Over the years, the Buffalo Bills have typically gone with veteran head coaches who were looking for their second (or third) head coaching opportunity. However, in 2017 the Bills elected to go with long-time coordinator Sean McDermott, who previously had spent six years as defensive coordinator for the Carolina Panthers.
That hire has paid great dividends as McDermott led the Buffalo Bills to three playoff appearances in his first four years with the team. This past year, McDermott led the Bills to a 13-3 record, an AFC East title, and an appearance in the AFC Championship Game.
The success the Bills have had has led to high praise this offseason for Sean McDermott in head coach rankings. Of the two power rankings in this article, Pro Football Focus has McDermott the highest at fourth overall. Eric Eager wrote about McDermott:
"That changed in 2020 when Allen became one of the league’s best passers, as all of the work put into extracting additional edges were exponentiated by great quarterback play. One negative on the Bills’ ledger in 2020 was that they were conservative on fourth downs, going for it in advantageous situations just 36% of the time, which ranked near the bottom of the league. However, this is more than made up for in their run-to-pass ratio and overall approach to the running game on both sides of the ball."
It is no surprise that the focus of two power rankings center around Josh Allen and the development he has made in three seasons with Buffalo. Any time a team drafts a quarterback high in the first round, the future of that head coach is tied closely to their performance.
Eager also notes one of the biggest criticims about McDermott at this point in his career and that is his sometimes conservative play calling. While Eager notes fourth down, Bills fans will remember the AFC Championship Game where McDermott elected to go for two field goals inside the 10-yard line then go for the touchdown.
This is certainly one area that the Bills head coach could improve moving forward.
On Pro Football Network, McDermott is ranked eighth and in a tier described as “Still somewhat new but appear to be a great tier” with Frank Reich. Dalton Miller wrote about the Buffalo Bills head coach:
"Sean McDermott and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll have the Buffalo Bills humming. Before the Bills last season, no non-Patriots team had won the AFC East since 2008.Josh Allen’s stock appears to be soaring toward the moon. In addition, the Bills’ defense has been top 10 in efficiency every year since 2018. That’s quite a feat, given how difficult it is to replicate defensive performance year-to-year."
There is no question that the Buffalo Bills made the right choice with Sean McDermott and after agreeing to a contract extension with the head coach last offseason, he will continue to move the team in the right direction.