INDIANAPOLIS — Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady spoke with media at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday, giving updates on his first offseason as a head coach.
Topics from the day included comments on his staff and returning Bills players, how he plans on approaching his first combine as a head coach and building out the team's roster.
'Fired up to get him' | Brady fills out his coaching staff
In the days after he was officially hired as Buffalo's next head coach, Brady recalled the hours upon hours he spent on the phone working to build and secure his coaching staff.
"I'm rarely on my phone. That was one of those times where there wasn't a moment I wasn't on my phone," he said.
Even before being named the head coach, Brady constructed his vision for not only what type of coordinators he was looking for but assistant coaches as well. Brady secured Pete Carmichael as the offensive coordinator, Jim Leonhard and the defensive coordinator and Jeff Rodgers and the special teams coordinator.
On Feb. 17, just 21 days after he was hired, Brady had in place an additional 20 assistant coaches, ranging from position coaches to senior assistants to quality control.
"They set the standard, and they're going to be the ones that are with the players," he said of the overall coaching staff.
Brady was asked about a handful of those assistants and how they landed in Buffalo, including longtime NFL coach John Fox who will now serve as the senior defensive assistant. He will contribute ideas in defensive meetings, as well as act as a resource for Brady as a first-year head coach.
"He's been through it all, and someone that I can lean on in those moments," Brady said.
The Bills also brought in Drew Terrell as the wide receivers coach after spending the last three years with the Arizona Cardinals in the same role along with the duty of passing game coordinator.
When Brady was in the initial stages of building his staff, Terrell was a name that was continuously mentioned to him during his research process.
"He's a guy from Stanford, extremely bright," Brady said. "He's been in the QB room. There's something so valuable about a guy that coaches wide receivers, but that also can teach them from a quarterback's perspective."
When he initially called Terrell about joining, the Mesa native told Brady of his aspiration to be a quarterbacks coach and eventually an NFL offensive play caller. Brady admired Terrell's drive and told him "I need you on the staff."
"We have a vision for him and the way that he thinks, his mindset, his personality. I was so fired up to get him," Brady said.
While there are many new coaches joining Buffalo, especially on defense, there are two defensive assistants who are staying. Joe Danna was promoted from safeties coach to secondary coach and Jason Rebrovich was promoted to senior defensive assistant.
"Joe Danna has done an incredible job in the back end. He's extremely bright, been a lot of different systems. And then 'Rebs'. It's his second time in Buffalo, he loves Buffalo. He had opportunities to go other places and to have even more of an elevated role, and he chose to be here. That means a lot to me," Brady detailed.
'Don't eliminate anybody' | Brady isn't overlooking skill or personality assessing prospects at the combine
Brady isn't new to the combine, but it's his first go-around as a head coach. One thing he emphasizes is using the skills he and his staff are given and building the Bills' system around that.
"We want the best football players that we can get," Brady said. "… our systems might look different year to year, and there's some little tweaks, but it's not going to be – offense or defense – 'This is what we're doing no matter what we have.'"
The ideal prototype is always there for Brady and his staff, but he knows that's not going to be what he gets every time at each position. Through collaborating with his staff, Buffalo will get the right pieces that fit the team on the field and the culture.
When it comes to meeting prospects at the combine, Brady doesn't want to micro-manage, but he doesn't want to be uninvolved entirely either. He said his involvement and getting to know the player beyond their rehearsed script is important.
"You got 20 minutes and the reality of it is – and that's not to diminish the importance of it – but you got to be mindful of what you're trying to get out of these 20 minutes," Brady said. "A lot of guys are hoping that their 20 minutes are going to be strictly about maybe their background where they're rehearsed on it, where I think it's a better process to [just] talk football … let's talk through some play. Let's talk football."
For the on-field workouts, Brady wants to see their skills shine.
"There's some guys that are naturally quicker. Well, I hope to see that quickness in some of the drills. And some guys are straight line speed, they might struggle on a shuttle drill or whatnot," Brady said.
Alongside seeing their physical skill, seeing the prospects' personalities are just as important. Brady said seeing how the players interact with one another, which ones have their heads down versus the ones hyping each other on from the sidelines. It's not just a skillset that Brady and the Bills bring onto the team, it's the person.
"Anytime that you can have contract with a player and get to know them, see them in settings, uncomfortable settings, see them talking football … I don't know why you wouldn't tke advantage of that," Brady said.
"I just want football players that love ball … trying to get opportunities [and] connect with them, understand that … You can test really well, and I hope these guys do that. But you are what you put on tape as well and I'm going to take that way more into consideration."
'We want to make sure that we're versatile' | Building the 2026 roster under Brady
Now that Brady has his coaching staff hired, the group turns to building the roster. It's a balance between scheme and fit, making sure they're focusing on player talents first and finding the perfect place for them on offense or defense. It's also about discovering how current player roles evolve and change based on a new scheme and a new year.
As Brady and his staff sift through how they want Buffalo's 2026 roster to look, they're identifying what's most important. On that list is versatility and the ability to play in cold-weather games at the end of the season.
"We have to have an offense and defense that can be built to be able to play in those crazy conditions, right?" Brady said referencing Buffalo's winter weather. "And we have to be able to run the ball, we have to be able to stop the run, so that at the forefront is what we're focused on."
In terms of Buffalo's defense changing schemes from a 4-3 to a 3-4, Brady doesn't want the change creating an all-out search for players that just fit one thing.
"We have an idea of what we want, and we think we have the pieces to do that, but we want to make sure that we're versatile in what we're doing," Brady said. "And saying, 'Hey, we want to be a 3-4.' But if we don't have certain guys that fit those pieces, where we might have a true inside linebacker playing outside. Everything's on the table is what I mean here, as we kind of continue to build this. But we have a clear vision for what we want and what we want it to look like."
One current defensive player who will learn how to operate in the new defense is defensive end Greg Rousseau. Brady wasn't ready to answer what Rousseau's new role will be just yet because there are a lot of factors that go into it. The new head coach believes if they put Rousseau in the right positions and give him the right opportunities, he can continue to show that talent.
"What is a 4-3, what is a 3-4? Defining the different type of D-ends or outside linebackers, I think there's so much more that goes into it," Brady said. "And then some of it has to do with also tell me who the counterpart is with Greg, and the different type of skill sets, and as we balance it and kind of come together, and that's part of the process that we're going through now. As we go into free agency, there's a lot of different avenues that we can kind of go. But we know how great of a player he is and can be if we continue to put him in positions where he can show the type of player that he is."
Finding the right nose tackle is an important piece to operating a scheme where your base is a 3-4. Brady, without naming specific names, believes there are players on the roster who fit that nose tackle position. What's most important is getting versatility out of the defensive line unit as a whole.
"We do have nose tackles on our roster that honestly fit the prototype that we have," Brady said of finding a nose tackle that fits. "But the big thing is if we can have flexibility across the defensive line, having guys that can play the nose and play a 4i, play outside and be able to move inside. We want flexibility with what we're doing because then it makes a little tougher on them knowing exactly where our guys are going to be."
Brady also wants versatility to exist on his offense – finding new roles for players year-to-year and discovering ways to expand their skillset. Wide receiver Khalil Shakir, who led the team with 719 receiving yards in 2025, can be a chess piece in different ways. Brady wants to make sure they're doing that for him this year.
"Khalil can play inside and outside and there's really not a lot of things Khalil can't do," Brady said. "And as we watch cutups and as we go through things and put it all together, there's definitely ways to get the ball in his hands in different ways. And we have to continue to grow his game cause he's such a huge component to our offense. He's one of our best football players, and when the ball is in his hands, good things are happening."
Finding versatile players and those who can make an impact in December games is at the top of Brady's list, but what it all boils down to is finding players who have a burning passion for the game of football.
Re-discovering a love for defense | How Brady is diving back into defensive meetings
As the Bills switch to a new defensive scheme and Brady swaps out his offensive coordinator hat for his head coaching hat, Buffalo's new head coach wants to make sure he's all-in on having a defensive presence. Brady is doing that by being in defensive meetings and having plenty of conversations with new defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard.
"I've never sat in the defensive meetings as much as I am right now," Brady shared. "I want to be able to speak the language to our guys. I want to be able to coach them and talk to them, and not just, when games on the line. If Jim's calling the defense, I want at least know what he's calling."
The last time Brady sat in on defensive meetings of this magnitude was back in 2013-14 when he was the linebackers coach for William & Mary. He knows committing the time to the defense will make him a more well-rounded coach and will be another way he can make deeper connections with players.
It's also helping Brady be a better play-caller.
"It's cool that the collaboration because I'm getting the feel of also, it's helping me as an offense play caller too," Brady said. "I've purposely stayed out the offensive meetings right now so they can be critical of the room that we need for growth … So, I've been sitting in the defensive meetings really trying to get a feel of how we do things, what puts them in stress because it helps me. Because a lot of people are going to be studying probably a lot of the top defenses, and those are the elements that we're going to do."
In collaborating with Leonhard and dreaming up what Buffalo's defense will look like, Leonhard believes there are some pretty exciting pieces already in Buffalo.
"There are a lot of pieces on our team that are exciting to him," Brady said. "… There are some guys that might have been used in some roles in the past that we think they can do some other things, but a lot of it is projections right now. You got to go do it and so that's where we're kind of at right now is figuring out what some of the base defense kind of looks like and moving some of the guys in some of those different roles and skill sets. That's what's also exciting."
'Excited to get him back' | Bills made first free agency move in re-signing OL Alec Anderson
As Beane noted the upcoming free agency for left guard David Edwards and center Connor McGovern, the Bills kept an integral depth piece of their O-line for 2026. Alec Anderson re-signed with Buffalo on a one-year deal.
Anderson joined the team in 2022 as an undrafted free agent and developed into a lineman who can be utilized in a variety of ways. In 2024, Anderson was the sixth offensive lineman brought onto the field for jumbo packages.
While his usage didn't quite reach the same heights in 2025 as the team opted to use tight end Jackson Hawes more often, Anderson's effective and dependable play earned him the start at right tackle Week 13 at Pittsburgh with Spencer Brown out due to injury.
"You want guys like Alec Anderson on your football team," Brady said. "Like the type of edge he plays with … so excited to get him back."
Anderson could compete for a starting role if Edwards and/or McGovern depart in free agency.
Buffalo also re-signed defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis.
