Ex-Vikings Prodigy Lands 2nd Head Coach Interview
The Buffalo Bills ended the Sean McDermott era after nine seasons on Monday, and they’ll need a replacement head coach in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, after a head coaching interview with the Cleveland Browns, former Minnesota Vikings assistant quarterbacks coach and current Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Grant Udinski will get a look from the Bills.
Udinski’s rise keeps accelerating, and the Bills’ interest signals he’s no longer just a fun young candidate.
Udinski is all the craze now among attractive young coaches, and he could be in charge of Josh Allen by mid-February.
Buffalo to Give Grant Udinski a Look
It’s more steam for Udinski.
BUF Interviews Udinski
It’s not just the Browns; the Bills want a piece of Udinski, at least for a chat.
Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot wrote Wednesday, “If the Browns thought they had the best-kept secret on their head coach candidate list in Grant Udinski, the Jaguar is out of the bag. While Udinski, the Jaguars offensive coordinator, is preparing for his second interview with the Browns on Friday at team headquarters in Berea, the Bills have requested an initial head coach interview with him to possibly replace Sean McDermott, who was fired on Monday.”
“It’s only the second head coach request for Udinski, who turned 30 on Jan. 12 and would be the youngest coach ever hired in the NFL, beating out Rams coach Sean McVay, who was hired in 2017 at the age of 30 and 353 days.”
Not long ago, Vikings fans were astonished that Udinski had been promoted to an offensive coordinator job so quickly. Now, he’s in the running to head coach one of the very best teams in football.
Career to Date & Time with Vikings
Udinski bounced through small colleges like Davidson and Towson as a player, slid quickly into coaching, and landed at Baylor as a graduate assistant under Matt Rhule in 2019. When Rhule jumped to Carolina, Udinski followed, stacking NFL reps as an offensive assistant while learning how pro systems actually function.
That background made him a smart fit for Kevin O’Connell’s staff in Minnesota. He stayed multiple seasons (2022-2024), earned internal trust, and took on real developmental work — including hands-on involvement with J.J. McCarthy during the rookie’s meniscus rehab year.
By the time he exited, Udinski had logged three full Vikings seasons. Around the league, the resume had already registered. He interviewed for offensive coordinator openings with New England, Seattle, and Tampa Bay before Liam Coen pulled him off the board.
Coen’s choice proved wise: Trevor Lawrence popped for 4,007 passing yards and 29 passing touchdowns, with the Jaguars checking in at No. 12 in the business per offensive EPA/Play.
What Udinski Would Inherit in Buffalo
McDermott took over in 2017, and since then, the Bills have marshalled the NFL’s second-best record in the NFL, trailing only the Kansas City Chiefs, who usually eliminate Buffalo in the postseason.
In Buffalo, Udinski would walk into the almighty prize with Josh Allen at quarterback, considered by most the passer in the league when Patrick Mahomes isn’t fully healthy. By now, Allen has probably earned the title of best regular season quarterback in the sport.
In addition to Allen, Udinski would start from a point of strength with these players:
- Spencer Brown (OT)
- Dion Dawkins (OT)
- James Cook (RB)
- Dalton Kincaid (TE)
- Greg Rousseau (EDGE)
- Khalil Shakir (WR)
A Trainwreck Press Conference from Bills on Wednesday
Meanwhile, Bills owner Terry Pegula and general manager Brandon Beane spoke with reporters on Wednesday, spending about an hour finger-pointing and speaking defensively about their actions.
Peguala trashes his team’s second-year wide receiver, who is still very much on the roster, claiming that Beane was not accountable for the pick.
“The coaching staff pushed to draft Keon Coleman. I’m not saying Brandon wouldn’t have drafted him, but he wasn’t his next choice. That was Brandon being a team player and taking advice of his coaching staff who felt strongly about the player. He’s taken, for some reason, heat over it, and not saying a word about it. I’m here to tell you the true story,” Pegula bizarrely declared.
Beane curiously earned a promotion when McDermott was fired, and Pegula appeared to send a warning to Beane, who sat next to him: ‘I’m the kind of guy, if I sense you on a power play, you’re out. I don’t like power play people. We have an organization that we work together, but any sense at all that he was on a power play, he would have been gone. Because that’s not my kind of person.”
Pegula also said that he fired McDermott on the basis of a single game — the heartbreaking loss to Denver.
“My decision to bring in a new coach was based on the results of our game in Denver. I want to take you in the locker room after that game. I looked around. First thing I noticed was our quarterback with his head down, crying,” Pegula explained.
“I looked at all the other players. I looked at their faces and our coaches. I walked over to Josh Allen. He didn’t even acknowledge I was there.”
Pegula later made sure to let the league know that his team’s controversial interception last weekend involving wideout Brandin Cooks was indeed a catch.
Hopefully Udinski would have the stomach for some strange discourse by Buffalo’s brass. They played the hits during Wednesday’s press conference.
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