Buffalo Brotherhood
Alumni making their mark with NFL’s Buffalo Bills
October 9, 2024
By
Nathan Warters
Sean McDermott ’98 settles into a leather chair emblazoned with the Buffalo Bills logo and engages a group of guests with a presidential charm not uncommon for a William & Mary alumnus. Personable and engaging, his appeal as a leader is clear. The Bills head coach gives off football CEO vibes more than hardened gridiron taskmaster, but anyone who knows him will attest he has few rivals in the toughness department.
Offseason workouts have begun in Bills minicamp, the unofficial kickoff to the 2024 season. McDermott appears relaxed and ready for the challenge that lies ahead. The stress of leading an NFL organization hasn’t shown yet. His years as a William & Mary undergrad, all-conference football player and later graduate assistant coach helped him develop the skills necessary for navigating the pressure cooker of NFL coaching, he says. It’s a role he relishes, especially as it relates to the impact it has on his alma mater.
“It means everything,” McDermott says of representing W&M in the NFL. “First and foremost, it’s a responsibility, and then secondly, it’s a platform to show other prospective students out there or other alums what you can accomplish if you work hard, that you can take what you learn at William & Mary and use it in whatever profession you decide to go into, and it can lead to great things.”
McDermott credits William & Mary for sharpening traits critical to his success in coaching, such as professionalism, resiliency, a strong work ethic and a collaborative spirit. He also sees these traits in Joe Brady ’13, DJ Mangas ’12 and Christian Taylor ’07, all former W&M players and coaches he hired to join his staff in recent years.
When McDermott searched for the right candidates, “I thought, what better place to look than William & Mary? Because you’re talking about people who have been challenged,” he says. “They know the academic rigors, the challenge of being a student-athlete on campus at William & Mary. If you just boil it down to good people who are smart and know the value of a hard day’s work, of work ethic, I think those are the traits that I was looking for.”
First came Brady, who rose to stardom as one of the architects of LSU’s record-breaking offense in 2019 before making the leap to the NFL as the Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator. He joined the Bills as a quarterbacks coach in 2022, was promoted to interim offensive coordinator with seven games to go in 2023 and was given the full-time job after the season.
Then came Mangas, a personable coaching vet who ascended to the role of offensive coordinator at college football’s highest subdivision before joining the Bills last season, and Taylor, an innovative assistant who orchestrated W&M’s potent offense during the Tribe’s run to the CAA championship and NCAA quarterfinals in 2022 before taking a position as Buffalo’s defensive quality control coach in February.
“Their careers evolved over the years with the different stops they made, and they became more well-rounded as they diversified their experiences,” McDermott says. “They’re smart, hardworking people of good character, and they’re loyal. Those are the ingredients, the character traits, that kept coming back to me.”
Like McDermott, all three assistants studied in the laboratory of legendary W&M coach Jimmye Laycock ’70, P ’14, who led the Tribe to unprecedented success while sending many players to the NFL. Laycock’s legacy goes well beyond his 249 wins and 10 NCAA playoff appearances. His coaching tree is vast, with many of his acolytes in influential positions at the highest level of football.
“To me, it sends out a very, very strong message that we must have done something right here,” says Laycock, who retired in 2018 but still calls Williamsburg home. “I’ve got Coach of the Year awards; I’ve got plaques; but you look at the guys who came through the program and what they have accomplished in coaching and other fields; that’s the reward. I’m extremely proud of what these guys have done.”
McDermott is one of two William & Mary alumni in NFL head coaching positions, along with former Tribe teammate Mike Tomlin ’95, L.H.D. ’08, who led the Pittsburgh Steelers to a Super Bowl win after the 2008 season and also won a championship as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Moreover, New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll and Washington Commanders head coach Dan Quinn started their careers on Laycock’s staff at W&M — Daboll as a volunteer assistant in 1997 and Quinn as defensive line coach in 1994.
In addition to the head coaches, there are six William & Mary alumni serving as NFL assistants and four working in NFL scouting departments, including Cincinnati Bengals Scouting Director Mike Potts ’08.
The Bills lead the way with four alumni on their staff. They opened the 2024 season at home on Sept. 8 against the Arizona Cardinals, who also have strong ties to W&M with cornerbacks coach Ryan Smith ’14 and pro scout Andrew Caskin ’18.
“We’re a Football Championship Subdivision program with 63 scholarships [as opposed to the 85 scholarships afforded higher-tiered college teams], and we’ve got two NFL head coaches, and it doesn’t stop there,” Mangas says of W&M. “It’s not just a coincidence.
“William & Mary is not known to be a football school. It’s known to be a great academic school that has great sports programs, too. … It speaks to the people. It speaks to the culture of the school. It speaks to all the people within the community who have done so much to help the football program and help the school grow and become what it’s become.”
‘He’s as Tough as They Come’
McDermott slathers on some sunscreen, pulls a large-brimmed bucket hat over his shaved head and makes his way to the practice field on an especially hot June day in western New York. He moves over to the four-man sled, where he surveys his defensive linemen jabbing at each padded station.
Later, he finds a spot to observe and evaluate a group of massive players as they slap and spin around a series of wobbly heavy bags. McDermott has developed into a football commander-in-chief during his 25 years in the NFL, with expertise in every aspect of the game, yet defense is his bread and butter.
He went from a walk-on defensive back at W&M to a two-year starter, team captain and all-conference performer. During his time with the Tribe, he accumulated 322 tackles, 20 passes defended and four interceptions while earning Academic All-Conference honors in each of his final two seasons.
The son of a football coach, McDermott knew he was headed toward a similar path while playing at W&M. Often referred to by Laycock as a coach on the field, McDermott made it official the year after he graduated by joining the Tribe’s staff as a graduate assistant.
“He was always very tough but very intelligent, very smart, very analytical about football, and he took it very seriously,” Laycock says. “In fact, he played safety and basically ran the defense for us.
“I kept him a year after he finished playing because I just felt like he was a very mature young man, a very focused young man and very sure that he wanted to go into coaching, and he understood what that would entail. Some people want to go into coaching because they don’t want to stop being associated with football. He wanted to go into coaching for the right reasons.”
McDermott made the jump to the NFL in 1999 by taking a scouting position with the Philadelphia Eagles, a dream job for a kid who grew up on the outskirts of Philly, and he moved up the ranks of the defensive staff, advancing from a quality control job to a position coach to coordinator over the span of a decade.
McDermott’s ascent in coaching wasn’t completely free of turbulence. He was relieved of his duties with the Eagles after the 2010 season, his first spell of adversity during an otherwise surging career, but he landed on his feet when he was hired as the defensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers in 2011. He coached Carolina’s defense for six seasons before being hired as the 20th head coach of the Buffalo Bills.
The Bills went 78-47 with six playoff appearances and four AFC East championships in McDermott’s first seven seasons as head coach. During his inaugural year at the helm in 2017, the team broke an 18-year postseason drought, and in 2021, McDermott led Buffalo to its first playoff wins in a quarter century.
Only Marv Levy has more wins (123) on the Buffalo Bills sideline than McDermott. Levy, who also coached William & Mary from 1964 to 1968 before embarking on a Pro Football Hall of Fame coaching career, led Buffalo to four straight Super Bowls in the 1990s with standout players like safety Mark Kelso ’85 and kicker Steve Christie ’90, both William & Mary alumni.
In the 19 years between Levy’s final season in 1997 and McDermott’s first year in 2017, the Bills employed nine different head coaches and posted a 133-173 record with only two playoff appearances, underscoring just how difficult it is to win in the NFL and how impressive McDermott’s success has been.
“I would say that trying to win a game on Sunday is a challenge. It’s an incredibly big challenge,” McDermott says. “Life in the NFL itself is a challenge. I think people think that professional sports is easy, and it is certainly nice in a lot of ways, but it's the best of the best.”
McDermott is praised for his steadfast approach. When the Bills were 6-6 last season and seemingly on the verge of missing the playoffs, he didn’t take a torch to what he was doing. Sure, he made some adjustments — one of which was to promote Brady to interim offensive coordinator — but he kept the players focused on what was important.
“I think he does a great job with perspective,” says defensive end Greg Rousseau. “He knows what we’ve built here is special, and you’ve just got to keep pushing and do the little things better. When all that stuff was coming out last year and everybody was talking about how we were 6-6, he didn’t even blink. He’s just one of those guys, man. He’s as tough as they come.”
A Setback for a Major Comeback
Buffalo’s 2023 season ended with a 27-24 home loss in the divisional playoffs to the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. One week later, the Bills announced they were promoting Brady to full-time offensive coordinator. Under Brady’s guidance, the Bills had seen an uptick in scoring and total yards per game, while showing much more balance between the pass and run. Moreover, the team cut down on its turnovers significantly.
In Buffalo, Brady has had an opportunity to revitalize his career after enduring a couple of lean years as offensive coordinator with the Carolina Panthers. Injuries to star players and a lack of continuity in the quarterback position made it difficult for Brady to get Carolina’s offense untracked, and he was relieved of his duties 12 games into the 2021 season.
McDermott brought in Brady the next year to work with the Bills quarterbacks, led by perennial MVP candidate Josh Allen.
“Coach McDermott giving me an opportunity here to see how he runs an organization, how he does things; it’s a different way for me,” says Brady, who was a wide receiver and special teams contributor during his playing days with the Tribe.
“Hearing and seeing how he makes a decision and how calm he is, it’s clear he does such a great job of being open. We’ve been through a lot of things here in our time in Buffalo, and seeing how leaders should respond and how they should act has been great for me.”
McDermott’s leadership was never more important than it was on Jan. 2, 2023, when one of his players, defensive back Damar Hamlin, suffered a cardiac arrest on the field during a Monday Night Football game.
McDermott helped steady his team during the harrowing time it took emergency medical technicians to save Hamlin’s life and in the difficult moments afterward.
“His vulnerability has been huge for us,” former Buffalo center Mitch Morse told the Associated Press after the incident. “This sport at times can be such a macho, tough-man thing, and I think when you look at this team room, no one had any macho left to give. We were all just trying to process this together, and I think [McDermott] was such a good figure to kind of see how he was coping with it, his vulnerability, his emotions at times. … He kind of gave us the opportunity to just let our guard down.”
McDermott says he drew strength from the core values instilled in him by his family.
“I had an older brother who was a leader to me and a role model, and I think that love that we had in our house on a daily basis is what shined through in those moments around Damar’s situation, just being real and vulnerable and authentic,” says McDermott, who earlier this year was presented the Principled Achievement Award for exemplary leadership from William & Mary’s Raymond A. Mason School of Business.
“I think that was important in those moments, and nowhere in the preparation as a head coach do you come across the textbook for that situation. What I've learned as a leader is, you tell me what the situation is, and I'll tell you what type of leader I have to be, because it's got to fit the situation. You do what you have to do, and you try and do it to the best of your ability, and that's all that I did in that situation.”
Brady and McDermott aren’t only bound by their William & Mary ties. Their solidarity also comes from shared experiences early in their careers.
Brady established a reputation as one of the bright young stars of the coaching profession while working as a passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach with LSU’s national championship team in 2019. He helped shape an offense that turned out future NFL stars like quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receivers Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase, and he was feted with the Broyles Award as college football’s top assistant coach.
His rapid rise stalled, however, with the Carolina Panthers, an organization that has experienced only one playoff appearance since making the Super Bowl in 2015.
For ages, the NFL has provided tough lessons for young coaches. In Buffalo, Brady has found a mentor in McDermott who can relate.
“During my climb to the head coaching position, I was let go as a defensive coordinator in Philadelphia,” McDermott says. “I think you learn a lot from that setback, and it can set you up for a comeback if handled the right way. I made a vow to myself that I was going to handle it the right way and learn from it, and that’s where I see a lot of Joe in myself. His career has unfolded in a similar fashion, and I think his reset since coming to Buffalo will afford him an opportunity to be a great coach moving forward, but also a great head coach.”
Big Transitions
The epicenter of activity a few hours earlier, the hull of the Bills indoor practice facility is now mostly quiet, save for a group of linebackers communicating during a walk-through and the laughter of civilians playing a pickup game in one of the end zones.
Practice has been over for some time, but Mangas and Taylor don’t resurface from their offices until they’ve completed their post-practice task lists. Running scout teams, breaking down film, analytics — it’s all part and parcel of being a quality control coach in the NFL.
Both left college coordinator positions to join the Bills, sacrificing bigger titles to get their feet in the door of the NFL. Taylor led the Tribe to new heights as its offensive coordinator from 2020 to 2023 after previous stints directing the offenses at San Diego and Illinois Wesleyan. Mangas, who served as W&M’s offensive coordinator from 2017 to 2018, was leading the offense at the University of Buffalo last season when he got the call to join the Bills staff.
“The transition has been great,” says Mangas, who in February was elevated to his offensive quality control position. “They’ve made it easy. Coach McDermott has done such a great job, in my opinion, with the culture here.”
Taylor worked as an offensive coach during his first 16 years in the profession, starting in 2008 as Laycock’s tight ends coach at W&M, so his new role on the defensive staff has been a significant change. His experience as an offensive tactician is valuable on the defensive side, as he helps make sense of a multitude of schemes and concepts employed by the opponent.
“This has put me out of my comfort zone in a way, being on the defensive side of the ball,” Taylor says. “I’ve probably learned more in these past few months than I ever have since my first year coaching. I’m very appreciative of the opportunity to expand my horizons to make me a better coach.”
The stakes are higher now than in 2009 when Brady, Mangas and Taylor were all together for the same year at William & Mary — Taylor as the quarterbacks coach and the other two as players. They remain grounded by their Tribe roots, however.
“We’re living our dreams together at this level, working for a guy that we aspire to be,” says Brady, who uses the word “brotherhood” to describe the quartet. “We all understand where we came from and where we started. Getting to do it all together is very special.”
The William & Mary way shines through in many industries and professions. The university known admirably as the Alma Mater of the Nation also has a proud distinction as an NFL coaching factory. McDermott and Tomlin currently hold the big office, but the likes of Brady, Mangas and Taylor could follow.
Penn State earned a reputation as “Linebacker U” when it was producing stars at the position year after year, and the University of Southern California was called “Tailback U” for its bevy of great rushers. William & Mary, also the proud alma mater of Jill Ellis ’88, L.H.D. ’16, P ’27, who led the U.S. Women’s National Team to two FIFA World Cup soccer championships, certainly has a case for the title of “Coaching U.”
“I think one of the best things about William & Mary, and there are a lot of them, is you are surrounding yourself with highly motivated people that want to do big things with their lives,” Taylor says.
Similarly, McDermott surrounded himself with fellow William & Mary alumni to help the Bills accomplish big things in 2024. That means more than just winning on Sundays, the head coach says.
“Nobody wants to be the best more than I do, but bigger than that is the mark that we make and the platform that I’ve been given to use the right way to help others and for them to see what it looks like, for a William & Mary student to see me and say, ‘I can do that; I can become the top in my profession and go about it the right way,’” McDermott says. “If they can say that Sean McDermott went about it the right way, that’s good enough for me.”