When the Buffalo Bills decided to cut ties with their head coach Sean McDermott after he led them to eight playoff berths in nine seasons, the 52-year-old faced a choice – either hang up his headset, or look for another team in need of a coach. But he chose the third door – sitting out for a year and coming back stronger. And the road to that begins with the footsteps of Andy Reid, the Kansas City Chiefs’ head coach.

On SiriusXM, McDermott was asked whether he can have a successful return to the NFL because of the break he’s taking this season. His answer tied his comeback to Reid’s move to the Chiefs from the Philadelphia Eagles back in 2013.

“You look at Andy’s career in Philadelphia. Worked with Andy for the better part of 12 years,” McDermott said. “He leaves Philly, didn’t take time off, but went right into the Kansas City job. And our careers, his career in Philadelphia, my career in Buffalo, kind of run parallel to one another.”

From 1999 through 2012, McDermott occupied various roles within the Eagles organization while Andy Reid led them as their head coach. He witnessed Reid’s system firsthand and then saw him find immediate success with the Chiefs in 2013. That year, when Reid went to Philly as the HC of the Chiefs for a game, he even received a standing ovation from Philly’s home crowd. By drawing a parallel with Reid’s career and his own, McDermott seems to be hinting that he’s got something similar planned.

McDermott also admitted that he’s never taken a year off in his career. After graduating from William & Mary in 1997, he became a graduate assistant the very next year. After just one year at his Alma Mater, he became the Eagles’ scouting administrative coordinator. Now, even after a quarter of a century in the NFL, McDermott is planning out his next move.

“I haven’t done this ever in my career. Come right out of college and start working like most of us, and you just roll from there,” McDermott said. “And so now you have this situation and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to seize the moment and take advantage of this.”

In an April edition of The Insiders, McDermott revealed that he wants to take this year to process what worked – and didn’t for him across nine seasons in Buffalo to make schematic changes.

To further help his case, McDermott also plans to talk to “different leaders in different sports” with the goal of becoming a better leader. What’s more, Andy Reid happens to be just one of the blueprints that McDermott is pursuing right now. He also drew a parallel to the legendary Pete Carroll, who was, until recently, the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

“Pete Carroll, look what he did between the time he left New England, USC, and then back to Seattle. I mean, he wins world championships,” McDermott said. “So for those that have the ability and the skills and the desire, they’re going to take advantage of that opportunity and make the most of it. And that’s what I plan on doing.”

Now, Pete Carroll also joined the Raiders last season after a one-year break from football. But the Raiders went 3-14 thanks to a broken roster and several other internal problems. Even with the greatest quarterback of all time – Tom Brady – around the building as a minority owner, the Raiders couldn’t cut it.

But the Raiders are in the rearview for Carroll, just like the Bills are for McDermott. And what happens next in McDermott’s NFL career is something the league is already speculating.

Sean McDermott’s next move

All the franchises seem locked in with their coaching staff at the moment. But there is one head coach who still faces a certain degree of uncertainty when it comes to their future: Mike Vrabel.

Following the onslaught of the Vrabel-Russini controversy, the New England Patriots head coach has found himself under immense scrutiny this offseason. While the players and the franchise itself have publicly stood behind Vrabel, there is still an underlying narrative that Vrabel might step down if the off-field stories become too loud. In case of such an event, The Big Lead’s Jobe Morrison sees a fit forming for Sean McDermott.

“Sean McDermott brings extensive experience within the AFC East and a proven track record of success,” Morrison wrote recently. “His hiring would add intrigue to matchups against the Buffalo Bills. Beyond that storyline, McDermott rebuilt the Bills into a consistent contender. Organizational decisions ultimately led to his departure, but his coaching resume remains strong.”

McDermott makes sense because he knows the division, knows the Patriots, and has the kind of defensive background teams still trust. But taking a year off and refocusing will actually give him leverage to prepare for a franchise that he can get the most out of. Meanwhile, there’s also a Charlotte thread worth watching.

Reports this Spring said that McDermott’s family has moved there, and a Charlotte business report said he bought a $5 million Foxcroft home with a lot purchased in April. McDermott had spent six seasons as the Carolina Panthers’ defensive coordinator. While a house in Charlotte doesn’t automatically translate into a reunion, the move has been enough to keep the conversations going.

The broadcast booth is the other obvious path. McDermott has already been framed as a football analyst – the kind of former coach who could follow the post-bench route taken by big names like Bill Cowher, and most recently Mike Tomlin. For his part, McDermott is already exploring broadcasting gigs, as he revealed on The Rich Eisen Show late April.

“We’re looking into some; yeah, we’ve got some suitors and are kind of trying to schedule it all out and see where it goes,” McDermott had said.

For now, McDermott sounds like a coach who wants the pause to count. He’s not selling nostalgia or a grand reset. He’s looking back at the last decade to shape his future, and in the NFL, that usually means the next move starts well before the next job does.