ORCHARD PARK — New Buffalo Bills head coach Joe Brady is ready to make the first big addition to his coaching staff as reports Friday indicate he’s bringing in veteran Pete Carmichael Jr. to be his offensive coordinator.
“Pete is one of the smartest guys I have ever met. He is a football savant,” Brady said in a statement released by the team Saturday. “He was one of my mentors going back to my time in New Orleans. He has worked closely with a Hall of Fame coach in Sean Payton and a Hall of Fame quarterback in Drew Brees, both of whom I obviously have a ton of respect for.
“Pete is a great communicator and has no ego. One of the most important things about having Pete on staff is that I have full trust in his vision and his ability to run the meetings and installs, which will allow me to focus on my other duties as a head coach. We are excited to get him here in Buffalo.”
As Brady made clear, this is a move borne out of familiarity as Carmichael spent 15 seasons as Payton’s offensive coordinator in New Orleans, during which Brady spent two years under Carmichael as an offensive assistant in 2017 and 2018.
This is a move borne out of familiarity as Carmichael spent 15 seasons as Sean Payton’s offensive coordinator in New Orleans, during which Brady spent two years under Carmichael as an offensive assistant in 2017 and 2018.
The 54-year-old Carmichael has worked in the NFL for 26 consecutive seasons, dating back to 2000 when he broke into the league as a tight ends coach for the Browns. He then spent 2001 with the Commanders as an offensive assistant, and 2002-05 with the Chargers as an offensive assistant and quality control coach before Payton took over as head coach for the Saints and gave Carmichael his first big break in 2006.
He went to New Orleans as quarterback coach where he worked with Drew Brees, then added passing game coordinator to his duties in 2007 before taking over as the offensive coordinator in 2009, holding that job through 2023, the last two seasons with Dennis Allen having replaced Payton as head coach. Carmichael then reunited with Payton as a senior offensive assistant in 2024.
Brady turns to familiar voice to shape Bills offense
Payton has had a huge influence on Joe Brady’s coaching career, so it makes sense that he would tap into Carmichael because he had such a long tenure with Payton.
“Sean Payton has impacted me,” Brady said. “I got a master’s degree at Penn State, but I got a doctorate in New Orleans. Having an opportunity to sit in a room with a Hall of Fame coach, the way that he thinks, the way that he comes up with plays, the way that he designs, the way that he can scheme matchups and not just focus on other team’s weaknesses but finding out your strengths and how we can get them to that position. I was a coaching assistant, right? I was bottom of the barrel, sleeping at the office, loving life. But I got an opportunity to learn everything from him, and there’s no way in hell I’d be sitting in this chair right now if I didn’t get that opportunity to be his coaching assistant.”
Even though Brady confirmed Thursday that he will call plays on game day, he knows the value of having an offensive coordinator.
“So many people in the NFL are doing it,” Brady said of head coaches who call plays on one side of the ball or the other. “And the guys that I learned from, Sean Payton, he did it, and he does it at a high level for so many years. So I’ve seen it work. And so I know that it can be obviously done.”
Thursday, Brady was asked what he’d be looking for in an offensive coordinator.
“To me I think it’s important as we build our system is the offensive coordinator understanding the vision of what we want it to look like,” he said. “He needs to be able to be someone that can function and handle the room when I’m not in there. That understanding of what it needs to look like so that I can also be a head football coach, that’s important to me.
“The the big thing as I went through this process was identifying the personalities and the skill sets that I’m looking for in these roles and not necessarily worrying about some of the experience on some of that as well. I want to make sure that we’re getting good football coaches and not just guys that have been doing it for a while.”
With Carmichael, he gets the best of both worlds.
Of course, it certainly helped Carmichael that he had Drew Brees – who is expected to be named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame next week – as his quarterback for 12 of his years as the OC.
In those 12 Brees years from 2009 through 2020, the Saints finished top 11 in scoring in every season, including seven times when they were in the top three. In terms of total yards, the Saints ranked in the top 12 every year with seven seasons where they were either No. 1 or No. 2.
The highlight came in 2009 when Carmichael’s offense led the league in scoring and yards and the Saints won the Super Bowl.
Chase Daniel, who had a long NFL career as a backup quarterback and is now in the media, tweeted out his thoughts on the Carmichael hire: “I was with Joe Brady & Pete Carmichael in 2017 in the QB room. This is a fantastic hire. Expect a lot of Sean Payton influence in Bills offense, under center big play action to add to Josh Allen’s game.”
Sal Maiorana has covered the Buffalo Bills for more than four decades including 36 years as the full-time beat writer/columnist for the D&C. He has written numerous books about the history of the team, and he is also co-host of the BLEAV in Bills podcast/YouTube show. He can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com, and you can follow him on X @salmaiorana and on Bluesky @salmaiorana.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Joe Brady hires Pete Carmichael, one of his mentors, as Bills OC
Reporting by Sal Maiorana, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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