Joe Brady - Offensive Coordinator, bills Event: Press Conference | Date: 2026-09-05 | Full transcript (primary source).
On September 5, 2026, Joe Brady, Offensive Coordinator for the Bills, addressed the media in a press conference focused on the team's roster decisions and offensive strategies leading into the upcoming season. The discussion highlighted the collaborative efforts among the coaching staff and the challenges of finalizing the 53-man roster while considering the team's unique personnel.
Transcript
Brady: Yeah, I mean, it was no different than it was kind of for agency, just a lot of dialogue. Myself, the coordinators, and we all kind of got together and just were talking through a lot of things. And look, there's always a bunch of, we got fortunate. A lot of the guys we got back in practice were a lot of guys in discussions of, you know, hey, have an opportunity to make your 53-year-man roster. And that's a good thing. And so, yeah, no, like it's never a good experience having to, you know, that some guys aren't going to make it. And it was a tough weekend, but I'm really excited about the guys that we got. And there was a lot of good dialogue.
Brady: Yeah, no, I said it last week, right? You know, we got to find a way to build our best 53. And some of that is also taking into consideration what the 48 is going to look like. And the fortunate thing we have is such a unique tight end room that you have the ability to build a lot of different structures and play 10 personnel sets, you know, 20 personnel sets and do a lot of different things with that. And so, you know, that's part of it. But yeah, no, I mean, look, the ideal world is you'd keep a lot from every position, but the reality of it is you can't. And I'm really excited about the offense that we were able to keep and the tight ends that we were able to keep that allows us to do some of those things.
Brady: Yeah, you know, everybody, when you take a job, everybody talks about collaboration, but like, that's real. And we both want the same thing. And, you know, we don't always have to agree on things, but one thing that I love about Brandon is we're gonna have the dialogue and we're gonna bring coordinators in. We're gonna talk through a lot of different things. And when we leave the room, we're both saying this is exactly what we're gonna do and we're rolling with it. And, you know, I give him a lot of credit because he's all ears. You know, I've been in some organizations where there is disconnect, you know, in terms of like, hey, these guys handle the personnel, these guys handle the coaches and keep it moving. And that's not how we do it here. And, you know, that makes my life a lot easier because it's clear to talk about a vision in terms of how I want to utilize guys or, you know, how Jim wants to utilize guys on defense and then being seen at the same way and understanding, okay, well, then I need this guy on your roster where, hey, maybe that was maybe a practice squad guy on, you know, in past years. So I think the collaboration is critical. And, you know, so far, that's how it's been. It's been really good.
Brady: Yeah, I mean, I've been saying all along, like, you obviously want to get guys out on the preseason games and get them playing, but, you know, there's a full body of work, you know, with everybody out there. It wasn't going to be strictly like, hey, depending on how this game is going to go is going to be a roster spot. I'm fortunate in the receivers that we have on practice squad as well. So in case things ever went that direction, you know, we'd have guys that we can always call up and move up. And so, but no, I was glad to get him out there. He made plays both in the run game and the past game. And, you know, that was important for him as we go into the season. But a lot of that stuff was just dialogue, you know, right, right, wrong, or indifferent. If we could have kept six receivers, we'd keep six receivers. But some of that was give and take throughout the roster.
Brady: Yeah, I think we have a healthy group of guys that, you know, can go out there and get the job done. You know, we have guys that have done it in live games. You know, we have guys that haven't, but, you know, I've showed and got a lot of the work to have that opportunity. And so we still don't play for two weeks, you know, so that's going to be part of the processes of us kind of going through it. But we like, we like what we were able to kind of bring in and with what the guys that we have on the roster.
Brady: Just try to keep you on your toes, you know. I don't, I like to mess with your routine. I think once you, when you get into the season, there's a lot that goes with in terms of the meeting times and the walkthroughs and the preparation. You know, I think I've tried to mess with it in terms of making sure our guys aren't eating the late lunch so that's in return, then they're eating a dinner at a normal time. And so we meet and we go to walk, then they're going to eat lunch, then we go out to practice. So there's, you know, there's, I even catch myself, it's a, maybe it's a dumb thing, but you catch yourself when you're finishing practice, you eat lunch at three and then next, you know, it's dinner time and you're like, I feel like I just ate. So some of that is some of the performance standpoint, but you know, we're still starting our day. Our days are still starting 830 in terms of with the players. So for them, it's the exact same, just a little different for you guys.
Brady: Yeah, I both, yeah, fortunate that obviously Jeff and Drew were both with him, right? That's whenever you get into these situations where there's guys available and you have connections and relationships with them, it does make life easier. And they both obviously had really good things to say. We evaluate him in free agency going into, you know, this past year. And so just having an opportunity, obviously, if there wasn't good things to be said, he probably wouldn't be here, but excited. I've never had an opportunity to work with him, just met him for the first time today. And so excited to be able to get on the football field and see what value you can bring to us.
Brady: I mean, every year you're trying to get a feel of what your guys do well, right? And trying to put them in a position of success. And sometimes when it's new guys that takes time, you have to put them through some things. But sometimes you fight the comfortability of knowing guys, right? And making sure that, you know, you got guys like Khalil Shakir that I've coached for a while, but making sure that he's continuing to be asked to do things that he hasn't done in the past and continuing to push it. So it's a huge positive when you know guys, but you got to make sure you don't just, hey, I know this guy's good at this and just keep it moving and continue to kind of test their boundaries.
Brady: Yeah, if I'm being honest right now, we're still, we have two weeks for that, right? And right now we're still, we're going Buffalo on Buffalo and still our opportunity to figure out kind of how, where we're at right now. And it's our first time going out there with this 53 and putting it together with the practice squad guys. So next week, we'll kind of take care of itself right now. We got to make sure our guys are still focusing on Buffalo Bills.
Brady: I think the versatility is a huge piece, right? Like you can give all the buzzwords, right? We want to be able to fly around. We want to be able to be physical. We want to make plays on the ball. There's a lot of different things with it, but there's a versatility that I think, you know, should continue to make it challenging on offenses, right? You know, we've talked all along with, if you know exactly where guys are going to be, it makes it easy for an offense. And I think that that's something that should be an advantage for us as we continue to progress throughout the season.
Brady: Yeah, it's the battle that every coach kind of does. And that's what, since going back to OTAs, us getting a feel of, you know, understanding our guys, right? It's, you know, I think the biggest thing as a coach is making sure you give your guys an opportunity. You don't lose the game before you play it. And if your guys know what to do and where to be and how to execute, you give them a chance. And so I think especially early in the season with the emotions of it all, I think that's, I think that's a core component is making sure you give them what they know and let them kind of, as long as they know the answers and they've been through it right, wrong, or different, they usually will find a way.
Brady: Yeah, I want, I want to get a lot of these guys, you know, they haven't, you know, if you go back to last week, right? We played a game on Thursday, their last time really going, we've been doing some indie and just, you know, walkthroughs and stuff, but I want to see the guys be able to fly around now that their legs are back from a training camp and see them kind of jelling together and working together and seeing how that kind of coincides. You know, that that's, to me, the biggest thing is getting back into like, okay, now we're practicing, so we're going, I'm getting my bodies ready to go for, you know, however many seasons or excuse me, how many weeks we have.
Brady: I said something to him after, I wish I would have known that neither of us knew they were playing, you know, so no, you get this point of the year, you don't even know what days of the weekend, especially when you play on a Thursday, but I made sure he knew about it after bandwagon from my stand, but didn't even know. If I would have known, I would have let him know it all week, but yeah, it was a good one to know, for sure.
Brady: I think that's the biggest thing is his leadership. You know, I've gone against him, I've watched him, but actually just being around him and seeing how he's kind of taken that DB group, you know, I give our DBs all the time, I give them a lot of stuff with it because I swear they take forever to break it down. They talk forever, but it's a good thing, and Christian's done a great job of taking that room and kind of making it and just, I don't need him to be anything anymore than the person that he is, and he does a great job of speaking truth, leading with his actions, and then going when a guy needs to say something, he says it, and that's what's been really cool is seeing a guy that, you know, has come here and just continue to get better and be one of the better, you know, DBs in football, and now just taking it from a leadership standpoint and understanding how important he is to that room, to the defense, it's been really cool to see.
Brady: Yeah, I mean, I want a bunch of guys, and this isn't in particular to Frank, like I want a bunch of guys that don't want to be on the practice squad. Like I like it when you have to make those tough decisions and you sit those guys down with like, I don't want a bunch of guys that are like, oh, awesome, I get to be on the practice squad. I want guys that are like pissed, like I wanted to make the 53, you know, because that's part of why we want them here is because they have that personality and that edge and they're not comfortable. And yeah, a guy like Frank, he wants to play, and he played in the playoffs last year, right? And we didn't blink with it. And, you know, so it's tough, but for all of these guys, they have to be ready with these new rules, you know, that we get two call ups every week, you know, there's that potential. And so just because a guy's not on your 53 right now doesn't mean he's not going to be playing for your week one. And are these guys going to be ready when their opportunity gets called on, right? In all these positions. So that's a conversation I have at the practice squad, guys, is it's not, hey, you're a 53 and you're a practice squad and you're treated differently. Like, you know, when we go into it and we're talking about the depth chart and the roster each week, there's going to be guys on our practice squad that are, you know, above guys on the active roster, just, you know, how it kind of shakes up.
Brady: Yeah, he doesn't get phased. He has a lot of confidence the way that he plays. I've been really excited to see him go out there and tackle in the preseason games, right? It's always good to see corners that, you know, aren't afraid of contact, but that's what he likes about it. He loves being a physical football player and, you know, he's benefited from every rep that he's gotten going back to, you know, when Christian wasn't hearing some of the OTAs to, you know, with some of the injuries to Maxwell, he's been the one that's been able to take advantage of all these one reps. And so I'm really excited about him and his future here.
Brady: Yeah, it's been so beneficial for TJ, having Bradley and Greg and Hoyt and like, we've had such a veteran presence in that room that has allowed TJ to see what it's like to be a pro. And I know that sounds so cliche or whatnot, but I mean, that's hard. And this is how it works. And you're just seeing, you know, TJ's work ethic and his professionalism in terms of staying after and doing things because he's seeing those guys in the room doing it. You really don't have a choice. And you feel him when he's out on the football field, his strength and his versatility with it. And, you know, he's showing that he's like, I don't care about whatever I got to do on special teams. And so it allows us to have that dynamic in that room to be able to move the guys around, play him at the rush, play him at the Sam. And a guy like TJ gives the versatility to be able to do both.
Brady: You know, not only for the technique standpoint, but even some changes that you guys have made. Yeah, it was, look, I told the O-line when they go back, like, we weren't good enough last year. And we were very good. But I said that in a sense of like, I wanted them to know like, hey, just because, you know, going back to two years, everybody was back. And it was like, oh, we're back, but we got to get better. And we might've led the league in rushing last year, but we got to get better. And so they have all taken it and have ran with it, right? And I like to think it wouldn't matter who the coaching is that that personality is, knowing that, hey, there's room for us to grow and continue to get better. But yeah, Pat's been great. They've been great with it. And I love Pat. Obviously, I was with him in Carolina. And so it's cool to see him, you know, being able to put his personality in the room as well.
Brady: Yeah, Shaq was instrumental to us last year. He was a perfect example of a guy that, hey, you didn't know how much he was going to end up playing. And then, actually, you know, the unfortunate reality was some of the injuries. And he had to take a big role and was a leader for us last year. And I think that he's not here just to be a leader. He's here because if an opportunity opens up, we feel comfortable, Shaq, being able to play football. But while he's there, he understands what this is like and the value that that brings to our defense, to our offense, to our football team is huge. And look, we've been in communication with him for a while. He's been wanting to be back here since the last day of the season last year. So fortunate that we were able to kind of get this done.
Brady: No, I'm just trying to just kind of like give you the question is just, hey, let's just be present and figure out what we got to do today and just continue to build the competitive stamina of not worrying about what happened yesterday and just reset and respond. And if I'm asking my team to do it, I have to make sure that I'm embodying that as well. And if I want them to be convicted to something, I have to be convicted on it. So nothing's really been surprising from that sense. I'm like all of you. I'm itching to obviously get to the season, too. But we got this week, and let's take advantage of it.
Brady: Yeah, I think, look, Lek has just continued to get better as a football player these last few years and talk about a guy that's used the last few years. He was here last year. Using that past season as a developmental, like, not just as a practice squad guy, like, hey, you know what? I'm just on practice squad. I'm not going to play like he had the opportunity. When the guys got injured last year, we didn't blink to bring him up. And he took advantage of it. Staying after doing what he had to do with Rob, living in the weight room. And then you see that translate to the field. And, man, he had such a good off-season and let into training camp. And he was so solid and so consistent with what he's doing. He's a guy that can line up up with a lot of different roles. And it brings more versatility to that tight end room. And he got four guys and all the different personnel groupings we can do with it and move guys around. And, you know, it should make my life a little easier.
Brady: Yeah, I think there's a lot of guys like Landon, Dwayne, like, guys that, coming back from injury, you just see them week after week just continue to get better. And football, you know, just getting their bodies back to kind of the demand of what the, you know, these games and these consistent stacking practices together. So Landon's having a lot of fun being back out playing football, you know. It was a tough start to the season for him last year and then he got injured. So he's really appreciative where he's in. And I just see a guy that's just, he's learning the position and continuing to get better. And he's in the position that he's in right now. He's worked towards that. And so I'm proud of him for that.
Brady: I think I've said it since day one. I don't believe anybody ever rises to low expectations, but there's not a person in this room or this city or wherever that, you know, has higher expectations. And I'm always asking them myself, right? I know the mindset that I have, but no different than kind of what have I learned as a head coach, that all can take care of itself. Let's find out what we got to do today and everything else will take care of itself. But, you know, we can talk a lot in this profession, but at the end of the day, we got to go actually go do the work. And so I know what's expected of me, and I'm just excited to kind of make up and kind of do what I got to do each day.
Brady: Awesome, thank you.