At his first scouting combine as Bills head coach, Joe Brady embraces change
Things are different at this NFL scouting combine for Joe Brady. His promotion from Bills offensive coordinator to head coach last month has brought with it some new opportunities.
The annual NFL scouting combine is nothing new to Joe Brady.
The Buffalo Bills’ head coach has been here several times. He knows the routines. He's aware the cocktail sauce for the legendary shrimp cocktail at St. Elmo will clear your sinuses. He knows the High Velocity sports bar inside the J.W. Marriott will inevitably be a place to meet with his counterparts throughout the league.
Work in the NFL long enough, and those things become routine this time of year. However, now things are different for Brady. His promotion from offensive coordinator to head coach last month has brought with it some new opportunities.
“It's unique because I'm getting to sit in these defensive meetings,” Brady said Tuesday. “That's what's been a lot of fun is I understand what it's like going against these defensive backs, going against these defensive ends, well now, getting to sit in the formal interviews and see kind of what makes them tick, the personalities, I'm so used to offensive line personalities and now I'm getting to see the defensive line personalities in these interviews.”
Bills head coach Joe Brady speaks during a news conference at the NFL scouting combine on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
Michael Conroy, Associated Press
One of the other new things for Brady on Tuesday was actually talking to the media at the combine. That’s reserved for general managers and head coaches throughout the league, meaning Brady had a place behind podium No. 7 inside the cavernous Indianapolis Convention Center. No longer will Brady be asked questions specific to running the Bills' offense. Now, he'll face questions on any number of topics.
One that emerged from his first session with national reporters present is how it's year one for the Bills under his leadership. He made that point on more than one occasion.
While that’s true, it’s different than year one for many NFL teams that make a change at head coach. Usually, that’s done because a team has struggled to win enough games. The Bills, of course, have done a lot of winning under the last nine years under Sean McDermott, just not enough of it when it counts in the postseason.
For a franchise that has made it to the divisional round of the playoffs the past six years, Brady does not have the luxury of a long runway. He’ll be expected to win – big – right away.
“When I say year one, I understand it's year one, but we're not coming in with a rebuild,” Brady said. “It's more of, it's year one in the sense of, 'Our day to day is not going to be the same.' Just because of how we did things before isn't going to be how we're doing it. I mean this in complete respect, it's not just Sean McDermott out, Joe Brady in and we're just business as usual.”
Sitting in the big chair is new for Brady, and it comes with other significant changes. While he’s worked with a lot of people in the organization, he’s not previously been tasked with knowing how everything works. He is now.
That’s true beyond just the coaching staff. He has different obligations now – from dealing with the media to how he works with the business side of the team.
“Whether they were thinking it or not, I'm sure there were some people in the building who were like, ‘Well, we know Joe,’” Brady said. “Downstairs, business, whatever it is, ‘Well at least we know what we're expecting.’ It's like, look, that's not the case. There is going to be differences and changes, daily schedule, planning, all that stuff.”
One of Brady’s first priorities as head coach is to communicate that just because something has been done a certain way in the past doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to continue to be done that way in the future.
In that regard, it’s similar to the approach the Bills took to the coaching search. One of Brandon Beane’s goals as the newly appointed president of football operations was to evaluate every prospect on a level playing field, whether they were completely new to the organization or, like Brady, a known commodity.
A big reason why Brady got the job was selling the search committee on his vision for the franchise moving forward. That comes with changes big and small. When players report back for the start of voluntary offseason activities in early April, it’s fair to expect there will be new signage in the building. Meeting rooms will be set up differently. Lunch time might be new. Practice routines will be altered.
“I think his thing is like, ‘Let's walk in like this is a fresh, new approach for how we want to build this team, for how we want to do our day,’” Beane said. “I'm sure there will be some nuances in his scheduling. It's not just going to be all right, one person in, one person out and we do everything the same.”