Joe Brady is walking into Buffalo with the kind of optimism that usually follows a fresh start - and the kind of history that makes that optimism hard to trust.
The Bills are heading into the 2026 season with a new head coach, a new stadium across the street from the old Highmark Stadium, and a fan base ready to believe this is the year the franchise finally wins its first Super Bowl. Sean McDermott is gone after nine seasons, and Brady has been promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach.
That move brings energy. It also brings a problem that Bills fans may not have fully clocked: assistant coaches promoted from within after a previous head coach is fired have not exactly turned into championship answers around the NFL.
The point is simple enough. Buffalo wanted a reset, and McDermott’s exit made sense after nine years of the same outcome. But handing the keys to someone already on the staff does not automatically create the kind of clean break teams usually hope for when they make a coaching change.
Brady has been with the Bills for going on five years, which means he is not some outside savior parachuting in with a blank slate. He was part of the same operation that produced the results Buffalo is trying to move beyond. That doesn’t doom him, but it does make the challenge feel bigger than the usual “new coach, new era” storyline.
History is not on his side, either. The source points to several recent examples of assistant coaches taking over for their former bosses - Brian Schottenheimer with the Dallas Cowboys in 2025, Freddie Kitchens with the Cleveland Browns in 2019, Ray Rhodes with the Green Bay Packers in 1999, and Rich Kotite with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1991. None of them coached their teams to a Super Bowl.
Kotite was the only one of that group to post a winning record and reach at least one playoff appearance during his tenure. For Brady, that’s the kind of company that makes the road ahead look steep.
Still, Buffalo clearly decided it was time to move on. If McDermott was not going to be the one to lead the Bills to the next level, the organization had to try something different - and the source suggests Brandon Beane could have been the next major change if the team had stayed stuck.
So now the question is whether Brady can be the exception. The Bills have the fresh start they wanted, but the task in front of their new head coach is a daunting one. Whether he can turn this into the breakthrough Buffalo has been chasing is something only time will answer.
In Other News...
Josh Allen Has Never Had A Better MVP Setup In Buffalo
Training camp always brings the same annual MVP chatter, but this year the conversation around Josh Allen feels a little different in Buffalo. The Bills have spent the offseason trying to make life easier on their quarterback, and the arrival of DJ Moore gives Allen a proven target who can help steady an offense that has leaned heavily on his arm and legs for too long. Add in the new coaching direction and the sense is clear: Allen is walking into a setup built to maximize both production and visibility, which is exactly the kind of backdrop that tends to matter when voters start sorting out the leagues best player.
The challenge, of course, is that Allen is hardly alone in that race. Lamar Jackson is adjusting to a new offensive structure in Baltimore, while Joe Burrow is coming back into a Cincinnati situation that looks as complete as it has in years. Still, Buffalos case is the one that stands out because it pairs a quarterback already in the MVP mix with the kind of roster and sideline changes that can turn a strong season into a signature one. The only question now is whether the Bills have finally put enough around Allen to make the award chase feel less like a one-man carry job and more like a true contenders run. [Read more 🡒]
Doug Flutie Still Divides Bills Fans In One All-Time Debate
Doug Fluties place in Bills history has always been a little more complicated than a simple ranking exercise. He belongs in the same conversation with Jim Kelly, Josh Allen and Joe Ferguson as one of the franchises most memorable quarterbacks, and his path to Buffalo was unlike anyone elses, built on a long professional career that stretched across multiple leagues and included major success in Canada before he ever became a familiar name in Western New York.
Fluties legacy in Buffalo still carries a split-screen feel because of what he brought to the team in the late 1990s and what his arrival represented to fans who watched every snap. He helped push the Bills back into the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, but his time there also left behind one of the defining debates of that era, a reminder that even a quarterback with a strong rsum can leave a franchise with admiration, frustration and a few unanswered questions all at once. [Read more 🡒]
James Cooks Market Value Will Frustrate Bills Fans
Running back value around the NFL has been a tricky conversation for years, and James Cook is the latest reminder of how quickly the market can flatten out even for a productive player. ESPNs Bill Barnwell recently ran through theoretical trade values for a handful of Bills, and Cook landed in a tier that reflects the positions diminished standing leaguewide and the contract realities that come with it.
For Buffalo fans, the frustrating part is what that says about the return in any hypothetical deal. Cooks value is being dragged down by the same forces that have made running backs harder to move for premium picks, and Barnwells exercise put him alongside players who are more likely to be viewed as useful pieces than headline-grabbing assets. It is all academic for now, though, because the Bills are not shopping Cook and plan to keep him in the fold. [Read more 🡒]