New Bills coach Brady fills defensive coordinator job by agreeing to hire Leonhard, AP source says

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — 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 after Pete Carmichael agreed to become Buffalo’s offensive coordinator a day earlier.

Brady previously worked with Carmichael in New Orleans but has no 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 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.

It’s a homecoming for Leonhard, who 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 Paul Chryst’s dismissal, before leaving the program to spend the following year at Illinois.