Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott is in an odd spot for his NFL career. As head coach of the organization for the last eight seasons, McDermott has turned around the team in major ways.
Now, though, the fanbase no longer cares about just making the playoffs. They want to see a Super Bowl team be put together on the field. Especially with league MVP Josh Allen manning the helm of the offense in every which way imaginable.
With pressure mounting to build a Super Bowl winning team together, McDermott knows he has to act faster than most other coaches in the league. It's why he relieved Matthew Smiley of his duties as special-teams coordinator and replaced him with Chris Tabor.
"I know what I said after the season there, and for me, it's wanting to take my time and go through it and making sure that I fully evaluate the position," McDermott said during the end of year press conference. "He's been a guy that's been on my radar."
Additionally, the Bills havc cut punter Sam Martin and are preparing to see if Damar Hamlin, a special-teams helper who has a new agent, might depart via free agency.
McDermott previously said the struggling Smiley would return for another season but backtracked a couple of weeks later leading some to question whether the move to fire Smiley was an owner-driven decision.
Buffalo's special-teams group has struggled at times on throughout the past three seasons, allowing two kickoff returns for touchdowns, a 12-men on the field penalty that negated a Broncos missed field goal at the buzzer in 2023 and having nine men on the field on a punt return that was the final play against the Rams.
In a way, it seems that the time was finally right to make a change for Buffalo - even if McDermott wasn't on board from the beginning.
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This story was originally published March 7, 2025 at 11:12 AM.