Buffalo Bills

4 Reasons to Like the Rick Dennison Hire

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 4:52 p.m. ET

Fansided, Josh Wilson/FanSided via BuffaLowDown

The Buffalo Bills recently hired Rick Dennison to their offensive coordinator position. There are plenty of reasons for fans to like the hire.

The Buffalo Bills announced on Thursday night that they hired Rick Dennison to their offensive coordinator position, thus finishing the major hires of Sean McDermott‘s new staff in Buffalo.

Dennison comes onto the Bills with a lot of experience, and was highly regarded all around the league as a great hire for the Bills moving forward.

Although there are plenty of questions to be answered — like who will actually be under center in Dennison’s offense — the foundation seems to be there, and that’s the first step.

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Dennison was a player in the NFL from 1982-1990, all for the Denver Broncos. While Dennison was with the Broncos, the Broncos made it to the playoffs five times, making it all the way to the Super Bowl three times.

Although Dennison wasn’t exactly a pivotal piece in any of those Super Bowl runs, that experience in the playoffs is huge, and being a part of a winning culture and a solid locker room environment is nothing new to Dennison. It’s hard to be successful with longevity in the NFL, and the Broncos team he played for mastered that. There has to be some knowledge he has to carry over there.

The fact that he was also able to be in a Super Bowl as an offensive coordinator is big, too, because he knows what a winning culture looks like from both a player standpoint and a coaching standpoint.

That type of winning attitude and experience is perhaps more valuable to the Bills in these next few years than what happens on the field. While the performances will still be expected to be good, setting a tone in the locker room seems to be the most important thing for the Bills right now.

It starts in the locker room with a high attitude and lots of class, the rest of the success will follow suit on the field.

Not a brand new coordinator

One thing the Bills were sure to do with their coordinator hires in light of having a fresh head coach leading the way was ensuring that their coordinators were people with experience at the pro level.

Leslie Frazier was hired as the Bills’ defensive coordinator last week and comes with a massive resume, having worked under coaches like Tony Dungy and coached teams of his own as well.

Dennison’s experience is not as lengthy as Frazier’s, but it is impressive. Dennison worked for the Broncos as an offensive assistant, special teams coach, offensive line coach, and offensive coordinator, and also served as the Houston Texans offensive coordinator for three seasons. After that he was the quarterbacks coach for the Baltimore Ravens (where he was overseeing Taylor) and then came back to the Broncos to work as coordinator under Gary Kubiak (notably, most of his jobs were involving Kubiak, which has been brought up as a potential concern).

While his resume doesn’t necessarily come with as many flashy connections as Frazier’s does, it’s still one that shows he has been able to work in different roles and on different teams and still show general success. He seems to be incredibly knowledgeable about different facets of the offense, something that will be good for the Bills.

Having a face come in that’s already got experience running the offensive coordinator position on other, successful teams is a huge get for the Bills. He will be able to slip into his new role in New York with ease, at least that’s the hope.

Has worked with great quarterbacks

With the quarterback situation seeming to be one of high importance for the Bills, having an offensive coordinator that knows what a winner looks like in a quarterback can be very good for the team. Dennison surely knows what a winner looks like, having worked with some great quarterbacks, and even a likely Hall of Fame player.

As an offensive coordinator for the Broncos the first time around, Dennison worked with Jay Cutler, a decent quarterback who has thrown for over 32,000 yards in the NFL. The second time around, he worked with Peyton Manning, and helped lead the Broncos to a Super Bowl. Manning, who is looked at as one of the all-time great passers in the NFL, is the biggest name on Dennison’s resume.

In Dennison’s one year with the Baltimore Ravens, Dennison worked with Joe Flacco as the main man under center. Flacco threw for nearly 4,000 yards and 27 touchdowns (a career high) in his season under Dennison’s leadership.

Of course, Dennison was quite privileged to have these players to lead the offenses he was running, and in all reality, these quarterbacks made him look pretty good, perhaps better than he actually is as a coordinator. That said, he has seemed to get the best out of his players when working with him.

Matt Schaub had a really good season with Dennison — passing for over 4,000 yards — and Jay Cutler had the year that made his career into something great under Dennison. He’s worked with great quarterbacks, and he’s also pushed his players to be great.