Since the Buffalo Bills lost to the Denver Broncos in this past season\u2019s Divisional Round of the playoffs, it\u2019s been anything other than status quo at One Bills Drive. Gone is head coach Sean McDermott. In his place is Joe Brady, promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach in a move that surprised many observers.<\/p>\n
To those outside the building, it felt too similar to status-quo in ultimately promoting Brady, but a look deeper reveals that Buffalo\u2019s latest group of coaches is anything but the same old same old of the last nine seasons. Brady has begun assembling a nuanced team of coaches, both those relatively new to their respective roles, and others who have a wealth of experience.<\/p>\n
A familiar name to many Bills fans, Jim Leonhard returns for his third tenure at One Bills Drive \u2014 though this journey is as a first-time NFL defensive coordinator. Leonard is expected to usher in a near-complete overhaul on defense, and one that may allow him to take better advantage of certain skill sets among Buffalo\u2019s current defensive roster. Though many expect the Bills to switch to a 3-4 base system under Leonhard, what the defense ultimately looks like and how it operates is likely to keep everyone on their toes as it seeks to attack opposing offenses.<\/p>\n
During Leonhard\u2019s introductory press conference, he touched on that and more, including the versatility that he sees within the current roster while acknowledging that change is imminent for a group of players who\u2019ve played within the previous system for a very long time. Leonhard noted that it\u2019s a move he\u2019s confident will be \u201cbest for their skill sets and fits their personalities.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a former NFL safety who played 10 years in the league for five franchises, Leonhard understands the challenges of adapting to new defensive goals and he\u2019s ready to lead a unit that\u2019s far more talented than any he played with as part of Buffalo\u2019s defense in two previous stops. Leonhard understands that \u201cthe biggest stat in football is turnovers\u201d and he intends to unleash defenders with that goal in mind.<\/p>\n
So how did Leonhard end up in Orchard Park, NY again, and what is it about the Western New York area that stands out most to him \u2014 and especially as it relates to coaching the Bills? Notably, Leonhard mentioned the camaraderie in the building and interactions away from it being different from other places he\u2019s been as playing a huge role in his return.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then outside of that, it\u2019s the fan base, they just want to win. Right? They want to support this team, they want to just be part of a Super Bowl champion team\u2026 and they\u2019re gonna get on you when you are not playing well. Right? They\u2019re gonna have answers when you\u2019re struggling, but deep down they really just wanna watch you succeed, and they want these players to play a certain way. Right? They want the players to act a certain way. Right? To respect what this place really is.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a near-37-minute interview, Leonhard touched on all that above, plus what role nickel cornerback Taron Johnson may play for Buffalo\u2019s defense moving forward, what he sees in safety Cole Bishop and the opportunity to now work with him, whether he sees potential for cornerback Christian Benford to ascend to the level of Denver Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II, and a whole lot more.<\/p>\n
Catch up now with all Jim Leonhard had to say in his first press conference, embedded below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since the Buffalo Bills lost to the Denver Broncos in this past season\u2019s Divisional Round of the playoffs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[212925,71478,399,398,396,397,99,6879],"class_list":{"0":"post-455303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-buffalo-bills-coaching-staff","9":"tag-buffalo-bills-news","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-football","13":"tag-ncaafootball","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-videos"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}