The Broncos lose assistants Jim Leonhard and Pete Carmichael to Buffalo, where they have been hired as coordinators.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Joe Brady’s Buffalo Bills couldn’t beat the Broncos when it mattered most in an AFC Divisional second-round playoff game two weeks ago.

So Brady got two of the Broncos’ best assistant coaches to join him.

Brady, the Bills’ new head coach, has hired away Denver defensive backs coach Jim Leonhard and senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael Jr. to become his new defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively, sources confirmed to 9NEWS.

Brady was the Bills’ offensive coordinator this  past season. In large part because of four turnovers committed by star quarterback Josh Allen, the Bills lost to the Broncos, 33-30 in overtime in an enthralling playoff game at Empower Field at Mile High.

The Bills fired head coach Sean McDermott a couple days later. Despite leading the Bills to the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons as head coach, including the last seven with Allen, McDermott got his team to the Super Bowl.

Brady, 36, was a low-level graduate assistant coach at Penn State when New Orleans Saints’ head coach Sean Payton brought him to his staff as an offensive assistant in 2017-18.  Payton has been the Broncos’ head coach the past three seasons with Carmichael and Leonhard on his staff in 2024-25.


Brady worked his way up the coaching ranks, and now that he’s at the top, he wanted two of Payton’s assistants to help lead each side of the ball. Leonhard, 43, played for the Broncos in 2012 and had his titles bumped from defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator in 2024 to assistant head coach and defensive passing game coordinator in 2025, but essentially he coached the secondary for Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.

Carmichael was Payton’s longtime, non-play-calling offensive coordinator, then called plays for the Saints in 2022-23 before joining the Broncos’ staff in 2024 in an offensive consultant-type role.

Payton will now have at least five new coaching hires this offseason as he fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, receivers coach Keary Colbert and cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch on Tuesday, while Carmichael and Leonhard left for promotions elsewhere.

Broncos’ quarterbacks coach Davis Webb, who has drawn interest from several teams this offseason as both a head coach and offensive coordinator candidate, is expected to stay put and become Payton’s new offensive coordinator, according to multiple sources.