After losing to the Broncos in the playoffs, the Buffalo Bills have raided their staff.
The Bills on Saturday hired Broncos assistant head coach and defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard as their defensive coordinator. That followed the Bills, on Friday, hiring Broncos Senior Offensive Assistant Pete Carmichael as offensive coordinator.
Buffalo lost 33-30 in overtime at Denver in a divisional playoff on Jan. 17. Two days later, the Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott, who was eventually replaced by offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
Leonhard, a former NFL safety, spent the past two seasons as a Broncos assistant. In 2024, he was their defensive backs coach and pass game coordinator.
Leonhard, 43, played in the NFL from 2005 to 2014. That included stints with Buffalo from 2005 to 2007 and in 2013 and with Denver in 2012.
Leonhard’s departure is a further indication that Vance Joseph is likely to remain as Denver’s defensive coordinator. Joseph had six remote interviews with teams for a head position in early January but there has been no indication he has gotten a second interview with any team since the Broncos season ended with a 10-7 loss to New England last Sunday in the AFC Championship Game. Joseph’s initial interviews included talks with Arizona and Las Vegas, the only two teams left with an opening for a head coach.
Leonhard had been looked at as a strong candidate to replace Joseph in the event he got a head position.
Leonhard has previous experience as a defensive coordinator at Wisconsin from 2017-22. He also finished the 2022 season as the Badgers’ interim head coach, going 4-3.
Leonhard’s exit means that five members of Denver head coach Sean Payton’s coaching staff from 2025 are now gone. While Carmichael left on his own terms, Payton fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, wide receivers coach Keary Colbert and cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch last Tuesday.
Sources said Broncos offensive pass game coordinator and quarterbacks coach Davis Webb is the leading candidate to replace Lombardi.