After nine years of turning the Buffalo Bills into a winning team and making them regular playoff contenders, former head coach Sean McDermott was shown the exit because the team never advanced beyond this level. It’s been three months since he’s been away from the hubbub of the gridiron. But fans can expect to see him soon.

The Athletic’s Mike Jones revealed that McDermott will make a “handful of appearances” as an analyst at the upcoming NFL Draft. He has not been in the market for a coaching job since he was fired. As a result, this role will be the first time that McDermott gets to be back in the scene.

McDermott was fired after yet another playoff loss, bringing his total postseason record to 8-8. He was one of the best coaches the Bills had in recent years, since he was the one who orchestrated a turnaround of the team. McDermott was the team’s most winningest coach after Wade Phillips, who was fired in 2000. Under McDermott’s leadership, the Bills became dominated AFC East, topping the division for four years straight. But his successes still couldn’t earn him the Super Bowl. So far, he has only reached the AFC Championship game.

Even though he is returning as a guest broadcaster for now, fans should expect McDermott to find a coaching job in the future. He’s been doing a lot of homework, according to Jones. The former coach has been relentlessly studying game film, amid taking on school drop-off duties for his kids, attending gamedays, and staying fit. He’s also talking to coaches from other sports to learn their keys to success. But McDermott is consciously keeping away from a coaching job for a good amount of time.

It was a decision he took after talking to his family, and some insights from NFL head coaches who were once in his shoes. Steve Spagnuolo, who worked with Sean McDermott when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles, was one of them. After being let go by the New York Giants in 2017, he joined the Kansas City Chiefs after a year’s sabbatical.

It won’t be long before Sean McDermott finds himself a coaching role. Everyone wants a hand at the coach who was able to make a regular playoff contender out of a losing team.

Sean McDermott is still in the game

The former Bills head coach is going through all that film to better understand the gaps in his strategies and how he could have done things better. He’s spent some time with Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault this offseason, who won the NBA Championship last year. McDermott has also met with Olympic wrestling guru Dan Gable, all in an attempt to learn what more he can do as a coach. All because he is planning to free himself from the vice that ended his career at Buffalo.

“I’m fully aware that we didn’t — with all the success we had — we didn’t reach the ultimate goal that we had of winning a world championship, and that’s on the to-do list for Sean McDermott,” McDermott told The Athletic. “You just keep knocking. That’s the key. You keep knocking, you keep working at it, and eventually, that door is going to come open, and it’s going to come open in a big way.”

Fans would want Sean McDermott to properly end his career with a win in the postseason, instead of having to settle for near-misses. The Bills might have run out of patience for him after 2025, but he clearly has some unfinished business in the NFL. Jobs will open up this season, and he will be in high demand for them, especially when one opens up at a struggling team.