{"id":868952,"date":"2026-04-18T06:42:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T06:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868952\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T06:42:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T06:42:43","slug":"sean-mcdermott-taking-unusual-approach-to-nfl-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868952\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean McDermott Taking Unusual Approach To NFL Return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike many other NFL<\/a> head coaches who got fired this cycle, Sean McDermott is not attempting to go directly back into coaching. So what’s he doing to pass the time?<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Athletic’s Mike Jones<\/a>, McDermott revealed that he’s been working on self-improvement and learning more about coaching. He explained that he’s attending conferences and speaking with people about the finer aspects of coaching and leadership.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cI could\u00a0go visit people\u00a0I know, but I already know what they\u2019re about and what they believe in,\u201d McDermott said. \u201cBut [I\u2019m] visiting some people that do things a little bit different than maybe I\u2019ve done… It\u2019s this guy that seems to have had success, or this gal\u2019s had success and their personalities may be a little bit different than mine. So, I\u2019d like to get in on the ground floor and just see how they handle the day in and day out and how it translates to the NFL. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s healthy to stop just in sports, but to talk to people in the corporate world, those that are high-level performers, even though it doesn\u2019t directly overlap, there\u2019s correlation… I think going outside of football is healthy and productive and powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

McDermott in Buffalo<\/p>\n

McDermott oversaw one of the most successful eras in modern Buffalo Bills<\/a> history since the early-90s after becoming head coach in 2017. Hired to rebuild a franchise that had missed the playoffs for 17 straight seasons, McDermott immediately changed the culture and led Buffalo to a postseason berth in his first year.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

With general manager Brandon Beane, he soon helped construct a strong roster highlighted by quarterback Josh Allen<\/a>, turning the Bills into a perennial contender. Under McDermott, Buffalo won multiple AFC East<\/a> titles, consistently posted double-digit win seasons, and reached the AFC Championship Game during the 2020 season.<\/p>\n

\"BuffaloBuffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott talks to one of the assistant coaches during second half action against the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park on Dec. 28, 2025.\u00a9 Tina MacIntyre-Yee&sol;Democrat and Chronicle &sol; USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images&period;<\/p>\n

But for all of McDermott’s success, which included a 98-50 record plus eight playoff appearances in nine years, he could never get the team to the Super Bowl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Several playoff losses to the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> became especially painful, fueling questions about late-game management and whether Buffalo could break through under his leadership.<\/p>\n

The Bills ultimately parted ways with him after yet another playoff loss in 2025.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by The Spun<\/a> on Apr 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL<\/a> section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlike many other NFL head coaches who got fired this cycle, Sean McDermott is not attempting to go…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868953,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,2086,7,872,110,14925,6,109,3026],"class_list":{"0":"post-868952","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-football","13":"tag-josh-allen","14":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","15":"tag-mike-jones","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","18":"tag-sean-mcdermott"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116424354082770985","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868952","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=868952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}