NFL Insider Urges Bills to Explore Trade for Proven Head Coach

With a Super Bowl-ready team, Albert Breer believes the Buffalo Bills need to explore the possibility of trading for a new coach.

Minnesota Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell looks on in the second quarter against the Detroit Lions. | Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

The Buffalo Bills have begun their search for their next head coach. After moving on from Sean McDermott, they've been linked to candidates such as Anthony Lynn, Joe Brady, Lou Anarumo, and Brian Daboll.

There will be plenty of other interviews, but Albert Breer doesn't think the Bills should be content with interviewing retread coaches or coordinators without head coaching experience. Instead, he believes they should be calling teams with proven coaches to see if they can swing a trade.

MORE: Brandon Beane outlines job requirements for Bills' next head coach

Breer compared it to Tony Dungy with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dungy rebuilt the franchise, but couldn't get his team to the Super Bowl, leading to a blockbuster move for Jon Gruden. That worked for the Bucs, who won their first championship in Gruden's first season with the team.

Bills Urged to Target Proven Head Coach

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan looks on in the first half against the Chicago Bears. | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

With a championship-caliber team led by Josh Allen, Breer believes the Bills should swing for the fences and call about coaches such as Kevin O'Connell of the Minnesota Vikings, Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams, and Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers.

"To me, it's like a tough sell if you're going to go with a first-year coordinator here. This is an incredibly attractive job. You have the best player in the sport and a chance to chase Super Bowls over the next three or four years. There's a lot of pressure because, when you're going into that spot, you can't, there's not going to be any grace period. And that's why if I'm them, I'm swinging. I'm calling teams with sitting head coaches and just seeing," Breer said.

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"I'm calling the Vikings and seeing, like, if I can get Kevin O'Connell out of there. I'm calling the Rams and Niners. No intention on those teams' part to trade Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan, but I'm calling anyway. I think that they've got this golden opportunity where if they're doing this again in four or five years, Josh Allen's clearly going to be on the back end of his career. To have this player at this stage of his career as a selling point to get a coach there, I think it's priceless, and they have to take full advantage of it."

Breer stated the 49ers and Rams would have no interest in trading away their coaches, but the same is likely true for O'Connell. There's not much incentive for the Vikings to move on from the coach who had them in the playoffs in two of his first four seasons with the franchise.

That said, the Bills would be far better with any of those three options than they would with the current list of candidates. For that reason, it would make sense to call.

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