2017 Buffalo Bills season
| 2017 Buffalo Bills season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Sean McDermott |
| Owner | Terry and Kim Pegula |
| Home field | New Era Field |
| Uniform | |
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The 2017 Buffalo Bills season will be the franchise’s 58th overall season as a football team, 48th in the National Football League, third full under the ownership of Terry and Kim Pegula (they became owners partly through the 2014 season) and first under head coach Sean McDermott. The Bills hope to improve on their 7-9 record from 2016, the team’s first since 2008, while also hoping to make the playoffs for the first time since 1999, which, if successful, would snap the longest active drought among all four North American major professional sports leagues. The team enters the post-NFL Draft portion of the offseason looking for a new general manager after the Pegulas fired Doug Whaley on April 30, 2017. With the Pegulas having already fired head coach Rex Ryan on December 27, 2016 after the team’s playoff drought was extended to 17 seasons with the 34-31 overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins, the Bills now join their hockey counterparts, the Buffalo Sabres, in looking for a new general manager after the Pegulas cleaned house firing that team’s general manager Tim Murray and head coach Dan Bylsma ten days earlier.
Notes
All undrafted free agents were signed after the 2017 NFL draft concluded on April 29 unless otherwise noted.
On January 11, 2017, a week and a half after the 2016 season ended, it was reported that the Bills had hired former Philadelphia Eagles and Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott to serve as the team’s 20th head coach in franchise history. On January 13, 2017, it was reported that the team had hired three new coaches to its staff—former Minnesota Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier as defensive coordinator, former San Diego Chargers linebackers coach Bob Babich and former Baltimore Ravens offensive line coach Juan Castillo to the same respective positions. On January 14, 2017, it was reported that the team had hired former Los Angeles Rams defensive line coach Mike Waufle to the same position. On January 17, 2017, it was reported that the team had hired former Rams offensive coordinator Rob Boras as tight ends coach. On January 18, 2017, it was reported that the team had hired former Jacksonville Jaguars running backs coach Kelly Skipper to the same position. On January 19, 2017, it was reported that the team had hired former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Rick Dennison to the same position. On January 20, 2017, it was reported that the team had hired former Chargers assistant offensive line coach Andrew Dees to the same position (Dees previously served as assistant offensive line coach to then-head coach Chan Gailey during the 2012 season). On January 24, 2017, it was reported that the team had hired former Kansas City Chiefs wide receivers coach David Culley as quarterbacks coach. On January 31, 2017, it was reported that aside from special teams coordinator Danny Crossman, who has been with the team since 2013, 14 other coaches who were part of former head coach Rex Ryan’s 2016 staff would not be retained-- Bobby April III, John Blake, Aaron Kromer, David Lee, D’Anton Lynn, Tim McDonald, Pat Meyer, Chris Palmer, Ed Reed, Eric Smith, Kathryn Smith (who was the first full-time female coach in NFL history), Dennis Thurman, Jason Vrable and Jeff Weeks. On February 2, 2017, it was reported that the team had hired five more coaches to its staff-- former East Carolina University wide receivers coach Phil McGeoghan to the same position, former Ravens defensive staff assistant John Egorugwu as defensive quality control coach, former Broncos assistant wide receivers coach Marc Lubick as offensive quality control/assistant quarterbacks coach, former Jaguars assistant special teams coach Matt Smiley to the same position and former University of Nevada defensive line coach and co-defensive coordinator Bill Teerlinck as assistant defensive line coach. On February 7, 2017, it was reported that the team had hired two more coaches to its staff-- former Tampa Bay Buccaneers cornerbacks coach Gill Byrd as defensive backs coach and former Cleveland Browns assistant secondary coach Bobby Babich as assistant defensive backs coach. On March 31, 2017, it was reported that the team had dismissed longtime director of player engagement Paul Lancaster, his assistant and team chaplain James Trapp, athletic trainer Greg McMillen and strength-and-conditioning assistant/nutritionist and dietician Dan Liburd. On April 3, 2017, it was reported that the team had hired four more coaches to its staff-- player engagement and alumni director Marlon Kerner, assistant strength and conditioning coach Will Greenberg, assistant athletic trainer Denny Kellington and team chaplain Len Vanden Bos. On April 30, 2017, less than 24 hours after a report came out about a potential front office shake-up, it was reported that after seven years with the organization, the last four as general manager, the team had dismissed Doug Whaley after a 30-34 record (his only winning season as general manager-- if you can call a 9-7 record without a playoff appearance a winning season-- was 2014, the season the Pegulas became owners following the death of longtime owner Ralph Wilson), along with practically the entire player personnel department, including special assistants Ron Hughes and Buddy Nix-- who Whaley served as assistant general manager under until three weeks after the 2013 NFL draft, when Nix, who had been with the team since just before the end of the 2009 season and was instrumental in bringing in Chan Gailey and Doug Marrone as the team’s 16th and 17th respective head coaches in franchise history, resigned and Whaley was promoted-- player personnel director Jim Monos, pro personnel director Rob Hanrahan and player personnel advisor Kelvin Fisher, among others.
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