This week, the Buffalo Bills added three more people to their staff (in addition to wide receivers coach Terry Robiskie). Nate Breske joins the team as head athletic trainer, replacing the retiring Bud Carpenter, Jeff Mueller becomes the new video director, and Luis Guilamo is the new director of analytics and application development.
The @buffalobills have added three new staff members:
— Buffalo Bills PR (@BuffaloBillsPR) February 14, 2018
Nate Breske - Head Athletic Trainer
Luis Güílamo - Director of Analytics and Application Development
Jeff Mueller - Video Director pic.twitter.com/fsSNcARGCS
Muller is a New York native but becomes the latest in the line of Carolina Panthers staff to join the Bills following the hiring of former Panthers Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane. He worked in the video department in Carolina for 20 years. (Here’s an article from NFL.com on what video departments do.)
Breske spent the last three seasons as the Chicago Bears’ head athletic trainer. Before that he spent seven years (2008-14) with the San Francisco 49ers as director of rehabilitation and assistant head athletic trainer. He’s originally from South Dakota.
Guilamo is a relatively new face to the NFL. Has a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer engineering and an MBA. His background is in business intelligence, virtual reality, and assorted IT work. He’s on a similar part of the spectrum as Mike Lyons, the guy he replaces.
“I met with the then head of Bills analytics a few years ago,” says Buffalo Rumblings editor Dan Lavoie. “The team was much more interested in how data could drive fan interaction than game decision-making. Of course, we’ve moved two head coaches and a GM since then, but I’d be surprised if something changed.”
So if you were expecting a Doug Pederson level of analytics affecting the in-game decisions coach Sean McDermott makes, you’re probably barking up the wrong tree.