The Buffalo Bills have stayed in house to find their next offensive coordinator.
The team announced Tuesday that it has promoted quarterbacks coach Ken Dorsey to the position. Dorsey replaces Brian Daboll, the West Seneca product who left the team last week to become head coach of the New York Giants.
In promoting Dorsey, the Bills made the expected choice. Dorsey has been with the team for the past three seasons, providing continuity for an offense that has flourished, particularly over the past two years. Perhaps most importantly, he got a huge endorsement last week from starting quarterback Josh Allen.
"I do know there's a guy in this building that I'm a huge advocate for,” Allen said at his end-of-season news conference. “I think when he got here three years ago, my career definitely changed in terms of how I viewed the game of football. … Just the way he approaches the game, he's competitive, he's smart. You know, he works his (butt) off. I appreciate what he's done for me over the course of my career so far.”
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There were multiple reports Daboll wanted to bring Dorsey with him to the Giants, but instead, he'll stay in Buffalo to become the offensive play-caller for the first time in his career. It looks to be a wise career choice.
Allen has established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and if Dorsey can keep the offense functioning at a high level, he likely will find himself as a hot head-coaching candidate, similar to how Daboll was viewed the past couple of years before landing the Giants’ job.
Dorsey, 40, is entering his ninth NFL coaching season. Prior to coming to the Bills, he served as the Carolina Panthers’ quarterbacks coach from 2013-17. In 2015, Panthers quarterback Cam Newton was named NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year during a year that ended with Carolina’s loss in the Super Bowl.
Dorsey had a decorated college career, going 38-2 as a starter for the University of Miami from 1999-2002, winning a national championship in 2001 and leaving as the winningest quarterback in school history.
“He’ll never let me forget that,” Allen joked last week. “He says it all the time.”
Allen has made huge strides in the time that Dorsey has been on staff. He finished second in the NFL MVP voting in 2020 and backed that up with a comparable statistical season in 2021. He caught fire in the postseason, completing 77.4% of his passes and throwing for nine touchdowns and no interceptions before the Bills were eliminated in heartbreaking fashion by the Chiefs in the divisional round.
The day after that loss, Allen confirmed he’d like to be clued in on the search for a new offensive coordinator, should Daboll depart.
“I think every quarterback would love to be a part of that process,” he said. “It's not my job, it's not my decision to make that, but again, I trust the guys in this locker room, I trust the coaches on this staff. Whoever it may be – it's not up to me – but as a quarterback, as a competitor, you definitely want to feel like you have some sort of say in it. Whether it's taken or not, it's not up to me.”
Speaking a couple of days later, Bills General Manager Brandon Beane said the team has been fortunate that Allen has had just one offensive coordinator to this point in his career, a sign that it valued continuity and a clue that Dorsey would be a leading candidate.
“You see young quarterbacks struggle that have to go through multiple coordinators. So that was one of the things that we put down – stability in the offensive system and the coaches around him,” Beane said. “So it’s been a great four years and three of those years Ken Dorsey has been right there, (assistant quarterbacks coach) Shea Tierney, we’ve had a great group. Even Davis Webb in his own way, he’s like a player-coach for us. But Josh, definitely value his opinion. We have a great relationship.
“If Brian leaves, we’d be silly not to get Josh’s opinion and, listen, we know what he thinks of Ken Dorsey, it’s very high.
“That matters to us. But we definitely have to do our due diligence.”
As part of the league’s Rooney Rule, which exists to improve diversity in hiring, NFL teams with a vacancy at coordinator, head coach or general manager are required to interview at least two external minority candidates. It was reported Monday that Ravens wide receivers coach Tee Martin and Raiders wide receivers coach Edgar Bennett would interview with the Bills.
Dorsey, though, was always the betting favorite. The Bills have finished in the top five in the NFL in yards gained and points scored in each of the past two seasons, so keeping Allen happy by maintaining as much coaching continuity as possible makes plenty of sense.
“You want to be able to promote from within, just like in any business, that's where you get your return on investment,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said last week. “That's where you try and foster morale and camaraderie again and again, just continue to invest in the people we have in our building. … They've got to show you that they have what it takes and will put in the time and then you'd love to be able to do that in every situation. So, we try and do that as much as you can.”
The early returns from Bills players have been positive.
“The ‘Dorse’ energy is unmatched on the sideline,” tweeted receiver Isaiah McKenzie, a pending unrestricted free agent.
“Love to see it,” Bills receiver Tanner Gentry said in a tweet.
The Bills now have a vacancy at quarterbacks coach and at offensive line coach, after Bobby Johnson left the team Monday to take the same job with the Giants.
Tierney is still with the team, although he’s close with Daboll, so it’s possible he could also make the move downstate.
