Former Wisconsin Badgers defensive coordinator and interim head coach Jim Leonhard found his first defensive coordinator job since leaving Madison with the Buffalo Bills over the weekend.
Leonhard, 43, had been in consideration for several defensive coordinator jobs this offseason after working as the pass game coordinator and assistant head coach for the Denver Broncos this past season. Ultimately, he took the fit in Buffalo and will coach a team that recently let go of Sean McDermott and promoted offensive coordinator Joe Brady to head coach.
It was expected that Leonhard would take some familiar faces with him to Buffalo, and one has been recently reported. According to CBS Sports’s Matt Zenitz, the Bills are hiring Bobby April to their defensive staff. April had been the outside linebackers coach at Wisconsin under Leonhard, and left after the 2022 season to become the defensive coordinator at Stanford.
Earlier this offseason, April had accepted a job to be the rush ends coach at Minnesota, but he’ll bypass that and join the Bills this upcoming season as their outside linebackers coach.
April had previously coached with the Bills, being their linebackers coach from 2015-16, as he followed Rex Ryan from the New York Jets, before coming to Wisconsin in 2018. Now, he’ll return under Joe Brady’s staff and reunite with Jim Leonhard.
Leonhard’s defensive staff in Buffalo is starting to round out. Alongside April, the Bills are hiring John Egorugwu as their next inside linebackers coach, while Jay Valai will be the next cornerbacks coach for Buffalo. Egorugwu had been with the New York Giants the last four years, while Valai had been the co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma since 2022.