Bills hiring Broncos’ Pete Carmichael Jr. as offensive coordinator: Source
Carmichael previously served as the Broncos' senior offensive assistant to current head coach Sean Payton.
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Pete Carmichael overlapped with new Bills coach Joe Brady for two seasons in New Orleans under Sean Payton.
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The overhaul of the Buffalo Bills coaching staff under new head coach Joe Brady has officially begun, and their first order of business was to lock in someone who could help Brady run the Bills’ new offense.
The Bills have agreed to terms with Pete Carmichael Jr. to become the new offensive coordinator, a league source confirmed Friday. NFL Network first reported the news.
It is one of the three biggest hires the Bills need to make as they shape their new staff under Brady, with defensive coordinator and special teams coach positions still needing to be filled. Carmichael will join the Bills after spending the last two seasons with the Denver Broncos, where he served as the Broncos’ senior offensive assistant to current head coach Sean Payton.
Carmichael joins forces with Brady, but it’s not the first time they’ve been on the same staff. Carmichael was the offensive coordinator in New Orleans when Brady got his NFL start with the Saints in 2017 as an offensive assistant, working under Payton, the Saints’ then-head coach. Brady remained with the Saints in that role through the 2018 season before moving on to LSU in 2019.
Carmichael served as Payton’s offensive coordinator in New Orleans for 13 seasons and will now handle the same role for Brady in Buffalo.
In Brady’s introductory news conference on Thursday, he mentioned Payton’s influence on his career several times, an impact that could be significant in how the Bills operate moving forward.
“I was a coaching assistant [in New Orleans], right? I was bottom of the barrel, sleeping at the office, loving life, but I got an opportunity to learn everything from him,” Brady said. “And there’s no way in hell I’d be sitting in this chair right now if I didn’t get that opportunity to be his coaching assistant.”
Payton discussed the Bills’ hiring Brady this week.
“I hired him right out of college. Proud of him,” Payton said. ” You want to see guys that come in and work, that are a part of your staff, you want to see them have success, not the other way around.”
Brady, as Payton did in New Orleans, will call the offensive plays while maintaining all the other responsibilities that come with being a head coach. Brady mentioned wanting to have an extensive presence in the defensive meeting rooms, which put an overall importance on who he hired.
“I think the biggest thing is making sure that I’m surrounding myself with the right people that, hey, I can’t be in the offensive room on every single step and I’m not the offensive head coach, I’m the head coach,” Brady said Thursday. “It’s important when I put together this staff that I put together guys that understand the vision that I am looking for with different ideas. I’m putting it together, so that I don’t live and do everything like I did as the offensive coordinator, because I’m not the offense coordinator anymore. ”
Given Brady’s history and trust level with Carmichael, and how Carmichael did the same for Payton all those seasons in New Orleans, it’s an ideal pairing for the Bills’ new head coach.
In addition to the offensive coordinator role, a team source also confirms that the Bills have agreed to terms with Pat Meyer to be their new offensive line coach. Meyer was most recently with the Steelers, where he was the team’s offensive line coach for the last four seasons.
Like Carmichael, Brady has experience with Meyer, though not in New Orleans. When Brady was the offensive coordinator with the Carolina Panthers in 2020 and 2021, Meyer was the offensive line coach.
This will actually be Meyer’s second stint with the Bills. He was part of Rex Ryan’s Buffalo staff in 2015 and 2016, serving as an offensive assistant. Meyer will take over for Aaron Kromer, who retired at the end of the 2025 season.
Brady mentioned Thursday that they would retain some of the coaching staff who worked under the previous head coach, Sean McDermott, but declined to name anyone specifically.