Buffalo Bills LT Dion Dawkins shares insight on the culture shift under head coach Joe Brady, comparing him to former coach Sean McDermott after a surprising offseason change.
When the Buffalo Bills fired Sean McDermott in January, it came as a surprise to many. McDermott is the winningest coach in Bills history and has taken the team to the playoffs in seven straight seasons.
But with all that regular-season success came a lack of postseason success.
After yet another heartbreaking playoff loss, the Bills made the decision to fire McDermott after nine seasons. Taking over was offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
In the aftermath of his firing, multiple players shared their thoughts, both positive and negative, about McDermott as a coach. But recently, one Bills star spoke about the comparisons between McDermott and Brady as coaches.
Appearing on Yahoo! Sports Inside Coverage show with Andrew Siciliano, left tackle Dion Dawkins was asked about Brady being the man in charge.
"...it's a vibe that our locker room has and needs that he can connect with so many different players," Dawkins said.
"He's been through it. He understands lingo. He understands he’s like one of us. So I would say that he is just a dope, cool dude from Florida that loves ball, and he’ll shoot you straight."
Dawkins said that Brady is the type of coach who'll tell you what you need to do as a player, but also be able to relax, laugh, and tell a joke. When it comes to a player-coach relationship, he believes that it's important to have someone who can "turn it on and turn it off at any time."
While he made sure not to badmouth his former coach, Dawkins did drop something interesting about the environment under Brady compared to McDermott.
"Joe Brady is the guy the culture needs to shock the world," Dawkins said. "Their swag is just different. Like we’re not in military, like uniforms, like [McDermott], which is also a great way of coaching. It’s just a different course of your team."
How different remains to be seen as the team is getting underway with its offseason work. Voluntary work began on April 7, with OTAs and minicamps set to take place in May and June. After that, training camp is scheduled for late July.
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