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Alaina Getzenberg
BUFFALO, NY. — Former Bills player Jim Leonhard is expected to be hired as the team’s defensive coordinator, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Saturday.
The hiring will mark a change in direction on the defensive side of the ball after Sean McDermott was fired following nine seasons leading the Bills and their defense.
Leonhard, 43, is currently the defensive pass game coordinator/assistant head coach with the Denver Broncos. This year, the Broncos’ defense put up 68 sacks, four short of tying the single-season record (72, 1984 Bears), and allowed the second-fewest yards per game (278.2).
Illinois and spent 2016-22 coaching at Wisconsin, including all but one year as the defensive coordinator and spending some of the 2022 season as interim head coach.
Undrafted out of Wisconsin, Leonhard played for the Bills from 2005 to 2007 and in 2013. The 10-year NFL safety and special teams player also played for the Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Broncos and Cleveland Browns.
Leonhard marks the second Broncos coach that new Bills coach Joe Brady is set to add to his staff in a coordinator role. The Bills are also set to hire Pete Carmichael as their offensive coordinator, according to a source. Brady worked under Broncos coach Sean Payton in 2017-18.
Brady and Leonhard have not overlapped on a coaching staff previously.
«I only get one opportunity to be a head football coach,» Brady said during his introductory news conference. «I’m not in the business of hiring my friends, and making sure I want to get the best football coaches for these players cause they deserve that, and so, that’s what’s important to me.»
Leonhard also met with the Los Angeles Chargers and Ravens for defensive jobs.
