Former Broncos Head Coach Hired by Bills

The Buffalo Broncos

Fox joins three fellow ex-Broncos coaches on new Bills head coach Joe Brady's staff. All three of Brady's coordinator hires are former Broncos coaches — offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, and special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers, the last of whom worked under Fox as the third-phase coordinator in Denver from 2011-14.

Carmichael and Leonhard were with the Broncos under head coach Sean Payton for the past two seasons. It's no wonder why Brady has coveted Payton's coaches, after the Broncos out-dueled the Sean McDermott-led Bills in the divisional round of the playoffs in a 33-30 overtime thriller.

The Bills fired McDermott, and after interviewing several head-coaching candidates, they ultimately opted to keep it in-house, hiring Brady, the former offensive coordinator under McDermott, as head coach. During that window, while the Bills were interviewing candidates, a report surfaced that Payton was interested in bringing Brady to Denver as his new offensive coordinator, possibly even with play-calling duties, but that was nipped in the bud when he was hired as head coach.

Broncos' Coaching Carousel

The Broncos would instead promote pass game coordinator/quarterbacks coach Davis Webb to offensive coordinator. Offensive assistant Logan Kilgore was then promoted to quarterbacks coach.

The Broncos still have several coaching vacancies yet to be filled. They've yet to hire a secondary coach to replace Leonhard and former cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch, the latter of whom was fired two days after the season ended.

The Broncos still need a wide receivers coach, after Keary Colbert was also jettisoned the Tuesday after the Bo Nix-less team lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game. On the offensive side of the ball, if Payton wishes to have a pass game coordinator, he'll need to hire someone, and the name to watch is John Morton, who served in that role from 2023-24 before accepting the offensive coordinator job in Detroit.

Carmichael's job as a senior offensive assistant might not be filled. It was a role created for him after the New Orleans Saints went a different direction a year ago.

Fox's Background

As for Fox, it's great to see the 71-year-old veteran coach back in the NFL. He led two NFL franchises to the Super Bowl (Carolina and Denver) as a head coach, but was unable to bring home the Lombardi.

After leading the Broncos to Super Bowl XLVIII, Fox returned for one more go-round as head coach. It was Year 3 of the Peyton Manning era, and the Broncos were running out of time to capitalize.

When the 2014 season ended much like the 2012 campaign — with a shocking one-and-done home upset in the divisional round of the playoffs — then-GM John Elway opted to move on from Fox. It was billed at the time as a "mutual" parting of ways, but Elway saw an opportunity to get his close friend Gary Kubiak in the head coach's chair, and he pounced.

The Broncos won the Super Bowl that year with Kubiak, vanquishing the Panthers. Fox landed on his feet, though, getting the rare opportunity to serve as a head coach for the third time in Chicago. That only lasted three seasons.

Since 2018, Fox has held only one-year senior assistant roles. He's one of those excellent head coaches that, for whatever reason, could never get over the hump. "Foxy" is known as the ultimate player's coach.