Bills finalize coaching staff…some notes…

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, ColoradoBills said:

 

 

Great movie

[hondo in seattle]

The two most interesting guys to me are Chris Tabor (obviously) and Ryan Neilsen. 

 

Our special teams weren't good last year.  Hopefully, Tabor (whose ST were ranked 4th a couple years ago) does better.

 

And our D struggled last season.  Nielsen has been a DC before.  It'll be interesting to learn what role he has with the Bills and how he helps us.

 

 

[The Jokeman]

1 hour ago, hondo in seattle said:

The two most interesting guys to me are Chris Tabor (obviously) and Ryan Neilsen. 

 

Our special teams weren't good last year.  Hopefully, Tabor (whose ST were ranked 4th a couple years ago) does better.

 

And our D struggled last season.  Nielsen has been a DC before.  It'll be interesting to learn what role he has with the Bills and how he helps us.

 

 

Tabor was a great addition but my only worry is he has coached some of the best ST players to ever play so not sure if he coached them up or just had them fall into his lap but time will tell. I like Nielsen as a guy without prior ties to McDermott so may bring in some new ideas/thought process. 

[WotAGuy]

Can’t wait to see whose head I call for first next season. 

[BigAl2526]

10 hours ago, Mr. WEO said:

Where’s the “Paster”?

Do you mean "Pastor?"  I'm available. I have 40 years experience.  

[Thurman#1]

14 hours ago, GerstAusGosheim said:

Sean has yet to field a defense that's matched what Leslie Frazier delivered in 2021 and 2022, when much of that staff was in their 4th or 5th year together. Aside from Babich, it's been a complete overhaul — Sean keeps tinkering hoping to get back to what he had with Leslie.

 

 

2023 and 2024 were years when we had swathes of defensive injuries (2023) and many defensive injuries in the defensive backfield that left us a shell back there.

 

2021 and 2022 were notable for very few injuries. And for having both Poyer and Hyde out there and not yet regressing.

 

But yeah, you're right about the changes in coaches. I wonder how much of that is Babich having a voice and wanting guys he knew.

[Mr. WEO]

9 hours ago, BigAl2526 said:

Do you mean "Pastor?"  I'm available. I have 40 years experience.  

 

nope..."The Paster" was a sideline fixture with Rex.

 

[YoloinOhio]

I’m so glad to not see Matthew smiley on this list anymore. 

[Da webster guy]

3 hours ago, YoloinOhio said:

I’m so glad to not see Matthew smiley on this list anymore. 

 

You mean Matthew "i got pictures of Pegula doin blow in a Tuijana cat house" Smiley?

[GerstAusGosheim]

11 hours ago, Thurman#1 said:

 

 

2023 and 2024 were years when we had swathes of defensive injuries (2023) and many defensive injuries in the defensive backfield that left us a shell back there.

 

2021 and 2022 were notable for very few injuries. And for having both Poyer and Hyde out there and not yet regressing.

 

But yeah, you're right about the changes in coaches. I wonder how much of that is Babich having a voice and wanting guys he knew.

 

I think you're off by a year....2021 (Leslie #1 ranked DVOA) was the healthy year.

 

2022 (Leslie #2 ranked DVOA) and 2023 (Sean #12 ranked DVOA) were the heavy injury years. 

 

But even in 2022, Leslie Frazier’s #2 ranked D went 13-3 missing the following players....

 

Micah Hyde - 15 games

Tre White - 11 games

Von Miller - 8 Games

Christian Benford - 7 games

Damar Hamlin - 5 games

Jordan Phillips - 4 games

Jordan Poyer - 4 Games

Gregory Rousseau - 3 Games

Tremain Edmunds - 2 Games

Ed Oliver - 2 Games

Daquan Jones - 1 Game (Bengals Playoff!)

Boogie Basham - 1 Game

Dane Jackson - 1 Game

 

[folz]

On 3/19/2025 at 10:06 AM, Fleezoid said:

Holy crap. Look at that list. Why don't they just give every player a coach and be done with it?!

 

Seriously....Offensive Quality Control? Assistant Offensive Fellowship? Not to mention the primary Offensive Fellowship. 

 

On 3/19/2025 at 10:17 AM, Low Positive said:

There are no rules on the amount of coaches or the composition of the coaching staff. Good organizations have very large coaching and scouting staffs. The Fellowship Coaches are participants of the Bill Walsh Coaching Fellowship program. https://operations.nfl.com/inside-football-ops/players-legends/nfl-player-engagement/bill-walsh-diversity-coaching-fellowship/

 

These posts made me think about how coaching staffs in the NFL have changed over the years. It was hard to find complete information for all coaching staffs over the years (apparently it is hard to find who all the assistant coaches were back in the day, even into the 1970s---just didn't get their due I guess), but here is some information I found that gives a good overview of things. Per how things are listed, these are coaching staffs only and do not include Strength & Conditioning, trainers, medical staffs, etc. (which have all seen a sizable increase in staffs over the years too).

 

-In the current NFL, teams average 23.7 coaches per team. The 2025 Buffalo Bills have 24 coaches on their staff currently.

 

-In 1958, the two NFL Championship Game teams, the New York Giants and the Baltimore Colts had coaching staffs of 4 and 3 coaches respectively. So, a head coach and 2-3 assistants.

 

-By the merger in 1960, staffs started to grow a bit. The 1960 Packers had 7 coaches total.

 

-George Allen was the first coach to add a Special Teams Coordinator (hiring Dick Vermeil for the post in 1969).

 

-There were no Offensive and Defensive Coordinators until sometime into the 1970s. It was a gradual process. For instance, the 1975 Steelers had a Defensive Coordinator, but no Offensive Coordinator. I wonder if maybe this started with say an offensive head coach (or vise versa), hiring a coordinator for the opposite side of the ball (once coaches started to specialize on one side of the ball or the other). But, not all teams had both OCs and DCs until the late 70s, early 80s.

 

Using the Bills, here is a look at the size of their coaching staffs (as best as I could gather) over the decades (numbers include the head coach, but again no Training/Strength & Conditioning guys):

1960: 4

1970: 6

1980: 11

1990: 12

2000: 14

2010: 18

2020: 26

 

So, it looks like there was a big bump up in staff sizes in the 1970s, a small bump in the early 2000s, and the largest jump coming in the last 10-15 years.

 

 

[billsfan89]

On 3/19/2025 at 8:00 AM, Chief Loves Bills said:

I think it’s a solid mix of experience in Buffalo and new voices. Cautiously optimistic. 

One thing that makes me a consistent McD “defender” for lack of a better word is that he’s seemingly attempted to adapt to fix his weaknesses.

 

For example when he got here and for the first 5-6 years he was here McD was known as a very conservative coach. The past couple of seasons he’s in the top 5 of aggressive playcalling. 
 

McD held onto being very hard on players but after that article in 2023 came out he let loose a little bit and players responded. 
 

For several years McD was very loyal to his coaches and only kept guys he knew. He’s shown the past few years that he’s willing to dump coordinators and hire from outside his tree. I liked the bold move to fire Dorsey mid season and I liked the move to call the defense himself for a season.

 

I am not sure if McD is going to get this team over the top but he’s not doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. He’s attempting to grow as a coach and that’s giving me confidence that he deserves a couple of more cracks at getting this team a title