The Buffalo Bills are targeting Oklahoma cornerbacks coach Jay Valai for a co-defensive coordinator role, according to a report Sunday from Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports. Valai and new Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard are both former Wisconsin defensive backs, though they did not play together — Leonhard’s career finished in 2004, and Valai’s began in 2006.

Valai operated a sports training facility for six years after his playing career finished in 2010, but he’s been a fast riser since first taking a quality control role at Georgia in 2016. After two seasons under Kirby Smart, Valai spent 2018 as a quality control for the Kansas City Chiefs, and then took four college jobs in the four seasons after that: Rutgers, Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma. 

He’s been with Brent Venables’s Oklahoma staff for all four years in Norman, and Venables has kept the in-demand Valai for four years now by continuing to add seniority and responsibility to his workload. Valai’s official title for the Sooners: assistant head coach for defense, co-defensive coordinator, pass game coordinator, and cornerbacks and nickels coach.

Valai has been a key candidate for the open defensive backs job at Notre Dame, but could opt for the NFL instead. He would be the assistant head coach for defense and co-defensive coordinator in Buffalo.Â