This past Sunday, Joe Brady pulled his shirt off in the Buffalo Bills locker room to celebrate his first win as an NFL head coach as the players around him went crazy with excitement for their leader.
Less than five years earlier, Brady had been fired by the Carolina Panthers.
It was a quick rise back to prominence by Brady, who had been viewed as a potential coaching phenom, only to hit a rough patch with the Panthers.
He worked his way back, and now he’s in charge of one of the Super Bowl favorites, working with a superstar quarterback in Josh Allen.
It’s looking more and more like that Carolina tenure will seem like a blip on the Brady career radar.
Joe Brady With Panthers
Brady was hired by the Panthers to be their offensive coordinator ahead of the 2020 season.
He hadn’t coached for a very long time before that.
Brady was first an offensive assistant with the New Orleans Saints beginning in 2017.
In 2019, he joined LSU as their passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach, and when Joe Burrow won the Heisman Trophy, Brady became a hot ticket.
That’s when the Panthers hired him, and he lasted less than two full seasons. They fired Brady on Dec. 5, 2021.
Brady was running an offense that wasn’t exactly high-powered to begin with.
His quarterbacks in 2020 were Teddy Bridgewater and P.J. Walker.
In 2021, the Panthers went through Sam Darnold, Cam Newton and Walker again.
It’s fair to wonder whether Brady was ready, and maybe the Panthers made the only move they felt they could at the time.
It just hasn’t worked out since them, because Brady has reclaimed his mojo.
Joe Brady Since Panthers
It didn’t take long for Brady to get a new job. About three months after the Panthers fired him, the Bills hired him as their quarterbacks coach.
A year-and-a-half later, Buffalo fired offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey and promoted Brady to the interim gig. He became the full-time offensive coordinator starting with the 2024 season.
The Bills put up numbers, and Allen won the MVP, and although Buffalo couldn’t quite get to a Super Bowl, it was clear that Brady had a strong relationship with Allen.
When the Bills fired Sean McDermott in January, it didn’t take long for them to stay in-house and promote Brady.
His first game coached was on Sunday, Sept. 13 in Houston against the potent Texans‘ defense. Brady is still calling plays, and despite struggles in recent years for Buffalo against the Texans, the Bills put on a show on Sunday offensively in a 36-31 win.
Brady’s overall coaching tenure will be judged on more than offense. Can he be the coach who ensures that a team with Allen at QB makes it to, and potentially wins, a Super Bowl? If he does that, he’ll be deemed a successful hire.
He has certainly bounced back from that firing in Carolina.
Panthers Fired Joe Brady — And Now He’s Taking Shirt Off For Bills