Broncos coach a ‘leading candidate’ for Bills’ vacant DC role

The Buffalo Bills have officially promoted former offensive coordinator Joe Brady as the team’s next head coach. It seemed as if the Bills had narrowed down the list to two coaches: Brady and another former Bills OC, Brian Daboll.

The team decided to hire from within, and now, the team will be looking for a new offensive and defensive coordinator. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, a certain Broncos coach could be a serious candidate for the job.

“Sources: Broncos defensive pass coordinator Jim Leonhard is expected to be a leading candidate to become the next defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills.”

Jim Leonhard is a former NFL player who played for a handful of different teams from 2005 to 2014. He was an undrafted safety who played for the Bills in two separate stints, the Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, and Cleveland Browns.

Leonhard quickly became a coach at Wisconsin from 2016 to 2022. He was promoted to interim head coach at Wisconsin in 2022. After that, he became a senior football advisor for Illinois in 2023. In 2024, he joined the Denver Broncos’ defensive staff.

In 2025, Leonhard was Sean Payton’s assistant head coach and defensive pass game coordinator. Over his years of coaching, Leonhard has worked his way up and put himself in a position to learn to be a coordinator or head coach in the NFL. Leonhard coached a very good defense this past season with the Broncos under Vance Joseph. Joseph should remain the DC for the Broncos and has a chance to become a head coach next season. His name was not floated around for HC jobs since his time as the head coach for the Broncos.

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