In the wake of another disappointing playoff exit, the Bills are making a change on the sidelines. Sean McDermott is out, as first reported by Tom Pelissero, Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL Network. 
General manager Brandon Beane will remain in place, Rapoport adds. He will help lead the search for McDermott’s replacement. Buffalo has now become the 10th team in the NFL to make a head coaching change during the 2026 offseason. The rest of the Bills’ staff was being informed of the news when it broke, per The Exhibit’s Josina Anderson.
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McDermott arrived in Buffalo in 2017. His tenure has been defined in large part by sustained success in the regular season, with the Bills reaching the playoffs all but once and posting double-digit wins in each of the past seven years. Despite the availability and high level of play produced by quarterback Josh Allen, however, McDermott’s teams have yet to break through in the postseason. The franchise will look to do so with a new voice on the sidelines.
Allen and McDermott have won a total of eight playoff games together. That is the most in NFL history by a HC-QB tandem which has failed to reach a Super Bowl (h/t WFAA’s Ed Werder). A path to ending that streak of shortcomings appeared to exist during this year’s playoffs in particular, with Patrick Mahomes‘ Chiefs, Lamar Jackson‘s Ravens and Joe Burrow‘s Bengals all missing the tournament. Nevertheless, an overtime loss in Denver on Saturday marked another loss in the divisional round for the Bills.
A turnover-filled performance on Allen’s part was a major factor in this year’s Buffalo exit. Overall, though, underwhelming showings on defense were seen on multiple postseason occasions over the years during McDermott’s Buffalo tenure. Given his background as a defensive coordinator, that increasingly became a talking point with respect to McDermott’s job security. A firing in this case adds further to the noteworthy changing of the guard when it comes to multiple AFC teams known for stability.
Today’s McDermott news does not entirely come as a surprise, however. Entering the wild-card round, the Bills and Packers were named as potential John Harbaugh suitors. Green Bay wound up reaching an extension agreement with Matt LaFleur recently, but Buffalo has elected to take the alternative route. Harbaugh has already made his decision, officially taking on the Giants’ HC gig this past weekend. Kevin Stefanski is also off the board, since he is now with the Falcons.
Buffalo now joins the list of destinations for HC candidates. With Allen and a core of players attached to long-term extensions (signed, in many cases, last offseason), the Bills will no doubt be seen as one of the more attractive landing spots for staffers. Once a hire is made, Allen will begin the process of adapting to a new head coach for the first time in his career.
After their run of four straight Super Bowl losses under Marv Levy, sustained success proved difficult to attain for the Bills. Seven different full-time head coaches were in place until McDermott’s hire. His arrival helped spark a run which included five consecutive AFC East titles. Overall, McDermott posted a record of 98-50 in the regular season and 8-8 in the playoffs.
Beane, like McDermott, worked with the Panthers before coming to the Bills nine years ago. His tenure has overlapped with many of the team’s best accomplishments in recent memory, sparked of course by the decision to draft Allen in 2018. Beane has drawn criticism for elements of his roster-building approach, though, and in 2025 in particular his actions (or lack thereof) at the receiver position were a main talking point. Nonetheless, Buffalo has opted for stability in the front office moving forward.
Lengthy HC tenures in Baltimore (Harbaugh) and Pittsburgh (Mike Tomlin) recently came to an end. With McDermott now out as well, the AFC will look far different on the sidelines when the 2026 season kicks off. Meanwhile, McDermott’s next move will become one of the top storylines around the league as the coaching landscape takes shape.