ClutchPoints
After yet another soul-crushing playoff loss, the Buffalo Bills have fired head coach Sean McDermott. Now the question is, who’s the next person to try to lead Josh Allen and company to a Super Bowl? To help answer that question, here are the Bills’ top five Sean McDermott head coach replacement candidates available right now.
Hired in 2017, McDermott helped the Bills break an 18-year playoff drought and led the franchise to eight playoff appearances, five AFC East titles, and two AFC Championship Games. However, he was never able to get Allen over the hump and presided over debacles like the 13-Seconds Game, Wide Right II, and whatever we will call Sunday’s Debacle in Denver in a few years.
This was ultimately a necessary move, although you can argue about whether owner Terry Pegula went far enough, keeping general manager Brandon Beane (for now). But like Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay and Andy Reid in Philadelphia, it was simply time to try something new, because what was happening year after year wasn’t working.
Now the Bills must turn their attention to head coach candidates on a market that has already started to move and was also a little slim on offensive minds to begin with. And that is what Buffalo needs. After nearly a decade of a defensive-minded head coach, the Bills need an offensive play-caller who can help take Allen to the next level.
With that in mind, the options are bringing back a familiar name, taking a gamble on a young, unproven offensive Wizkid, or digging back days of Super Bowls past and dusting off a Lombardi-hoisting head coach who has been out of the game for a while.
So, here are—not necessarily in ranked order—the Bills’ top five Sean McDermott head coach replacement candidates to help get Josh Allen over the hump.
The first and most obvious name you will hear come up is former New York Giants head coach and, prior to that, Bills offensive coordinator, Brian Daboll.
Daboll took a young, undisciplined, and wildly talented first-round pick out of Wyoming and shaped him into an NFL MVP. Based on his development of Allen (and a rumored rift with McDermott), Daboll took the Giants job in 2022.
After making Daniel Jones a Pro Bowl, playoff QB in his first season, things deteriorated from there. After winning nine games in his first season, Daboll won just 11 over his next three campaigns. He did start to do some good things with Jaxson Dart, but the dysfunctional Giants decided to let him go anyway.
Reports are that Daboll and Allen have always had a father/son-type relationship, and maybe a little parental discipline is what the QB needs after giving the ball away four times against the Broncos on Sunday.
Hiring Daboll could be the easiest path of least resistance for the Bills to pivot from the McDermott Era without totally scrapping it.
Now we enter the young offensive coordinator section of the...
