For the Buffalo Bills, another season ended in familiar playoff heartbreak, which eventually led to Sean McDermott’s firing after nine seasons with the franchise. During his tenure, the former HC was instrumental in drafting star quarterback Josh Allen in 2018. However, the team’s recent performances have fallen short of expectations, creating added pressure on their star player. But McDermott believes that Allen has handled this burden well.

“The roles of the head coach and the star player, the star quarterback in this case. There are a lot of parallels and a lot of responsibility that come with those roles,” said McDermott on Good Morning Football. “They’re both leadership roles in a lot of ways, and Josh has really endeared himself to the fan base and Buffalo and really around the football fans around the world.”

McDermott joined the Buffalo Bills in 2017. The 52-year-old proved his worth as he ended a 17-year drought and led the team to a playoff qualification before losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars 10-3 in the wildcard game. A motivated McDermott then brought in 21-year-old QB prospect Josh Allen for the 2018 season, but the Bills failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Starting in 2019, the duo led the Bills on a seven-year playoff streak, establishing them as perennial contenders. And yet, they never reached the Super Bowl. Despite that, McDermott noted that Allen’s personality and character played a key role in the star QB not showing how much pressure he really felt.

“It’s the way that he’s done it,” McDermott added. “The way that he plays, the way that he carries himself, from his personality to his character. The way he supports charities. He has, to your point, a lot of responsibility and a lot of pressure, but he carries it extremely well, and I think that’s one of the best compliments that I can give Josh or say about Josh.”

Even if Josh Allen‘s demeanor doesn’t show it, the pressure from the team’s playoff failures has been immense. However, the Bills’ star quarterback hasn’t shied away from addressing those by outlining his goals for the franchise.

“Every year, my goal is to go win a Super Bowl and bring a trophy back to Western New York,” said Allen on the First Things First podcast in Feb 2026. “Obviously, the ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl, and it takes so much throughout the season to get there and to go out and win it. And I’m going to keep working tirelessly until we get that opportunity to get it done.”

The attempts were evident under Sean McDermott and Josh Allen’s partnership. To back that, Allen was consistently ranked in the top 10 NFL QB rankings from 2020 to 2025 regular season. However, the results didn’t follow.

Sean McDermott gets honest about parting ways with the Bills

Ending a long partnership with an NFL team is hard. For instance, take Mike Tomlin, who ended a 19-year tenure as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Likewise, Sean McDermott shared the same sentiment for the Buffalo Bills. However, while Tomlin voluntarily stepped down from the position, McDermott was fired. Despite this setback, the 52-year-old seemingly holds no grudges against the franchise.

“Buffalo is a special place for a lot of reasons,” said McDermott. “And so we did that in Buffalo and had nine great years, and so it’s a little bit of a life change. But having said that, it’s also an opportunity to respond in a way that my kids can learn from. It’s a great opportunity for us this year to take a step back and say, ‘Hey, how do we want to grow?”

Following McDermott’s departure from the Bills, he’s been enjoying a different kind of offseason, one that doesn’t involve training camps, free agency plans, and brainstorming draft strategies. However, he isn’t keeping too far away from the sports world or the NFL, as he is expected to make a handful of appearances at the upcoming Draft.

The Athletic’s Mike Jones revealed, “At next week’s draft, McDermott will make a handful of media appearances as an analyst. In May, he also plans to carve out time for his charitable work in conjunction with Skin Care Awareness Month. He joked that the time off has provided him a glimpse into life as a retiree, and also confirmed to him that he’s not at all ready to turn in his whistle.”

The former HC is taking time this offseason to study football and leadership skills, while exchanging sports knowledge with coaches to learn their keys to success.

For now, with Brady at the helm, the pressure is on Allen to prove that a new voice on the sideline is the final piece of the Bills’ Super Bowl puzzle.