The Buffalo Bills sent shockwaves through the NFL when they fired coach Sean McDermott on Monday, less than 48 hours after a heartbreaking playoff exit against the Denver Broncos.
While McDermott didn't have any true coaching blunders in the 33-30 loss, the message was clear: losing in the divisional round is no longer good enough.
There will be a new head coach in Buffalo, and the core pieces of the Bills' operation are all set to be impacted by the change.
Here's a closer look at how McDermott's firing impacts Josh Allen, Brandon Beane and more.
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What Sean McDermott firing means for Josh Allen
There's no doubt Allen has been one of the NFL's best quarterbacks over the last handful of seasons, including an MVP campaign in 2024, but could his style of play change in 2026? It's entirely possible.
The Bills reined Allen in a bit after Brian Daboll left for a head coaching opportunity in 2022, after the style of offense and level of risk were potential points of contention in a reported rift between McDermott and Daboll.
After Daboll left, McDermott denied a rift but did admit, "Not every conversation on good teams and thriving teams, like we’ve been, are going to be easy," confirming there were disagreements between himself and his offensive coordinator.
With Ken Dorsey and Joe Brady holding down the offensive coordinator role over the last two seasons, the Bills moved to a more run-dominant offense. Allen attempted 646 passes in his final season under Daboll but threw fewer than 500 passes in each of his two full seasons under Brady.
By firing McDermott, who seemingly wanted to play it safer with Allen, the Bills could be signaling that they are willing to let their quarterback sling the ball around a bit more, even if it means a few more turnovers.
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What Sean McDermott firing means for Joe Brady
The alternative, of course, is that the Bills simply promote Joe Brady to head coach. The 36-year-old offensive coordinator has done a fine job as Buffalo's offensive coordinator, making the offense work despite a lack of elite pass-catching weapons and getting a couple of terrific seasons out of James Cook, and he seems destined to be a head coach somewhere at some point.
If the Bills are comfortable with the way Allen has been used over the last two-plus seasons, Brady could have a chance to become the team's next head coach. On the other hand, Buffalo might be looking for someone with head coaching experience in this Super Bowl-or-bust window. Brady has plenty going for him, but he doesn't have that.
If Brady doesn't get the job in Buffalo and doesn't land a head coaching job elsewhere, he could become a legitimate candidate for some of the many open offensive coordinator jobs around the NFL.
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What Sean McDermott firing means for Brandon Beane
Beane was hired four months after McDermott in 2017, which created some uncertainty about who truly had final say on personnel decisions in Buffalo, but there is no ambiguity now: the Bills promoted Beane to president of football operations in addition to general manager on Monday, appointing him to lead the head coaching search and the front office in a restructure of power for the franchise.
The next Bills head coach will report to Beane, so all personnel decisions will go through the longtime executive.
The Bills opted against a full housecleaning by keeping Beane, and he will go into his 10th season in Buffalo with seemingly more power than he had before as the franchise tries to fine-tune the roster and win the AFC for the first time in the Allen era. First, Beane has a massive decision ahead as he works to find McDermott's successor.
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