Firing Sean McDermott was a controversial yet justifiable decision for the Buffalo Bills to have made following yet another frustratingly early postseason exit. The loss wasn't McDermott's fault, but at a certain point, you have to win when it matters most, and McDermott just hadn't done that.
Is hiring offensive coordinator Joe Brady to replace him, as ESPN's Adam Schefter revealed on Tuesday, a big enough change, though? Bills fans can only hope so. What we can say about this hire, though, is that it's bound to bring three major ripple effects that Bills fans need to be prepared for.
Fixing the Bills' biggest weakness has never felt more realistic
The Bills have several weaknesses to address, but none are more pressing than the wide receiver position. Khalil Shakir led the team with 719 receiving yards in 2025, a mark good for 44th in the NFL. Buffalo has not had a 1,000-yard wide receiver since Stefon Diggs in 2023; Josh Allen is brilliant, but there's only so much he can do with arguably the worst receiving corps in the NFL.
The Bills have shied away from going all-out to add a high-end option since Diggs left, but now that they have an offensive-minded head coach in charge, that's bound to change, right? If anyone should know how lackluster the Bills' wide receiver room is, it's Brady, who should now have much more say in what goes on in Buffalo.
Brandon Beane's job is on the line
By firing Sean McDermott, the Bills made it seem as if coaching was their problem. If that was really the case, why bother replacing him with Brady, a key figure on the previous staff? By making this hire in particular, rather than going with an external candidate, the Bills are making it abundantly clear that they didn't think too much was already broken in this organization. Even if some might disagree, what's undeniable is that Brandon Beane faces immense pressure to get this right.
Beane has built some strong, yet flawed rosters in recent years. Allen is great, but his receivers generally have not been, and his defenses seem to collapse when it matters most.
Had the Bills gone with an external hire and that failed, Beane could've potentially convinced ownership that the new coach just wasn't the right fit. Hiring an internal option like Brady makes it clear that Beane thinks Buffalo already had the necessary infrastructure in the building.
There are only so many playoff failures a regime can deal with without taking the fall. Beane survived the first purge, but he faces even more pressure now than he otherwise would've to build a team that wins a Super Bowl. If the Bills fall short, he's more likely to get blamed for that than Brady will.
Josh Allen has no more playoff excuses
I think Allen is the best quarterback on the planet, and that for the most part, he's shown up when it's mattered most in the playoffs (even if his win-loss record doesn't reflect that). This was not the case this past season, though, as Allen turned the ball over four times in his team's Divisional Round defeat with a pair of interceptions and lost fumbles.
It was widely reported that Allen was heavily involved in the Bills' head coaching search, so he had a large say in who was going to be hired. It's clear that Allen, a player who has been very vocal about the job Brady had done as an offensive coordinator, supported this choice.
He thinks the Bills have the right man in charge, and who knows, he may very well might. If he and Buffalo continue to fall short in the playoffs under Brady, though, NFL fans will need to have serious conversations about Allen. At that point, the head coach isn't the only reason why the Bills aren't finding success in the playoffs.
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