ESPN already fueling head coaching buzz for Bills OC Joe Brady

ESPN feels as though Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady could land a head coaching job as early as this offseason.

Kyle Silagyi | 3 Hours Ago

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Young, offensive-minded head coaches have been in vogue across the NFL for the last several years, with the success of sideline bosses like Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan ushering in a new wave of hires as teams look to find a long-term schematic genius of their own. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that a 35-year-old who is currently calling one of the league’s most dynamic offensive attacks is already receiving early head coaching buzz.

Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Joe Brady, who was just given the full-time gig in January after taking over as the team’s interim play-caller last season, has designed an offense that has been one of the NFL’s best through the first three weeks of the 2024 campaign. Buffalo has scored a league-high 112 points and is the only team in the NFL to score at least 30 points in each of its first three contests, this success coming despite significant offseason turnover that saw the departures of perennial Pro Bowl wide receiver Stefon Diggs and key complementary weapon Gabriel Davis.

The Bills are dismantling opposing defenses with a weapons corps that many felt was lackluster entering the campaign; quarterback Josh Allen is the most significant reason for the team’s early offensive success, but Brady’s ‘everyone eats’ philosophy, play-calling and general schematic prowess, and effective usage of motion cannot be overlooked when talking about the unit’s play. If the offense is able to maintain even a similar level of play throughout the rest of the campaign, Brady will be a shoo-in for head coaching vacancies across the league come the end of the season; this sentiment has been echoed in ESPN’s recent ‘NFL Week 4 buzz’ article, with reporter Jeremy Fowler writing that he expects the young coordinator to be an oft-interviewed candidate in next year’s cycle.

“It's hard to ignore what Joe Brady is doing in Buffalo, dating to last season,” Fowler wrote. “He has established an equal opportunity offense that finds the open man and can dictate the pace with a run-heavy attack. He interviewed for head-coaching jobs years ago and sort of missed the window, but it appears that will open for him again.”

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Brady is a natural lead gig shout given the recent trend of head coach hires; it generally takes a candidate being involved in a few cycles before they ultimately land a job, but as Fowler notes, Brady’s been involved in the process before, meeting with the Houston Texans, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Jets, and Atlanta Falcons in 2021 before interviewing with the Falcons again this past January.

The current coordinator has long been viewed as a future NFL head coach, first making a name for himself as the passing game coordinator of a 2019 LSU Tigers team that broke several records en route to a 15-0 record and National Championship win. Having initially ascended the coaching ranks under a widely respected head coach in Sean Payton, it seems only a matter of time before Brady is handed the keys to a franchise of his own, assuming he continues to helm prolific offenses; if Buffalo’s unit continues producing at its current rate, his opportunity could come as early as next January.

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Coordinators of successful units leaving for head coaching jobs is simply the way of life in the NFL, but Brady leaving for a head coaching gig this offseason could be particularly problematic for Buffalo given the offensive turnover it has experienced in recent years; the team found its Brian Daboll successor in quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey only to fire him midway through his second season, replacing him with Brady. This means that the Bills have had three different play-callers and general offensive schemes over the past four seasons; being forced to make yet another change in 2025 would not bode well for continuity.

Another potential issue is the lack of a clear succession plan; knowing the realities that come with fielding a productive NFL offense, Buffalo had previously positioned itself well for its coordinators being poached. Brady was the obvious succession plan after Dorsey, just as Dorsey was the obvious succession plan after Daboll. There’s not an obvious choice to succeed Brady, if need be, currently on the Bills’ coaching staff; long-tenured tight ends coach Rob Boras and recently hired quarterbacks coach Ronald Curry are potential options, but neither are slam dunk picks.

Fortunately for Buffalo, next year’s head coaching cycle is a ways off, and there’s still plenty of forthcoming offensive success under Brady to enjoy. The team will deal with potentially needing a new offensive coordinator if and when the situation manifests.

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