Buffalo Bills make smart decision hiring Eric Washington

The Buffalo Bills were looking for a new defensive line coach and made a perfect hire with the addition of Eric Washington.

Even though Ron Rivera is no longer with the Carolina Panthers, the Buffalo Bills continue to lean on their connection with the franchise in Charlotte. On Friday, the team announced they had hired Eric Washington as their new defensive line coach to replace Bill Teerlinck.

Teerlinck left the Bills this week to accept a position with Virginia Tech.

Bills’ head coach Sean McDermott know Eric Washington well from their time in Carolina. Both were on the defensive staff together from 2011 to 2016 and Washington was actually named the defensive coordinator to replace Steve Wilks, who replaced McDermott when he left the Panthers to join the Bills.

Washington had been the Panthers’ defensive coordinator the past two seasons. However, Rivera made a shift in 2018 and begun calling the plays, which carried over into the 2019 season.

As the Buffalo Bills PR tweet notes, the Carolina Panthers have always been known as one of the top defenses in the league in terms of sacks. They actually finished in Top 10 in sacks of five of his first seven years with the Panthers.

This is actually impressive due to the fact that Panthers, and the Buffalo Bills to an extent, don’t usually rely on blitzes. They are typically able to generate pressure with just their front four.

The addition of Washington should help some of the younger players, in particular Ed Oliver and Harrison Phillips. The new defensive line coach has experience working with passing rushing defensive tackles like Kawaan Short, and this should only help Oliver’s development in Year 2.

The experience Washington has with McDermott, and this defense, should allow him to hit the ground running with the Buffalo Bills as part of the coaching staff.