The Buffalo Bills surprised many in the football world with their decision to fire head coach Sean McDermott after nine seasons, eight of which ended in the playoffs. The team begins its search for its next head coach with Brandon Beane keeping his position as general manager.
The Bills suffered one too many heartbreaking ends in the postseason, and made the call to move on from McDermott Monday morning. Now McDermott enters a wild NFL coaching carousel with seven open jobs beyond Buffalo for him to explore.
But the work now begins for the Buffalo front office to find his replacement. To get that started, the team released a statement on McDermott’s firing, and clarified other changes coming within the organization.
Terry Pegula explains why the Buffalo Bills moved on from Sean McDermott and what comes next
“Sean has done an [admirable] job of leading out football team for the past 9 seasons,” Bills owner Terry Pegula said in the statement. “But I feel we are in need of a new structure within our leadership to give this organization the best opportunity to take our team to the next level. We owe that to our players and to Bills Mafia.”
With that change comes a new head coach, yes, but it also brought change for Beane’s position within the front office. Beane will now also serve as President of Football Operations.
“Brandon will oversee all facets of our football operation, including the oversight of our coaching staff,” Pegula said. “I have full faith in and have witnessed Brandon’s outstanding leadership styal and have confidence in his abilities to lead our organization.”
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) January 19, 2026
Bills Mafia might not have the same confidence in Beane. After all, Josh Allen’s wide receiver room has regressed into one of the worst in the league, with offseason busts like Josh Palmer and Curtis Samuel sticking out as examples of Beane’s failings. McDermott and Bean can also shoulder another brutal fact about their tenure: of the 56 players drafted since Josh Allen in 2018, only two, James Cook and Dawson Knox, have been voted to the Pro Bowl.
Nonetheless, this is the direction the franchise is heading. While many within Bills Mafia were ready to move on from McDermott, no one necessarily expected that potential change to result in these decisions at the top of the franchise’s food chain.
Still, the structure is in now in place as Pegula wants it to be. Buffalo begins its search for the next head coach, who clearly must be prepared to bear the weight of Super Bowl or bust expectations.