Bills land new defensive coordinator after hiring Joe Brady as head coach

The (kind of) new-look Buffalo Bills coaching staff continues to come together under head coach Joe Brady. Just a day after bringing on Pete Carmichael as offensive coordinator, the Bills announced that Denver Broncos coach Jim Leonhard as defensive coordinator.

“Sources: The Bills are hiring Broncos defensive passing game coordinator Jim Leonhard as their new defensive coordinator. They have agreed to terms,” NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport first reported on Saturday. “A big hire for new coach Joe Brady. The former player, Leonhard was coveted.”

Leonhard played safety in the NFL from 2005 to 2014 after his college career at Wisconsin. The now-43-year-old started his pro career with the Bills, signing as an undrafted free agent. He would go on to play for the Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Broncos, the Bills again, and the Cleveland Browns.

After his retirement from the NFL, Leonhard joined the coaching staff at Wisconsin before spending a year at Illinois, then jumping to the Broncos. There, he started as a defensive backs coach before earning a promotion to pass game coordinator under DC Vance Joseph.

The Joe Brady Era in Buffalo is off to an interesting start after Bills owner Terry Pegula fired Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane led an “exhaustive” search that ended with the team’s current OC being elevated to head coach.

Now, Brady has hired two coaches from the team that knocked the Bills out of the playoffs to be his two coordinators. While that might seem a little odd, it actually goes back to the Sean Payton coaching tree, which Brady, Carmichael, and Leonhard are all a part of.

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