Skip to content
Eagles
Link copied to clipboard

Sean McDermott is another Jim Johnson pupil getting chance to run his own show

INDIANAPOLIS -- It has been nearly eight years since Jim Johnson passed away. But the late Eagles defensive coordinator's impact on the NFL continues to live on.

In January, Sean McDermott became the fifth former Eagles defensive assistant under Johnson to get an NFL head-coaching gig, joining Ron Rivera, John Harbaugh, Steve Spagnuolo and Leslie Frazier. He was named Buffalo Bills coach on Jan. 11.

"At the time, as a young coach, you don't realize how fortunate you are to be around a guy, a mind like Jim's,'' said McDermott, 42, who spent 11 years with the Eagles. "I remember getting the job and thinking, 'OK, I'm going to be working with the great Jim Johnson.' Almost in awe. But you can't be like that because you have to function and do your job.

"I was extremely fortunate. Not everybody gets to be around a guy like that. I kind of cut my teeth in the Harvard of defensive football working with him. Attacking quarterbacks. Developing game plans. Just being aggressive and attack-minded.

"And then, adjusting during games. That's a critical part of being a great coach. Adjusting and putting your players in position to be successful.''

McDermott was hired by the Eagles as an entry-level scouting administrator in 1999, two years out of William & Mary, where he was an all-conference safety. He was promoted to a defensive assistant in 2002, and became the team's defensive backs coach in '07.

Two years later, with Johnson battling cancer and near death, Andy Reid promoted McDermott, then 34, to defensive coordinator.

It was too much, too soon. Maybe if he hadn't been replacing an icon, it would've been easier. But he was. The pressure was suffocating.

After just two seasons, Reid let McDermott go. With Reid's help, he was hired by Rivera as the Carolina Panthers' defensive coordinator and ended up doing a terrific job down there. But there is no question that getting fired by his hometown team stung.

"There are a lot of things we did well there (as the Eagles' defensive coordinator),'' he said. "Having said that, everything happens for a reason. I don't believe I'd be in this position, or as prepared as I am for this position, without having gone through that.

"Setbacks sometimes are setups for comebacks, as they say. You either win or you learn. I learned a lot going through that transition.''

In 2015, McDermott and the Panthers went 15-1 and made it to the Super Bowl. His defense finished first in takeaways and sixth in points allowed. He interviewed for a couple of head-coaching jobs, but didn't get hired.

Last season, the Panthers fell to 6-10. McDermott's defense slipped to seventh in takeaways and 26th in points allowed.

"Sometimes those things work to your advantage in terms of the hiring cycle and how this process works,'' McDermott said. "Last year, maybe I wasn't available because of our run deep into the playoffs. This year was a different situation.

"I'm a big believer that everything happens for a reason. And I'm happy to be in Buffalo.''

McDermott has his work cut out. The Bills haven't made the playoffs since 1999. That's the league's longest postseason drought. They've had just one winning season since '04.