Bills did the smart thing in rewarding Sean McDermott

Head coach Sean McDermott will lead the Buffalo Bills for a long time now.

The Buffalo Bills made sure their excellent head coach Sean McDermott isn’t going anywhere.

Buffalo extended McDermott through the 2025 NFL season on Wednesday afternoon. This was an easy decision to make for The Pegulas, as McDermott is clearly the best head coach the Bills have had since the iconic Marv Levy. In his first three years leading the Bills, Buffalo has made the AFC playoffs twice. Keep in mind their last postseason appearance prior to his arrival was in 1999.

Buffalo can win big with Sean McDermott, but what about with Josh Allen?

What we’ve seen out of the Bills the last three years is nothing short of remarkable. After being AFC East cannon fodder for the New England Patriots to embarrass during the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era, Buffalo has emerged as a well-run football organization with a strong identity and a phenomenal in-house culture. Credit McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane for this.

When you think of McDermott’s Bills, you think of a team that doesn’t beat itself, doesn’t let bad teams beat them and doesn’t give the opposing offense much wiggle room for success with that feisty defense. Buffalo may only be able to win one manner, but it is methodical, replicable and sustainable. Unless quarterback play amps up in the AFC, the Bills will regularly be a playoff team.

And therein lies the biggest issue of all with the Bills; can they trust starting quarterback Josh Allen to carry the burden offensively? Of the five first-round quarterbacks of the 2018 NFL Draft, Allen has had the most success of any of them outside of Lamar Jackson with the Baltimore Ravens. This further illustrates where you land as a quarterback is beyond absolutely everything.

Allen is not an accurate passer, but his mobility, coach-ability and howitzer of a right arm are all traits offensive coordinator Brian Daboll can use to his team’s advantage. Daboll has the tall task of taming this bucking bronco from the Mountain West, but he has created an offense around Allen that accentuates his best skills, giving Buffalo a shot at to win every game it plays in.

McDermott has wisely surrounded himself with smart football minds in Beane, Daboll and defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier in his first stint as head coach. All three men have helped McDermott look good, but it is his football culture in place that has made the Bills a top-10 team in the NFL these days. Now, it’s about winning division titles, playoff games and Super Bowls.

Outside of Baltimore and the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo has as good of a chance as anyone in the AFC to be the No. 3 seed in 2020. Buffalo can win its first division title since 1996. New England doesn’t have Brady anymore and therefore, the Evil Empire is finally vulnerable. Though the Miami Dolphins will be to some degree competent, we don’t think the New York Jets will be at all this fall.

Overall, McDermott has earned the job security he received from The Pegula Family Wednesday. He has brought stability and a greater sense of professionalism to the Bills organization it has not had in a very long time. While we don’t know what this current team’s ceiling is, we’re pretty sure we haven’t seen the best of Bills football under McDermott just yet. Look for him to keep building.

With McDermott under contract through 2025, Buffalo has a coach to contend for championships.