The Buffalo Bills have added another branch from the Sean Payton coaching tree, hiring former New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator and current Denver Broncos senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael Jr. as their new offensive coordinator. For a young, first-time head coach, it seems like the 54-year-old Carmichael is a perfect fit for Joe Brady’s staff. And Carmichael has experience as an OC with a head coach who is the play caller, as Brady has said he will be in Buffalo.

“I got a master’s degree at Penn State,” said Brady, “but I got a doctorate in New Orleans.”

Brady continued lobbing praise at his former boss.

“Having an opportunity to sit in a room with a Hall of Fame coach, the way that he thinks, the way that he comes up with plays, the way that he designs, the way that he can scheme matchups and not just focus on the other team’s weaknesses.”

He emphasized the relationship in his final sentence.

“There’s no way in hell I’d be sitting here in this chair right now if I didn’t get that opportunity to be his coaching assistant.”

Pete Carmichael’s coaching career

Carmichael broke into the NFL in 2000 as the Cleveland Browns tight ends coach under Chris Palmer. He spent a year in Washington as an offensive assistant with Marty Schottenheimer and joined Schottenheimer with the San Diego Chargers from 2002 to 2005, topping out at assistant wide receivers coach. In 2006, he joined Sean Payton’s brand new staff in New Orleans as the quarterbacks coach before adding the passing game coordinator title in 2007. In 2009, he was named offensive coordinator replacing Doug Marrone when he left to coach Syracuse University. He remained in that position until 2023, working under Payton and eventually his replacement, Dennis Allen. He was fired after the 2023 season and joined Payton with the Denver Broncos as a senior offensive assistant.

Carmichael has a direct line to Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, who also joined the Saints in 2006. The Saints teams under Carmichael ranked first in yards in his first six seasons and in the top nine every year he was coordinator (including after the retirement of Brees).

Quarterback Chase Daniel weighed in on the hire on social media.

“I was with Joe Brady & Pete Carmichael in 2017 in the QB room….this is a fantastic hire. Expect a lot of Sean Payton influence in Bills offense…under center big play action to add to Josh Allen’s game.”

The play-action conversation is a welcome addition to Buffalo’s offense.