With Sean McDermott soon to be officially announced as the next head coach of the Buffalo Bills, reports are beginning to circulate about the staff he intends to build. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has one of those, announcing that Carolina Panthers linebackers coach Al Holcomb is likely to join McDermott in Buffalo as the team’s next defensive coordinator.
Sean McDermott's likely DC in Buffalo is Panthers LB coach Al Holcomb, per source. Logical hire and promotion.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 11, 2017
Holcomb has been coaching in the National Football League since 2009, when he joined the New York Giants as a quality control coach. He was promoted to a defensive assistant in 2011, and worked for two seasons at that level. Holcomb joined the Panthers staff in 2013 coaching the linebackers, and he has remained in that capacity for the last four seasons. During that time, the Panthers had a top-10 defense in each year, and Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis were arguably the best linebacker pair in the NFL.
Before joining the NFL, Holcomb coached the college game for 14 years. He held stints as a defensive coordinator, defensive line coach, defensive backs coach, and linebackers coach, and also coordinated special teams for six seasons.
With young linebackers like Reggie Ragland and Preston Brown on the roster, a Holcomb hiring doesn’t sound like a bad idea.