Report: Bills hiring ex-Cardinals special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers

Former Arizona Cardinals assistant head coach and special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers is heading to the Buffalo Bills as their new special teams coordinator, according to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini.

The hiring is one of the first under new Bills head coach Joe Brady, who was hired this offseason to replace Sean McDermott following his firing.

Rodgers spent the past eight seasons with the Cardinals, spanning three different regimes. He was first hired under Steve Wilks before having stints with Kliff Kingsbury and most recently Jonathan Gannon.

He was first given the added title of assistant head coach under Kingsbury in 2019.

Much like the Cardinals offense and defense, Arizona’s special teams unit went through plenty of lineup changes due to injuries and inconsistent play this past season.

As a team, Arizona was one of the worst covering kicks with a 28.7-yard average across 51 returns. Only the Atlanta Falcons allowed more (30).

Kicker Chad Ryland has his struggles, too, posting the fifth worst field goal percentage in the league at 75.8%.

Arizona also posted the eighth lowest percentage of punts inside the 20-yard line at 34.5%. Arizona saw Blake Gillikin start the year before a back injury led the Cardinals to bringing in Pat O’Donnell and Matt Haack.

Before his time in Arizona, Rodgers had NFL stops in San Francisco (2003-07), Carolina (2009-2010), Denver (2011-14) and Chicago (2015-17).

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