Bills hire Broncos assistant head coach Jim Leonhard as defensive coordinator

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A new-look Buffalo Bills coaching staff continues to take shape with another significant addition by rookie head coach Joe Brady.

The Buffalo Bills are hiring Denver Broncos assistant head coach/defensive pass game coordinator Jim Leonhard to be their new defensive coordinator, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Saturday morning.

Buffalo has since announced Leonhard’s hiring.

Leonhard joins new offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr., hired on Friday, as Brady’s top two coaching lieutenants.

The 43-year-old former longtime NFL defensive back is a quick riser in the coaching world, having joined the Broncos staff as a defensive backs coach/pass game coordinator in 2024 before receiving an assistant head coach nod in 2025. A 10-year NFL player, Leonhard played four total seasons with the Bills, beginning in 2005 as an undrafted free-agent safety.

Having helped the Broncos’ march to the 2025 AFC Championship Game, that run included a Divisional Round overtime win over the Bills. Now, Leonhard is tasked with helping to fulfill Buffalo’s expectations of reaching the Super Bowl.

As Brady tackles his first season as an NFL head coach, Leonhard will take on an NFL DC role for the first time, replacing Bobby Babich, the team’s defensive coordinator the last two years, in title and also filling a vacancy left by former head coach Sean McDermott, who handled the team’s defensive play-calling duties for portions of his tenure.

Leonhard has valuable experience from his days at Wisconsin, where he served as the Badgers’ defensive coordinator from 2017-2022 and acted as the team’s interim head coach in his final year.

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