The Buffalo Bills used their latest heartbreaking playoff defeat to make a substantial trade, and that was firing head coach Sean McDermott after nine seasons on the job. Instead of looking outside for a new head coach, the Bills and General Manager Brandon Beane decided that he would just promote offensive coordinator Joe Brady instead.
Given that the Bills stressed the need for change, they promoted Brady and also named Beane President of Football Operations along with his GM title. It has opened the door for scrutiny towards the Bills organization, especially after that disastrous end-of-season press conference.
In an interview with Tyler Dunne of Go Long TD, Beane was asked about the negative response the Bills have received for promoting Brady as the head coach. Beane didn't hold back when he responded to the critics, saying "[expletive] the outside."
"It’s about the right selection for this team. 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 [expletive] take my job and [expletive] go home. I don’t want to be wrong — see him go somewhere else — when my gut told me it was Joe Brady. I’m never going to do that. I would love for everyone to cheer every move, but it’s not about winning the press conference. It’s about winning games over there.”
Brandon Beane goes scorched Earth on critics over decision to hire Joe Brady as Head Coach
Any person in Beane's position will defend the choice of his new head coach. It's no surprise that that's the route he's taken. But the passionate answer is going to open him up for more scrutiny, especially if the Brady promotion doesn't pan out.
It's not like Brady wasn't getting head coaching attention elsewhere. He received head coaching interviews with the Las Vegas Raiders and Baltimore Ravens. But ultimately, he decided to stay with the Bills with this new promotion.
Even though Brady has received his fair share of scrutiny for the team's losses this season, Buffalo did rank highly as compared to other teams. The Bills averaged 376.3 yards and 28.3 points per game, both of which are the fourth-highest in the NFL. It certainly helps that the Bills have Josh Allen as their quarterback, but they do need reinforcements, especially in terms of wide receivers.
Brady has built a promising coaching staff so far. He hired Pete Carmichael as his new offensive coordinator after spending over a decade in the same role with the New Orleans Saints (2009-2023). Also joining him is Jim Leonhard as his defensive coordinator. Leonhard has been considered an up-and-coming DC candidate after spending the past two seasons as the Denver Broncos' pass game coordinator.
Given how the season ended, the decision to hire McDermott's replacement in-house will only make frustrated fans angrier if it doesn't pan out. Beane knows that, as he says, he'll be shown the door if it doesn't work. But as of now, Beane is passionately calling out the outside noise and hyping up Brady as his new head coach.