Buffalo Bills ranked best new quarterback-head coach duo in NFL

Josh Allen has a new head coach. But he doesn’t have a new voice in his ear.

That familiarity is already giving the Buffalo Bills an edge.

CBS Sports ranked Allen and first-year head coach Joe Brady as the NFL’s best new quarterback-coach duo in the NFL entering the 2026 season.

The pair finished ahead of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and new head coach Jesse Minter, with CBS Sports pointing to the continuity between Allen and Brady as the difference.

“These two were initially flipped, but the continuity that Allen has with Brady combined with his durability compared to Jackson forced a change,” CBS Sports wrote.

A dozen NFL teams have either a new head coach, quarterback, or both.

Brady is entering his first season as an NFL head coach after replacing Sean McDermott, but his relationship with Allen is not new.

Brady was promoted to offensive coordinator midway through the 2023 season and helped lead one of the NFL’s most productive offenses over the last two-plus seasons.

Allen won his first MVP award with Brady calling plays in 2024 and remained one of the league’s top quarterbacks in 2025.

The Bills promoted Brady after moving on from McDermott following another playoff disappointment. Buffalo finished second in the AFC East last season, snapping a streak of five consecutive division titles, and failed to reach the AFC Championship Game.

But expectations remain high.

The Bills enter the 2026 season with the best Super Bowl odds in the AFC, trailing only the Los Angeles Rams in the entire NFL, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

Brady’s promotion gives Buffalo something many teams with first-year head coaches don’t have: continuity at quarterback.

Allen already knows the offense. Brady already knows Allen.

“A bit more confidence exists in what Minter brings to the table on his side of the ball than in what Brady does on his,” CBS Sports wrote. “Still, you can’t really go wrong by putting either of these two at the top of the list, and they are pretty clearly the two top new duos.”

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Josh Allen, Joe Brady ranked NFL’s best new quarterback-head coach duo