One of the weirdest stories in recent days was that Philip Rivers got interviewed by the Buffalo Bills to become their head coach. This was a surprise as the former quarterback was playing NFL football in early January. However, he has now sent a strong message to Josh Allen and company.
Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported that Rivers has withdrawn his name from consideration and has informed the Bills so. Rivers was interviewed last week following the firing of Sean McDermott.
However, Rivers is not keen on joining the team. While the reasons haven’t been disclosed as of yet, this means Rivers won’t become the third person to land an NFL head coaching job without any pro or NCAA coaching experience. Jeff Saturday was the most recent case, as he took the interim coach job on the Indianapolis Colts in 2022. The first one was Norm Van Brocklin in 1961 when he coached the Minnesota Vikings.
The Bills have other candidates
Davis Webb is a name that entices the Bills but they have competition for it. Hence, the Denver Broncos offensive pass coordinator is not a sure bet. There’s also the possibility of promoting an in-house talent like offensive coordinator Joe Brady, or bring back a known face like Brian Daboll.
What’s certain is that most of the people getting interviewed by the Bills are offensive-minded. This would be a 180-degree change from Sean McDermott, who was an old-school, defensive-minded coach. Having Josh Allen as the quarterback might be the reason why the front office is looking for someone who works closely with the offense.
The Bills already lost a couple of names
Mike McDaniel rejected the Bills proposition to sign as the Chargers OC instead. Rivers decided to go back to coaching his son’s high-school team than to keep in the mix for this job. One would assume that coaching Josh Allen would be enough to tempt coaches.
However, after firing McDermott, general manager Brandon Beane and owner Terry Pegula held a press conference. Let’s just say they didn’t do any favors for the team, as the dysfunctionality on the front office was made very obvious. The Bills also made a final decision on Bill Belichick, but this means the candidates are not as numerous and the hire must be the right one, so alarms are on their way to Buffalo.