Sean McDermott Is Keeping His Options Open With Coaching, Media Roles

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The Bills somewhat surprisingly fired coach Sean McDermott after the 2025 season, leaving his options for the 2026 season wide open. It was believed McDermott would find another NFL coaching job, especially since 10 vacancies were open this offseason. However, the positions were filled and McDermott was passed by (or he turned down teams approaching him, like with the Buccaneers). His future in the league is now up in the air.

The 52-year-old doesn’t want to be done with coaching in the NFL forever by any means. He’s very open to returning to the sidelines sooner rather than later. He’s calling this year an “off year.”

“I love coaching,” McDermott said Wednesday on the Rich Eisen Show. “Love it. I think [I miss] just being a part of something bigger, being a part of a team. I’ve been—we all have been—parts of teams since we were this tall, and you get a chance to do that for a job. And then now, you’re in a year where, for myself, it’s a year off, right? But it’s also a year of opportunity, in a lot of ways, to grow and lean in on my family, as we already talked about. But I think more than anything, it’s just being a part of a team.”

McDermott noted that teams have reached out to him to potentially join in some capacity on the coaching staff, similarly to how Mike Vrabel and Robert Saleh helped out other teams before landing their next coaching positions. It sounds like McDermott really wants to take a year off.

“We’ve had some people reach out. I just think overall, I think to me, I never thought I’d entertain this, but taking a year to get some rest, to use it to really reflect and research. Yet, at the same time, build off of the success that we had in Buffalo,” McDermott told Eisen.

Would McDermott be open to transitioning to a media role, similarly to what Mike Tomlin will be doing? Tomlin stepped away from the Steelers after 18 seasons and decided not to put his hat in the ring for any coaching vacancies this year. Instead, Tomlin will be making his broadcasting debut with NBC this fall. It sounds like McDermott could be doing something similar.

“Looking into some,” McDermott said of a potential media role. “We’ve got some suitors and kind of trying to schedule it all out and see where it goes.”

Regardless of what 2026 has in store for McDermott, there’s a good chance he’ll make his return to coaching in ‘27.

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