Bills OC Joe Brady named prime candidate for recently opened head coaching job

CBS Sports has named Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady as a top candidate for the Chicago Bears head coaching job.

Kyle Silagyi | 2 Hours Ago

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It’s frequently said that the NFL is an offensive league, and organizations with head coaching vacancies have, thus, oft-targeted the offensive wunderkind of the moment in recent years to lead their organization, to varying levels of success. There’s seemingly a new schematic genius dubbed ‘the future of football’ each season, which makes Joe Brady’s staying power in the football zeitgeist a bit more impressive; currently overseeing a Buffalo Bills offense that’s scoring at a near league-high pace, the 35-year-old has been viewed as a head coach in waiting for nearly half a decade.

The Buffalo offensive coordinator first burst onto the football scene as the passing game coordinator of the LSU Tigers in 2019, helping the offense break collegiate records as it steamrolled opposition en route to a National Championship. He parlayed that into a brief offensive coordinator stint with the Carolina Panthers before he fell on the sword for head coach Matt Rhule midway through his second season, ultimately joining the Bills as quarterbacks coach before eventually ascending to play-caller.

Given that organizations are in constant search of the next offensive mastermind – their answer to Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan – Brady has been viewed as a future sideline boss since his inspired run in Baton Rouge, with his current run in Buffalo seemingly placing him in line to earn a head coaching gig as early as the 2025 offseason. CBS Sports writer Bryan DeArdo feels as though he’s a prime candidate for the recently opened Chicago Bears vacancy, circling him as the second-best option for the job in a recent article for the outlet.

"The 35-year-old Brady rose to prominence after serving as LSU's passing game coordinator during the school's undefeated, championship-winning 2019 season (Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy that year and threw for seven touchdowns in LSU's romp of Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl semifinal game),” DeArdo wrote. “Brady then served as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator for two years before becoming the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator this season. Under Brady, Buffalo's offense is third in the league in scoring and is also top 10 in the league in third-down and red zone efficiency. Brady has had a successful partnership so far with Josh Allen, who is enjoying an MVP-caliber season.”

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Brady is behind only Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson on the writer’s ranking, which is natural given that Johnson will likely be atop every organization’s wishlist next spring. Linking Brady to Chicago makes sense given his résumé and the current build of the Bears’ roster (he was named the betting favorite for the job before Matt Eberflus was even fired); with quarterback Caleb Williams and wide receivers D.J. Moore and Rome Odunze sticking out as premier building blocks, Brady’s plethora of experience with quarterbacks and wideouts is appetizing. He’s also proven his ability as an offensive system builder and play-caller in Buffalo, and though he’s only 35, he looks to be more than qualified to be a head coach at this point.

The coordinator’s potential departure would leave the Bills in a precarious situation, as there’s no natural successor on the team’s current coaching staff. That said, Buffalo is currently in the midst of a 9-2 season and could realistically challenge for its first Lombardi Trophy early next year; it’s difficult to be all too concerned about the team’s next offensive play-caller when optimism regarding this rendition of the club is still so high.

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