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01/31 13:13 CST New Bills coach Brady fills defensive coordinator job by
agreeing to hire Leonhard, AP source says
New Bills coach Brady fills defensive coordinator job by agreeing to hire
Leonhard, AP source says
By JOHN WAWROW
AP Sports Writer
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) --- The Buffalo Bills have reached an agreement to hire
Jim Leonhard as their defensive coordinator under new head coach Joe Brady, a
person with knowledge of the discussions told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because Leonhard has yet
to sign a contract. ESPN first reported the agreement.
The 43-year-old Leonhard spent the past two seasons with the Denver Broncos,
including last year as the team's assistant head coach and defensive pass game
coordinator. He is the second Broncos assistant to join Brady's staff; Pete
Carmichael was hired as Buffalo's offensive coordinator, the team announced
Saturday.
The Bills also filled their special teams coordinator vacancy by hiring Jeff
Rodgers, who spent the past eight years holding the same position with the
Arizona Cardinals.
Rodgers has 22 seasons of NFL special teams coaching experience, previously
working in Chicago, Denver, Carolina and San Francisco. The 48-year-old Rodgers
replaces Chris Tabor, who left Buffalo after one season for the same role with
the Miami Dolphins.
Brady previously worked with Carmichael in New Orleans but has no known
immediate connections to Leonhard. Buffalo's season ended with a 33-30 overtime
loss to the Broncos two weeks ago in the divisional round of the playoffs.
Leonhard's hiring fills a key vacancy as the Bills move forward under Brady,
Buffalo's former offensive coordinator, who takes over after Sean McDermott was
fired following a nine-year tenure.
While Brady brings continuity to Buffalo's Josh Allen-led offense, Leonhard
will oversee a unit that was built to meet McDermott's defensive vision. He
replaces Bobby Babich, who spent the past two seasons as the Bills coordinator
before leaving to take the same position in Green Bay last week.
In his opening news conference on Thursday, Brady envisioned Buffalo's defense
taking on an attacking identity similar to his approach on offense. Injuries
and a transition to youth led to Buffalo finishing seventh in the NFL in yards
allowed but 28th against the run and 14th in sacks per passing attempts.
The Broncos, by comparison, finished with 68 sacks last season to lead the NFL
for a second straight year.
Leonhard spent two separate stints in Buffalo during a 10-year career as an NFL
defensive back, including his first three spanning 2005-07. He was an undrafted
free agent out of Wisconsin and ended his career with Cleveland in 2014.
Two years later, Leonhard returned to Wisconsin to begin his coaching career
and worked his way up from overseeing the Badgers secondary to a five-year
stint as defensive coordinator. He closed the 2022 season as Wisconsin's
interim head coach following the firing of Paul Chryst, before leaving the
program to spend the following year at Illinois.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
