Building the defense one name at a time
When Brady first joined the NFL as an offensive assistant in 2017, he made a habit of writing down the names of players and coaches who stood out to him. Brady recalled one particular instance watching film and writing down the name Harrison Smith, a safety for the Vikings who went on to be a First Team All-Pro selection that season.
“Ever since then, I’ve kept a list of players and coaches,” Brady said.
Prior to Buffalo’s 2024 NFL Wild Card game hosting the Broncos, Brady wrote down another name: Jim Leonhard, the Broncos defensive backs coach.
“I remember going ‘Man these DBs are coached extremely hard,'” the then-Bills OC recalled. “How they all played on the back end, I wrote [Leonhard’s] name down. And as we were going through the process again this year of playing them again, it was just this guy is outstanding. I want to get on the phone with him and talk with him.”
Brady added that it’s been “refreshing” to hear Leonhard’s thoughts and vision for building a defense. Known for a 3-4 scheme, Brady is confident that Leonhard is capable of being much more than just a ‘3-4 defensive’ coach.
“Everybody talks about the 3-4 defense, but we’re not living in 3-4 every single down,” he said.
The Bills have been diligent and selective when constructing the defensive side of their roster. Names like edge rusher Bradley Chubb and safety C.J. Gardner Johnson among others stood out through the first wave of free agency.
There are plenty of names still to be written down and sorted through, though, Brady assured. Free agency was just step one of equipping Leonhard with viable pieces.
“The perk of Jim Leonhard is he’s not like ‘this is all I can do’… I do think we have a clear vision for the guys on the inside, the draft picks. I know a lot of times we get to this point and free agency is over but we got the draft, we got after the draft to clear some things up. There’s guys in all positions that we still have in our mind. Our roster is still not done being built.”