Sean McDermott taking massive risk with reported plan for Bills defense

Training camp is back for the Buffalo Bills and it could not be any more exciting. The team kicked off their first practice this morning at St. John Fisher University at 9:45am but it wasn’t before morning press conferences took place. Head coach Sean McDermott met with the media before the Bills took the field and answered multiple questions about both sides of the ball as well as individual players. 

One area that McDermott was asked about was the plan as to who will be calling the defense, him or defensive coordinator Bobby Babich. McDermott gave an answer that is somewhat questionable…Maddy Glab reported that the approach that will be taken is a mixture of McDermott and Babich calling the plays on defense. It was then noted that McDermott has an idea as to what he wants to do but is “not ready to publicize it yet”.

This is a big mistake that McDermott is making

Since McDermott took over in 2017, there have been three named defensive coordinators for the Bills. First it was Leslie Frazier, who stepped down after the 2022 season. McDermott called the defense last season and was surprisingly able to balance out those duties along with being the head coach. Now it is Bobby Babich who was the team’s linebackers coach last season and has helped Matt Milano and Terrel Bernard become All-Pro level players.

Babich is a proven coach who has earned a lot of respect in the locker room. While it would be beneficial to have McDermott be a mentor to Babich and give tips here and there, Babich needs to be given the opportunity to take over the defense without any sort of micromanaging. McDermott is a defensive guy himself who has plenty of experience calling a defense, but part of being a head coach is giving room for the coordinators to take sole control and see what they can produce.

Maybe this is a reach of a statement, but McDermott needs to learn to press the brakes just a bit. Especially since there is still continuity with Babich.