When Joe Brady replaced Sean McDermott as head coach of the Buffalo Bills, the spotlight and the pressure was on.
That’s what happens when you replace a coach that brought the team from mediocrity to the forefront of the NFL. Brady’s honeymoon period will be short, especially with Josh Allen turning 30 and a sense of urgency permeating the entire franchise.
Yet despite all that pressure and attention on Brady and how he will do as a rookie head coach, he’s not necessarily the one that will ultimately decide the fate of the 2026 Bills. Yeah, he’s the boss, but how one of his hires performs will determine how far the Bills go this season.
Jim Leonhard faces mountain of pressure in 2026 with Bills
Like Brady as a head coach, Leonhard is a first-time NFL defensive coordinator. He did serve as Wisconsin’s defensive coordinator before taking over as interim head coach following the Badgers firing Paul Chryst. Prior to joining the Bills, he spent two seasons with the Broncos as the passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach. He’s more than qualified for the job as the defensive coordinator.
On the surface, his experience coaching and playing in the secondary might be a little confusing. Buffalo did very well against the pass last season (1st in passing yards allowed and 8th in passing touchdowns allowed). It was stopping the run where the Bills really struggled (24th in yards allowed and 26th in yards per carry). Why hire a secondary expert when the run defense is what needs the most attention?
It’s because despite the resume at the pro level, Leonhard really knows total defense. In his six seasons at Wisconsin running the defense, the run defense finished in the either top 10 or top 25 in the county five times. In fact his last full year as defensive coordinator, Wisconsin was first in the nation in 2021. Unfortunately, the ineptitude on offense hurt Wisconsin’s profile nationally and may be why some fans didn’t notice.
Much like the coverage disguises his defense runs, the next great defensive coordinator in the NFL may have been hiding in plain sight all along.
Maybe Leonhard had his eyes on the Badgers head coaching job and when he wasn’t given the full-time gig, he bolted to the NFL. Wisconsin since then has struggled mightily under Luke Fickell, with some Badgers fans believing Wisconsin should have hired Leonhard instead.
Well, Wisconsin’s apparent mistake is Bills fans’ gain. It also doesn’t hurt that Leonhard spent time in Buffalo as a player from 2005 through 2007 and then had another one year stint with the team in 2013. He knows the city and fans well, even if his teams didn’t enjoy a lot of success on the field.
Fans and others can analyze Brady’s promotion to the top job all they want, but the hiring of Leonhard was a sneaky good hire. It would not surprise me in the least if Leonhard is a head coach in the NFL in the next three years.
His defense attacks instead of reacts and is a hybrid, adaptable 3-4 system. Leonhard won’t try to shoehorn players into his system and as a former player who was aggressive as his scheme, his players will easily relate to him.
If Leonhard succeeds this year, it’ll make Brady’s life much much easier as he adjusts to being in charge of the entire team. He might have to replace his defensive coordinator sooner than he wants, but that means the team is successful.
If that’s the case, then the questions around Brady himself will stop too.
And if that’s what ends up happening, that likely means the Bills finally got over the Super Bowl hump and hoisted their first Lombardi Trophy.
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