There is at once both so much that is familiar and so much that is new about the 2026 Buffalo Bills.
That’s what happens when a team that has the NFL’s longest streak of consecutive seasons with at least one playoff victory decides to make a change at head coach.
While most NFL head coaching changes come with mandates to overhaul any or every aspect of the team, Joe Brady taking over for Sean McDermott has been all about consistency on one side of the ball and change on the other.
On offence, where Brady has been the play caller for the past two-and-half-seasons and will remain so this year, the personnel changes are minimal, beyond the addition of new No. 1 receiver D.J. Moore.
For good reason, Buffalo prioritized maintaining Brady’s relationship with quarterback Josh Allen who, at age 30, remains as big a part of the team’s identity as ever.
Going in a new direction at head coach would have invited some degree of uncertainty in the team’s relationship with Allen and the Bills simply weren’t willing to mess with success.
Allen – who sat in on the candidates’ interviews – may not have picked the Bills new head coach, but it’s hard to think Brady would have gotten the job without his endorsement.
The offence will evolve this season with the influence of veteran offensive co-ordinator Pete Carmichael and the absence of McDermott. Overall, there is every reason to believe the offensive philosophy and production won’t differ significantly from what has become the standard in Buffalo with Allen at quarterback and Brady calling the plays.
It is on the defensive side of the ball where the trickle-down from the change at head coach is far more apparent.
Under McDermott, the Bills had a defensive-minded head coach who had significant influence over that side of the ball. He favoured a defence that operated out of a 4-3 scheme with an emphasis on trying to limit big plays, while being willing to surrender yards via the run or short passing game.
Buffalo won a lot of games that way, but the defence failed to measure up against good teams at playoff time. Consider that in the Bills’ past six playoff exits they surrendered an average of more than 33 points per game, an indefensible stat that is undoubtedly the biggest reason for moving on from McDermott.
Revamping the defensive scheme essentially required a different philosophy and, ultimately, a new head coach.
In hiring Jim Leonhard, a former Bills safety who was Denver’s defensive pass game co-ordinator last season, Buffalo has aggressively moved in a new direction.
Leonard wasted no time departing from the McDermott defensive philosophy, bringing the 3-4 scheme and talking openly about using multiple fronts – the movement of key players into various roles and mixing and matching more than they did under McDermott.
That shift alone is significant, but the fact that Leonhard must rely on a number of young players still unproven for regular duty in the NFL makes the challenge that much more daunting.
The changes on defence will lean heavily on a youth movement of players from the past two Buffalo draft classes – such as defensive tackles Deone Walker and Landon Jackson, corner Maxwell Hairston and outside linebacker T.J. Parker.
So, it’s clear that in-season growth is going to have to be a big part of the story on defence for Buffalo.
But inexperience and adapting to new roles isn’t limited to the players on defence. It’s part of the coaching reality for Buffalo this season as well.
Often when a team hits the wall in terms of their pursuit of Super Bowl, the tendency is to lean towards someone who has been there and done that to finish the job.
But the Bills bucked that trend, hiring a head coach and defensive co-ordinator who have never held those positions in the NFL before.
Both are impressive young coaches with solid resumes and credentials that suggest they are ready to help the Bills accomplish the one thing they’ve failed to do in the Josh Allen era.
But they are also taking over a team that has far more room to move down than up in the NFL’s hierarchy, and where expectations remain Super Bowl or bust.
In this era of Buffalo Bills football, that’s the one thing that never changes.
