After losing a heartbreaker on Saturday to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round of the playoffs, the Buffalo Bills have joined the head coaching cycle after they fired Sean McDermott. It was the same result with the Bills under McDermott with an ending in the playoffs in a close game. This has been a consistent pattern, and now the Bills are making a change.
In addition to McDermott being fired, general manager Brandon Beane is being retained and is now the new President of Football Operations for the Bills. Part of his responsibility is to oversee the "oversight of the our coaching staff”, said Terry Pegula in a statement.
The Bills are going to have to act fast as they are behind the game. The Giants and Falcons have already hired new coaches in John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski, so that’s two of the best candidates off the board. However, Buffalo created a huge mess in this cycle because now, it makes you wonder if available candidates will slow down their searches to atleast talk with Buffalo.
As the the Bills start their head coaching search, there are five candidates that the team must consider bringing in.
5 top HC candidates for Bills after Sean McDermott firing
Brian Daboll
This feels like the most obvious pairing as Brian Daboll was the Bills’ offensive coordinator from 2018-2021. He helped Josh Allen become one of the best quarterbacks in the game, and was rewarded by becoming the head coach of the New York Giants. While things didn’t end well with him there, he started out great and was named the Coach of the Year in 2022.
He knows Buffalo and knows the building, so the continuity would still be there with Daboll. However, it is also possible that Buffalo goes with someone that hasn’t been in the building before.
Chris Shula
The current defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams has been a popular head coaching candidate this cycle and it would not be surprising to see him land a job once the Rams’ season is over. I know that the last name “Shula” may not sit well with fans as Chris Shula’s grandfather was Don Shula, who is known for constantly beating the Bills back in the 1979s.
However, Chris has established himself as one of the brightest defensive minds in the league for the past two seasons, and he is part of the Sean McVay coaching tree. If Buffalo wanted a bright and young defensive mind to come in and fix the defense, Shula could very be the best option.
It should be noted that the league rules does prevent the Bills from interviewing candidates who are still in the playoffs, per Ari Meirov. So, if the Bills wanted to talk with Shula, they would have to wait for the Rams’ season to be done with.
Robert Saleh
If the Bills were able to get Robert Saleh, this would be a home run hire for them. Bills fans are familiar with Saleh, who was the head coach for the New York Jets from 2021-2024. He was fired in the middle of the 2024 season, one week before playing the Bills for the first time that season.
Whenever the Bills faced off against a Jets-led Saleh team, it was a nightmare. The Jets knew how to pressure Josh Allen and cause turnovers. It wasn’t Saleh’s fault that the Jets’ quarterback situation was shaky at best. If you bring in Saleh, he can immediately help clean up the defense and not have to worry about the quarterback position.
Brian Flores
Much like Saleh, Brian Flores is a brilliant defensive minded coach who has created one of the best defensive units with the Minnesota Vikings. They applied so much pressure on opposing quarterbacks and caused a ton of havoc.
Flores was the head coach for the Miami Dolphins, but he was dealt a very bad hand with the roster and couldn’t get any success. Since then, he has been with Pittsburgh and Minnesota where he has helped them have great defenses. If Buffalo wanted to keep the defensive-minded mentality, Flores is certainly an option.
Kliff Kingsbury
Kliff Kingsbury has the head coaching experience from when he was with the Cardinals from 2019-2022, but he had a great first year with the Washington Commanders as their offensive coordinator in 2024. The Commanders had a ton of injuries on offense this past season, including Jayden Daniels who was the Offensive Rookie of the Year under Kingsbury.
Kingsbury and the Commanders agreed to part ways after the season which was a bit of a surprise. Kingsbury should definitely get another shot as an OC, but the Bills would be smart to atleast have a conversation with him for head coach.
With how he helped develop Washington’s offense, the Bills could use his experience and playcalling to help open up the playbook.