After getting hired as the head coach of the Buffalo Bills, Joe Brady has put together a solid coaching staff on both sides of the ball. However, his best hire by a mile was bringing in Jim Leonhard as the team’s next defensive coordinator. Leonhard played for the Bills in his career and he has been the Broncos’ pass game coordinator the last two seasons.
He was highly coveted and was destined to become a defensive coordinator at some point. The Bills are giving him that opportunity and it was a home run hire by Brady.
Leonhard will be expected to fix this defense that has been a huge liability, especially against the run. In addition, he also has to find ways to keep elevating the secondary which has been the strongest unit of the defense. However, he will need help from the front office whether it’s through free agency or the draft.
NFL mock draft has Bills giving Jim Leonhard huge secondary help
Lance Zierlein from NFL.com put together his first mock draft and it has the Bills taking a route that is highly unexpected, but could be very smart when you think about it. Zierlein has the Bills drafted Toledo safety, Emmanuel McNeil-Warren.
"McNeil-Warren is one of the most physically imposing safeties in this draft and he plays as big as he measures (a long 6-2, 202 pounds)." said Zierlein. Pairing him with Cole Bishop, who took a step forward in 2025 would bring huge stability on the backend of the defense.
With Leonhard’s defensive schemes, fans should expect all kinds of looks. But the main thing that fans should really get excited for is that Leonhard’s defense will feature a ton of putting on the attack towards the quarterback, whether it’s from the trenches or blitzes from linebackers and the safety.
We all know that Bishop is not afraid to hit. Adding McNeil-Warren to the mix would give the Bills a dangerous and young duo for Leonhard’s defense.
Even though the Bills have bigger needs than drafting a safety, sometimes you just have to go with the best player available and get even stronger somewhere else. That’s not a bad thing at all. We have seen the Bills draft for need year-in and year-out. Now they have the chance to just get overall talent which is what they just might need.