Sean McDermott extolls 'big-time' hire of O-line coach Aaron Kromer

The Bills’ head coach aims to keep mostly good things going with the in-house promotions of Ken Dorsey to offensive coordinator and Matthew Smiley to special teams coordinator.

Yet, McDermott also wasn’t bashful about his excitement over one of the key new additions to his staff – offensive line coach Aaron Kromer.

“I feel so good about Aaron in terms of the level that he's coached at as an offensive line coach,” McDermott said at the NFL scouting combine. “You know, a big, big emphasis for us is protecting our quarterback. And you guys know why. I don't need to tell you why. So making a big-time hire at that position was important for me this offseason, so that those players are developing the right way. And I know Aaron's had a track record of developing players at that position. And I expect that he'll do a good job for us.”

You don’t hear the even-keeled McDermott labeling too many people “big time.”

Kromer, 54, was hired to replace Bobby Johnson, who left to join Brian Daboll with the New York Giants. Kromer brings 20 years of NFL experience to the Bills and has worked with some revered offensive line coaches, including Bill Callahan while with the Oakland Raiders and Bill Muir while with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Kromer also counts legendary late line coach Howard Mudd, longtime aide with Indianapolis, as a mentor.

McDermott hired Kromer, despite never working with him before.

“When you're in the league long enough – and I’m not as young as I used to be – you have a chance to track people and also play or coach against other coaches, in this case,” McDermott said. “So people develop reputations of doing things well when their players are playing at a high level. So that's kind of how it came to be.”

Kromer coached in Buffalo in 2015 and ’16 under head coach Rex Ryan and coordinator Greg Roman. The Bills had a varied run attack those years, but used a lot of gap-scheme runs, with guard Richie Incognito pulling and leading the way.

Kromer spent 2018 to ’20 working for the Los Angeles Rams under Sean McVay, who runs a scheme based heavily on outside zone runs.

The Bills did a little of everything under Daboll. They used a lot of inside zones. But the Bills also had success, especially late in the season, running Devin Singletary on toss-crack plays and pin-and-pull runs to the outside.

McDermott indicated Kromer’s hiring doesn’t necessarily mean a greater shift to outside zones. The Bills will play to the strength of their linemen – and do what’s best for quarterback Josh Allen.

“I like his background in both, really,” McDermott said of zone and man blocking schemes. “And that was also a draw to me because I like to be able to do what our players do best. And then, philosophically, make sure we're doing what's best for our quarterback and then also what's evolving in the game. So the inability to see it through a two-dimensional lens was not what I was looking for.”

Added McDermott: “What I want to do is play well up front, and I want to protect our quarterback. We had an opportunity to land Coach Kromer, and we were able to strike and do that, and that's a big piece to developing that position, right? It's having the right guy in the room to do that.”

Asked if the addition of Kromer hinged on Johnson leaving for the Giants, McDermott said: “I'm not going to get into one guy versus the other. I'm just happy for Bobby. I'm happy for us to get a chance to add a coach like Aaron Kromer.”

Tuesday was McDermott’s first chance to comment publicly on all of the changes to his coaching staff. The elevation of Dorsey to replace Daboll was the biggest.

“More than anything, I wanted Josh to be comfortable,” McDermott said. “And having Josh's approval on that, I think, is big. You try and get a feel for the landscape of the NFL, and where things like this take a turn for the worse. And wanting to do it the right way was big for me and Brandon. And so Josh being involved in this decision, I think, gives him some ownership and also trying to get us to continue to get him comfortable, or keep him comfortable, but also growing our system from where it's been.”

“Sean and I have known him for a long time,” general manager Brandon Beane said of Dorsey. “We had that camaraderie going in. We definitely interviewed some other guys and got some different perspectives. But, in the end, being able to keep so many things the same for Josh. We’ve talked about it before, part of our plan when we got started was continuity for Josh, from the coaching staff, the organization, the plays, the protections. Even though we’ve got a new O-line coach, we don’t have to change all the protections. He (Kromer) is coming in to kind of learn our system. The more we can keep the same for Josh, the easier it will be to assimilate. Ken’s going to have his own nuances, everybody does, to how they do things. But a lot will be the same.”

Smiley went from assistant special teams coach to coordinator with Heath Farwell’s departure to Jacksonville. Jim Salgado was promoted from nickel coach to safeties coach.

“Happy for Heath, he's found a situation that worked for him,” McDermott said. “You want to be able to hire, develop, just like we do on the field, and then promote from within. And with that, Smiley, Ken Dorsey, Jimmy Salgado, to name another one, I think all three of those coaches have done a phenomenal job and earned those promotions. And that's the way you want it to be.”

Smiley has been on McDermott’s staff since 2017.

“The players respect him, and I look forward to what he's going to do with that unit, moving forward,” McDermott said. “He's been an assistant through his whole career, but he's so respected around the league. When we promoted Matt, the outpouring of support for him and the other special teams coaches that were out there were just happy to see him finally get a shot because they know how he's worked, how supportive he was and being a team player with Heath. We brought in Heath, who had less experience and put him over the top of Matt, so that's not easy. But, to me, it speaks to who Matt is as a person, who he is as a team player, and he learned through that.”