On January 19th of this year, just two days after their Divisional Round loss to the Denver Broncos in overtime, the Buffalo Bills sent shock waves throughout the NFL by firing Sean McDermott. This firing caused a major uproar of reactions, and there were plenty of people confused as to why McDermott was let go, but Brandon Beane got a promotion to President of Football Operations.
Beane was tasked to lead the search for the Bills' new head coach. Part of the interview process was to have Josh Allen in on the interviews, in which he sat with all of the candidates that the Bills interviewed.
Buffalo interviewed candidates like Joe Brady, Brian Daboll, Lou Anarumo, Grant Udinski, Anthony Lynn, and Nate Scheelhaase. However, the biggest shock of the interview process was when ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the Bills were interviewing Philip Rivers, who was just playing football for the Indianapolis Colts a few weeks prior after coming out of retirement.
Bills interviewing Philip Rivers was extremely confusing for Bills fans
Obviously, the Bills were late in the head coaching search because prior to them firing McDermott, the Giants had already hired John Harbaugh and the Falcons had hired Kevin Stefanski. They had to hurry because who knows if candidates were going to wait for them. However, when that notification hit of Rivers interviewing with the Bills, it caused a lot of conversations amongst Bills Mafia.
Rivers ultimately talked with the Bills, but he had withdrawn from the process before the Bills finished their interviews with their candidates. While that unexpected spark didn't turn out to be anything, it was quite the storyline for a couple of days. In the end, the Bills picked Joe Brady to lead the team and he has them at 3-0 going into Week 4 against the New England Patriots.
Philip Rivers shares his experience interviewing with Bills for HC job
NFL analyst Daniel Jeremiah recently spoke with Rivers on the Move the Sticks podcast in which they talked about a variety of topics, which also included what Rivers' experience was like interviewing with the Bills down in Florida.
Jeremiah had asked Rivers what the interview process was like, and the overall preparation.
"It was a great experience...it happened fast. Jimmy called me and he said 'Bills want you to come Friday down to their place in Florida at Mr. Pegula's place and interview for the head coaching job on Friday." said Rivers.
"What a great opportunity just to go through the process, certainly didn't have it on my radar at the time...the thing I kept telling myself was 'be yourself'. They called me, not to come in and try to act like someone else. They called me to come in there and be myself." Rivers added.
"I showed up in a golf shirt, some khakis and some boots and a notebook under my arm... I remember sitting down and they said 'Hey do you have any audio video stuff you need to hook up for the interview?' And I laid my notebook down, I said 'It's alright here guys.'...We went, and it was a blast. It was challenging, it was a blast. But the thing I hung my hat on was I had been an extension of the head coach for 17 years. By all means, tons to learn...and I said over and over I would have to surround myself with guys that have done it and a staff that knows some of the ins and outs." Rivers added.
Considering that the Bills were still a championship contender despite looking for a new head coach, it was very hard to imagine a world where the Bills would replace McDermott with someone who had never coached at the NFL level, especially someone who had just came out of retirement a few weeks prior for the Indianapolis Colts.
In the end, Rivers took himself out of the running and now the Bills are under the control of Brady, which looks like the correct choice right now through the first three weeks.
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