Buffalo Rumblings
Buffalo Bills have a new special teams coach.
The Buffalo Bills are reportedly set to quickly fill their special teams coordinator position after parting ways with Matthew Smiley earlier this week.
Former Carolina Panthers interim head coach Chris Tabor is their man, per Adam Schefter of ESPN.
The 53-year old Tabor got his start in the NFL under renowned special teams coach Dave Toub in Chicago with the Bears as the assistant special teams coach. Head Coach Lovie Smith’s team was consistently known for their stellar special teams play with Hall of Fame return specialist Devin Hester, but also excelled in punt return defense during Tabor’s tenure.
Bills head coach Sean McDermott and Toub overlapped in Philadelphia from 2011 to 2003. McDermott was defensive quality control coach while Tabor ran the special teams for Andy Reid, so there is a secondary connection tying McDermott to Tabor.
Tabor became the Cleveland Browns’ special teams coordinator in 2011. His Cleveland claim to fame was having at least a single AFC Special Teams Player of the Week award every season for five straight years. Stellar teams players during his time included Josh Cribbs (considered one of the best return men in the NFL in the “trying-to-catch-Hester” era) and kicker Phil Dawson, whose jersey can still be found smattered about Huntington Bank Field.
Tabor has had two stints as an interim head coach: once in Chicago when then-head man Matt Nagy was diagnosed with COVID and forced to miss a game, and the other in Carolina with the Panthers after the team fired Matt Rhule. After the entire staff turned over with the beginning of the Dave Canales era, Tabor spent the 2024 season out of football.
What do you think of the hire, Bills Mafia? Sound off in the comments below.
