As expected since Leslie Frazier stepped down as the Buffalo Bills' defensive coordinator in February, head coach Sean McDermott will be taking on a more prominent role on that side of the ball this season.
McDermott confirmed Tuesday at the nascent stage of the offseason program that he planned to call plays this year.
"First and foremost, we've got a really good staff on the defensive side, and the offensive side, special teams as well. But I wouldn't be able to do this without a really strong staff on the defensive side in particular," McDermott said. "It's almost like you've got to have kind of a two-track mind. One as a head coach, and then also as a defensive coordinator. But it's been great to this point. I was excited yesterday to get in the room a little bit, that group, the defense, and kind of rolling up my sleeves and getting back to wearing that hat again. So I'm excited about it."
McDermott made his bones as a defensive coordinator, first in Philadelphia under Andy Reid (2009-2010), then in Carolina under Ron Rivera (2011-2016), where he guided multiple top-10 defenses before landing the head coaching gig in Buffalo in 2017.
"It's part of how I got here," he said of calling plays. "So I just think being in the defensive staff room, having those critical conversations that come up, solving problems, trying to evolve where we need to evolve, and where the game is going. And then working hand in hand with our players. Again, that's been mostly the assistants to this point. Then together with the staff figuring some things out and it just feels good. It feels natural. And we'll see where it goes in the future."
The Bills defense was very good for the bulk of the season, but stumbled down the stretch and was bullied in the playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. McDermott doesn't need to completely overhaul the scheme Frazier implemented, but tweaking it to his liking makes sense as the Bills try to finally get over the playoff hump.
