Indianapolis, Ind. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Neither of the previous two Buffalo Bills special teams coordinators had any experience as an NFL coordinator prior to getting the job with the Buffalo Bills.
Heath Farwell, who was hired for the role in Buffalo in 2019, had spent the previous three years as an assistant special teams coach with the Carolina Panthers (2018) and Seattle Seahawks (2016-17).
Matthew Smiley, who was Farwell’s assistant in Buffalo, was promoted to the top role prior to 2022. Smiley had been a college coordinator at a couple different stops, but only an assistant at the professional level.
That all changed in a big way, and intentionally, when head coach Sean McDermott confirmed Monday in Indianapolis he hired Chris Tabor as the new special teams coordinator in Buffalo.
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Tabor has been an NFL special teams coordinator for 13 seasons with three different organizations.
"One that was higher up on my scale was experience, was veteran experience," McDermott said this week when asked what attracted him to Tabor for the role.
McDermott compared the hire to that of current Bills offensive line coach Aaron Kromer, who joined the staff in 2022. At that time, Kromer had been an NFL assistant coach for over 20 years, including stints as an offensive coordinator and interim head coach in 2012 with the New Orleans Saints.
"When you can get a coach like that, they’re hard to come by, No. 1, and so when you can get your hands on one, I think you’ve got to take a swing and that’s what I decided to do," McDermott acknowledged.
McDermott says he had been following Tabor’s career for a while.
"'Tabes' was usually tied up, as many of these good, veteran coaches are," he said. "So this year, being out this past season, coming off his time at Carolina, offered me an opportunity to interview him and spend some time with him, and make the hire."
McDermott also added a bit of clarity to the roles of new senior defensive assistant Ryan Nielsen and new nickel defensive backs coach Mike Pellegrino.
Nielsen has mainly been a defensive line coach throughout his 13-year college and NFL coaching career, including the last two years as an NFL defensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons, then the Jacksonville Jaguars.
"Ryan’s going to help us on defense overall," McDermott said. "His main focus is going to be the defensive line."
Pellegrino, who had been with the New England Patriots as their cornerbacks coach the last six seasons after serving as a coaching assistant coach there for four years, will have the title of nickels coach, working primarily with the nickel/slot cornerbacks.
The team also announced the hiring of Jason Rebrovich as their new assistant defensive line coach. Rebrovich is a native of Clarence, New York, and graduate of Clarence High School.
It will be Rebrovich's second stint in Buffalo after serving as an assistant in various roles from 2013 through 2016, including as the club's defensive line coach in 2016.
Rebrovich has spent the last three seasons with the Green Bay Packers after four years with the Jaguars.
