Black Monday is looming, and in the days before about a quarter of the league looks for a new head coach, candidates have begun to throw their hats in the ring.
One candidate that hasn’t seen a ton of buzz just yet is former Buffalo Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier. After losing to the Cincinnati Bengals 27-10 in the Divisional Round last season, the team decided to part ways with Frazier, who had been the only defensive coordinator of head coach Sean McDermott’s tenure.
Frazier was also the assistant head coach since 2020. McDermott would fill the coordinator role himself, with mixed results.
Buffalo was the last stop on an extensive coaching résumé that dates back to 1988. He spoke to CBS about his desire to coach again.
“I want to be able to be a part of this hiring cycle,” Frazier said. “I would love to be able to interview with an owner or organization for one of the head coaching vacancies. And I’m basing it on my past experiences as a head coach who took a team to the playoffs, the success I’ve had in the NFL as a coordinator. And hope that would warrant me an opportunity. That's my goal, that’s my hope.”
Frazier’s coaching career came shortly after a half-decade stint with the Chicago Bears in the early ‘80s. From there, he was the head coach of Trinity International University and the defensive backs coach at the University of Illinois. He would cycle between a position coach and defensive coordinator for four teams until 2010.
During that season, the Minnesota Vikings made him the interim head coach, where he would eventually be hired as the lead man. He has just a 21-32-1 record in the regular season and lost his lone playoff game, though he was hamstrung by poor quarterback play.
He would take on two more NFL gigs before joining McDermott in Buffalo. Since then, he’s been able to study the league as a whole, honing in on trends and new ideas, rather than focusing on how to win the Bills’ next matchup.
“It’s forced me to broaden my horizons a little bit, looking at the league from a global standpoint as opposed to just the opponent that we’re getting prepared for,” Frazier said. “It’s forced me to see the league in its entirety and it’s helped me to get more involved in some of the angles that allow you to win.
Teams have trended towards hiring rising offensive coaches in recent years, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a spot for a seasoned defensive mind, especially one as respected as Frazier. With the hindsight of an unsuccessful head coaching tenure and more experience than most on the market, Frazier’s case has already been made. It’s just a matter of hoping the right team rolls the dice on the 64-year-old.
“My maturity as a coach and growth as a coach is far different because of the experiences I’ve had over the last 10 years … Just understanding the importance of constructing strong staff, which is something I didn’t have the opportunity to do when I was an interim coach,” Frazier said. “There’s no doubt in my mind because of the things that have transpired over the last 10 years … I’ll be a better head coach the second time around – for sure.”
If all goes right for Frazier, he could find himself coaching against a Bills team he helped lead to the playoffs five times in six seasons.
More must-reads: