{"id":719455,"date":"2026-01-31T16:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T16:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/719455\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T16:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T16:42:15","slug":"buffalo-bills-are-hiring-denver-broncos-assistant-head-coach-defensive-pass-game-coordinator-jim-leonhard-as-their-defensive-coordinator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/719455\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo Bills are hiring Denver Broncos assistant head coach\/defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard as their defensive coordinator"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">According to ESPN\u2019s lead league insider, Adam Schefter, the Buffalo Bills are hiring Denver Broncos assistant head coach\/defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard to be their defensive coordinator. It was reported earlier in the week that he would be the leading candidate for the job, and despite interest from other teams, Leonhard will be the Bills\u2019 new defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Leonhard has been one of the hottest names in the defensive coordinator market. He had interviews with the Los Angeles Chargers and Baltimore Ravens for their defensive coordinator positions and was linked and\/or interviewed with the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, and Jets. He was also considered the Broncos\u2019 top in-house option to replace defensive coordinator Vance Joseph if he landed a head coaching job this offseason. However, with all signs pointing to Joseph staying in Denver, Leonhard explored his options and landed the Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator job.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">This is a bit of a loss for the Broncos\u2019 defensive coaching staff. Leonhard was an assistant head coach and the team\u2019s defensive pass game coordinator. They also fired their cornerbacks coach, Addison Lynch, earlier in the week, so it appears that the Broncos will be making some changes to their defensive coaching staff this offseason.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">This is also the second coach the Buffalo Bills have taken from the Broncos\u2019 staff. Earlier this week, they named former Denver Broncos offensive assistant coach Pete Carmichael Jr. their offensive coordinator. He has ties to the Bills\u2019 newly hired head coach, Joe Brady, and now will be his offensive coordinator in Buffalo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Leonhard will take over a Bills defense that struggled badly against the run and saw Broncos quarterback Bo Nix throw 3 touchdowns against it in the divisional round of the playoffs. If he can turn that defense around and quarterback Josh Allen plays at his usual MVP level, the Bills can be Super Bowl contenders once again in the AFC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to ESPN\u2019s lead league insider, Adam Schefter, the Buffalo Bills are hiring Denver Broncos assistant head coach\/defensive&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,1151,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-719455","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-buffalo-bills","8":"tag-bills","9":"tag-buffalo","10":"tag-buffalo-bills","11":"tag-buffalobills","12":"tag-denver-broncos-news","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115990714641469441","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}