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Alaina Getzenberg
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — With the Buffalo Bills one game away from their first trip to the Super Bowl since the 1993 season, offensive coordinator Joe Brady has removed himself from consideration for the New Orleans Saints‘ head coaching job, sources confirmed to ESPN.
Brady, who had an initial interview with the Saints, will remain as the Bills’ O-coordinator in 2025, according to sources.
Brady, 35, is in his first full season running Buffalo’s offense after taking over the role in an interim capacity during the 2023 season when Ken Dorsey was fired. Brady was hired as the Bills’ quarterbacks coach in 2022. He also served as the Carolina Panthers‘ offensive coordinator in 2020 and in 2021, before being fired midseason.
Bills quarterback Josh Allen, when asked about Brady earlier this month, raved about his impact on the offense.
“He’s been fantastic,” Allen said. “Coming into a situation last year that was, it’s not easy to switch playcallers midyear, and he came in and from that day on, if you look at our splits, our success that we’ve had as a team, it’s noticeable. So, he’s one of the most positive guys in the building.
“He’s always got juice and energy for the guys. I think that’s something that we love and appreciate about him, and he’s as real as they come.”
Brady has assisted Allen to one of his best seasons to date, in addition to creating a strong rushing attack en route to Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs (6:30 p.m. ET, CBS). Buffalo has committed the fewest turnovers in the NFL this season (eight) and sacks (14), registered a franchise record for points (525) and touchdowns (65) in a season and scored 30-plus points in 12 regular-season games, the most in team history.
Brady spent time with the Saints as an offensive assistant in 2017 and 2018, and he served as LSU‘s passing game coordinator during the Tigers’ 2019 national championship season.
In addition to the Saints, he also interviewed for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chicago Bears head coaching jobs.
The Saints have the NFL’s lone remaining vacancy for head coach. Brady is one of two serious candidates who have passed on New Orleans before getting to the second interview stage. Former Saints assistant Aaron Glenn interviewed virtually with the team but did not interview in person after accepting the head coaching job with the New York Jets.
The Saints conducted in-person interviews with Anthony Weaver and Mike Kafka over the weekend after a snowstorm delayed the meetings. They probably will schedule a second interview with New Orleans special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi — who served as interim head coach following the firing of Dennis Allen in early November — and are expected to interview former Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy in person. Kellen Moore also could be in line for a second interview after meeting with the team virtually.
NFL Network was first to report news of Brady pulling out of the running for the Saints job.
ESPN’s Katherine Terrell contributed to this report.
Source: www.espn.com