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.
Bills Clips
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.
New Bills coach Joe Brady has made arguably his most important hire.
With Brady being an offensive specialist, he needs someone to whom the defense can be entrusted. Per multiple reports, the someone is Broncos assistant head coach and defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard.
Leonhard began his playing career in Buffalo 21 years ago, as an undrafted free agent. After three years with the Bills, he joined the Ravens. Leonhard then followed Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan to the Jets.
After three years with the Jets, Leonhard played for the Broncos in 2012, the Bills in 2013, and the Browns in 2014.
He finished his career with 142 regular-season appearances and 73 starts. He played in seven postseason games.
Leonhard began his coaching career at his alma mater, Wisconsin. He rose to defensive backs coach in 2016 to defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach from 2017 through 2022 to interim head coach in 2022.
After serving as a senior defensive analyst at Illinois in 2023, he joined Sean Payton’s Broncos in 2024.
The Bills have found a key assistant for new head coach Joe Brady.
Per Dianna Russini of TheAthletic.com, Buffalo is hiring Jeff Rodgers as special teams coordinator.
Rodgers, 48, is a longtime special teams coordinator and had been with the Cardinals since 2018. He served in the role under former head coaches Steve Wilks, Kliff Kingsbury, and Jonathan Gannon.
Rodgers has also been the special teams coordinator for the Panthers, Broncos, and Bears since 2010.
Rodgers replaces Chris Tabor, who signed on to become the Dolphins’ special teams coordinator after the Bills fired Sean McDermott earlier this month.
The Bills and Packers both need a quarterbacks coach.
Each team is going to take a look at a candidate from the NFC West.
Per Tom Pelissero of NFL Media, Buffalo and Green Bay have put in a request to interview Arizona pass game specialist Connor Senger for the role.
Senger, 30, has been with the Cardinals since 2022, serving in a few different roles. He was promoted to passing game specialist for the 2025 season after being assistant quarterbacks coach in 2024.
While the Bills are filling out Joe Brady’s first staff as head coach, the Packers need a QBs coach after Sean Mannion departed the franchise to become the Eagles offensive coordinator this week.
Joe Brady mentioned multiple times in his introductory press conference as Bills head coach that he’s from the Sean Payton tree.
Now he’s brought in one of Payton’s longtime offensive lieutenants.
Pete Carmichael Jr. is joining Buffalo as the club’s offensive coordinator, according to a report from NFL Media.
Carmichael, 54, was with the Saints from 2006-2023, spending the vast majority of that time as the club’s offensive coordinator under Payton. Carmichael did not call plays full-time until Payton departed the franchise after the 2021 season. But he was fired after two seasons under head coach Dennis Allen.
Carmichael reunited with Payton with the Broncos, becoming the team’s senior offensive assistant in 2024 and serving in that role over the last two seasons.
Brady noted he will still call the Bills’ offensive plays as head coach. But Carmichael joining the team will be a key factor in implementing Buffalo’s offensive game plans throughout the week.
