I just thought once we got to this point, it would be just not smart to wait any longer. We need our guy. As long as we find the right guy. Now, listen, if we went through these nine [candidates] and we’re like, we said that we’re not going to force it, but we had some very good options when we did this. And clearly, at the end, Joe was the man for the job.”
The key word in everything Beane said is “unfair.” But not because of the difficulty in hiring staffs. The current timeline hurts the candidates whose teams keep winning. And it hurts the teams, because the candidates are necessarily distracted by the possibility of achieving their lifelong dream of becoming a head coach. At the expense of achieving their lifelong dream of winning a Super Bowl ring.
Joe Brady has been with the Bills since 2022, making him a part of the team’s postseason struggles over the last few years.
But as he now moves to head coach, Brady isn’t envisioning the Bills taking any sort of step back in 2026. And he’s prepared to handle that pressure.
“I didn’t take this job to shy away from expectations,” Brady said in his introductory press conference on Thursday. “I sure as hell did not do that.
“I’m embracing it. I’m understanding it. And I’m meeting it full on. I know what I signed up for and we’re going to embrace it because no one rises to low expectations. I want what this city wants. I want what Mr. [Terry] Pegula deserves.”
That means Brady is going to have to help the Bills get past their proverbial playoff wall, which Pegula mentioned after firing former head coach Sean McDermott earlier this month.
It’s a challenging job, and Brady noted that he’ll make mistakes at points. But the continuity within the building should help Brady as he tries to get the Bills to their elusive first Super Bowl appearance in the Josh Allen era.
Jim Leonard continues to be a popular name on the defensive coordinator interview circuit.
Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Ravens have requested an interview with the Broncos’ assistant head coach and defensive pass game coordinator. The Bills and Chargers have also had Leonhard on their radar, although the Chargers opted to move in a different direction by hiring Chris O’Leary on Wednesday night.
Leonhard has spent the last two seasons with the Broncos and he served as the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin from 2017-2022. He had a brief stint as his alma mater’s interim head coach in his final season in Madison.
Leonhard played for both the Bills and the Ravens during his time as an NFL safety, so he would be repeating part of that Wisconsin experience if he lands the coordinator job with either team.
The Buccaneers had some interest in a recently fired coach to join head coach Todd Bowles’ revamped 2026 staff. But at this point, that’s not going to happen.
Greg Auman of FOX Sports reported on Wednesday that Tampa Bay talked to former Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott about a role with the franchise. But McDermott is still planning to take 2026 off of coaching and reevaluate his options in 2027.
It was previously reported that even though McDermott initially planned to continue coaching, he changed his mind and was likely to take a year off.
McDermott and Buccaneers G.M. Jason Licht were both with the Eagles from 2003-2007, with Licht working in the club’s front office and McDermott on Andy Reid’s coaching staff.
The Buccaneers have new offensive and special teams coordinators under Bowles heading into 2026, with some members of the defensive staff also not retained. Tampa Bay finished a disappointing 8-9 in 2025, missing out on the postseason despite beating the Panthers in Week 18.
McDermott should be the proverbial belle of the ball next offseason for teams that need a head coach.
The Steelers have found a receivers coach.
Per Cameron Wolfe of NFL Media, Pittsburgh is hiring Adam Henry for the role under new head coach Mike McCarthy.
Henry, 53, spent the last three seasons as Buffalo’s receivers coach. He previously worked under McCarthy with the Cowboys from 2020-2021.
Henry has also spent time with the Raiders, 49ers, and Giants as a coach in the league.
The Packers are hiring Bobby Babich as their defensive pass game coordinator/secondary, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports.
Babich joins Jonathan Gannon’s staff after two seasons as the Bills’ defensive coordinator.
He joined the Bills’ staff in 2017 as the assistant defensive backs coach and worked his way up the ladder.
Babich began his NFL coaching career with the Panthers (2011-12) and spent three seasons with the Browns.
The Bills ranked seventh in yards allowed and 12th in points allowed in 2025 under Babich.
Jim Leonhard was already a popular defensive coordinator candidate and now another team would like to speak with him.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, the Chargers have put in a request to interview Leonard for their defensive coordinator vacancy.
Lenohard, 43, has been with the Broncos since 2024. He was the club’s defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator in his first year before being promoted to assistant head coach/defensive pass game coordinator for 2025.
The Bills have strong interest in bringing in Leonhard as their defensive coordinator under new head coach Joe Brady. The Jets also have interviewed Leonhard for their vacancy.
