The Buffalo Bills need a new defensive coordinator. Leslie Frazier, Buffalo’s defensive play-caller since 2017, announced this week that he plans to sit out the 2023 season before potentially returning in 2024. With Frazier gone, the Bills must find a new leader for a unit that ranked as a top-two scoring defense in three of the past four years. Will head coach Sean McDermott take on that burden?
Why Sean McDermott Should Take Over as the Buffalo Bills DC
Frazier’s decision to leave comes at an odd time in the NFL offseason. The hiring cycle is essentially complete, and 12 teams changed defensive coordinators over the past few months. High-profile DC candidates like Vic Fangio, Brian Flores, and Ejiro Evero have already been hired by rival teams.
However, the Bills are in a unique spot. Given their success on the defensive side of the ball, they may not have been interested in adding an external coach who might’ve preferred to bring a new scheme to Buffalo.
McDermott made his NFL bones as a defensive coach. He rose through the ranks with Andy Reid’s Eagles, coaching defensive backs and linebackers before becoming Philadelphia’s DC in 2009. McDermott then served a six-year stint as the Panthers’ defensive coordinator before landing the Bills’ head coaching job in 2017.
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Buffalo has yet to announce that McDermott will take over play-calling in 2023. Still, the tea leaves of general manager Brandon Beane’s comments this week at the Scouting Combine suggest that McDermott will handle that additional responsibility.
“If Sean decided to take over the play-calling … I’ve seen him do it for a long time, and (he had) great success and went against some great quarterbacks and offensive gurus,” Beane said. “If he feels that route is best for us, I’m going to support that and have full faith he would do a great job.”
If McDermott decides against calling plays, the Bills have several qualified internal candidates. Senior defensive assistant Al Holcomb, defensive line coach Eric Washington, and linebackers coach Bobby Babich all have defensive coordinator experience at the NFL level.
“That’s a big part of the consideration there,” McDermott said this week. “We’ve got a qualified staff in-house already. I just believe in, especially with where we are this time of year, trying to take our time and do this the right way.”
Defensive Play-Calling Head Coaches Are a Rarity
If McDermott decides to take over the Bills’ defensive reins, he’ll become the 17th head coach with play-calling duties. However, the majority of those dual-responsibility head coaches reside on the offensive side of the ball.
Among defensive head coaches, only the Chargers’ Brandon Staley, the Buccaneers’ Todd Bowles, and the Saints’ Dennis Allen handle play-calling. Texans first-year HC DeMeco Ryans is still mulling whether he’ll call plays in Houston.
“The offense, to me, is a little bit different than the defense because some of the game management pieces come up typically when you’re on the offensive side as opposed to the defensive,” McDermott said. “I think that’s all part of the information that we factor into this decision.”
Timeouts, fourth-down decisions, and other in-game administrative tasks are more common on the offensive side of the ball, so those considerations might not cloud McDermott’s process as he’s calling defensive plays.
McDermott already had a heavy hand in designing Buffalo’s defensive scheme, which means the Bills’ weekly game plans might not change all that much. But as Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni noted this week after Philadelphia hired Sean Desai as its new DC, installing a new play-caller creates a “little bit of unknown” for opposing offenses.
Buffalo’s situation isn’t equal to Philadelphia’s. The Eagles hired an external DC candidate who could transform their defensive design while McDermott is already in-house. But even a few new wrinkles — a higher blitz rate or adding more man coverages to what has predominantly been a zone defense — could give Buffalo’s offensive rivals pause.
The Bills Could Lose Several Defensive Free Agents
McDermott’s previous play-calling experience and Buffalo’s experienced staff should help make McDermott’s potential coordinator transition relatively seamless, but the Bills’ veteran core of defensive players should also assist in the change.
Linebacker Matt Milano, defensive tackle Ed Oliver, and defensive backs Tre’Davious White, Taron Johnson, and Micah Hyde have played in Buffalo’s scheme for years. That shared history should help overcome any hiccups if McDermott takes over play-calling.
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However, the Bills could lose several defensive free agents when the market opens in mid-March. Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and safety Jordan Poyer both appear likely to test free agency, while depth pieces like defensive linemen Shaq Lawson and Jordan Phillips are also on expiring contracts.
Buffalo is currently $16+ million over the salary cap, but the club could create space by restructuring several contracts. Converting Josh Allen’s base salary into a signing bonus could open up more than $20 million.
Still, retaining both Edmunds and Poyer could prove difficult. Edmunds — eighth on our top free agent list — is only 25 years old and is expected to command at least $15 million annually on the open market.