Rex Ryan to bring DC from New York Jets to Buffalo Bills

After Jim Schwartz declined the opportunity to stay in Buffalo, new Bills head coach Rex Ryan will reportedly bring Dennis Thurman long as defensive coordinator.

Rex Ryan is working quickly to solidify a staff for his new job as head coach of the Buffalo Bills. After learning that current Bills defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz would move on from Buffalo, Ryan moved to bring in his coordinator from the New York Jets, Dennis Thurman, among other staffers.

Dennis Thurman is Rex Ryan's DC in Buffalo. That expectation was noted here Sunday morning.
— Kim Jones (@KimJonesSports) January 13, 2015

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While Ryan reportedly wanted Schwartz to stay on the staff, the two run different schemes on defense, which may have been counter-productive. Additionally, Schwartz could probably find a gig elsewhere in which he’d have the same freedom over the defense that he had in 2014 with the Bills under head coach Doug Marrone, who was basically allergic to defense.

Whoever coaches the Buffalo defense will have a gem on his hands though. The Bills feature arguably the best defensive line in football and inarguably the most sack-happy defense in the NFL. Buffalo led the league with 54 sacks in 2014 and they had 57 under Ryan-acolyte Mike Pettine in 2013. That’s the most of any team in the last two seasons.

Dennis Thurman spent five seasons as New York’s defensive backs coach before being promoted to defensive coordinator for the last two seasons. The Jets have ranked among the league’s best in every year under Rex Ryan, so it makes sense that Ryan would want to preserve that chemistry in Buffalo, where the defense is hardly expected to be the issue.

Rich Cimini at ESPN reported that Ryan would also like to bring some of his staffers from the offensive side of the ball to Buffalo as well, which might not bode as well for the Bills, given the lack of offensive success in New York.

However, the team has reportedly hired former San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman to the same job in Buffalo, so there will be a new identity on offense regardless of who fills the support roles. Additionally, while the Jets weren’t blowing the lids off on offense, they do have a similar makeup to the Bills, which could make the jobs easier for those involved.

For now, the coaching staff is still a work in progress, but as head coaching candidates are hired in vacant spots, you can expect the dominoes to fall a little more quickly as teams narrow their options. All we know for now is that Rex Ryan is bound for Buffalo and he’s bringing at least some of his guys with him.

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