New York has cleaned house and is starting over; in need of a General Manager.
The Buffalo Bills ended the 2024 season in a position (almost) no “expert” saw probable: AFC East division champions and with the conference’s two seed firmly in their possession. In fact, so commanding was their grasp on their postseason position, they rested nearly all of their starters in the Week 18 finale and still finished the season with the AFC’s best point differential along with a host of other “first-evers.”
Along with a pair of home playoff games, their quarterback at the top of NFL MVP conversations, and the chance to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LIX, part of the prize package for the Bills’ successful season is other teams interviewing their supporting staff for the potential of enticing them to leave One Bills Drive and duplicate their success in other cities.
The latest NFL team to request an interview with a member of the Bills’ staff is the New York Jets. While the Jets had already requested permission to talk to Buffalo’s offensive coordinator, Joe Brady, for the purpose of filling their vacant head-coaching position, on Tuesday they called the Bills again. Now the Jets would like to interview Brian Gaine, the Bills’ assistant general manager.
Jets requested permission to interview Bills assistant GM Brian Gaine for their GM job, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 7, 2025
Gaine is a former University of Maine tight end who entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 1995. Gaine’s first NFL stint was none other than the New York Jets where he spent his first season on the practice squad. Two more seasons, two more teams (New York Giants and Kansas City Chiefs), and two more practice squads and Gaine hung up the cleats — but not his NFL dreams.
Gaine was the Houston Texans’ general manager in 2018 and part of 2019. The Pearl River, NYnative earned his first position at the helm of an NFL team after having served time as a scout, assistant director of scouting, director of player personnel, and vice president of player personnel for the Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins, and Buffalo Bills.
Gaine returned to the Bills’ organization in 2019 as the senior personnel advisor with general manager Brandon Beane dismissing claims of racism stemming from his time in Houston. In 2022, when Joe Schoen left Buffalo to take over as the New York Giants’ general manager, Gaine was promoted to the position of assistant general manager.
Gaine has worked beside Beane for all but one year of the time the Bills GM has been in Buffalo. That means he was a part of Bills drafts that brought Ed Oliver, Dawson Knox, A.J. Epenesa, Gabe Davis, Tyler Bass, Greg Rousseau, Spencer Brown, Damar Hamlin, James Cook, Terrel Bernard, Khalil Shakir, Christian Benford, Kaiir Elam, Dalton Kincaid, Dorian Williams, O’Cyrus Torrence, Keon Coleman, Cole Bishop, DeWayne Carter, and Ray Davis to Buffalo.
Gaine has been a part of the management team that’s worked magic to bring in the franchise’s most effective offense while working with $64.2 million in dead-cap space this year. While Gaine has been working as the Bills’ assistant GM, Josh Allen, Von Miller, and Dawson Knox all restructured contracts that would free cap space for Buffalo.
While his name is not as household as Brandon Beane, Terry Pegula, and Sean McDermott, there’s no denying that Gaine has had his hands on this Bills team and has been a part of building a perennial Super Bowl contender.
The Jets fired their general manager, Joe Douglas, in November just a month and a half after they fired head coach Robert Saleh. Douglas, who had been with New York for more than five years, was in the final year of his contract. At the time of his departure, the Jets were 3-8 and owner Woody Johnson saw no reason in delaying Douglas’ inevitable departure. Ultimately, Douglas’ undoing may have been his failure to find a quarterback to lead New York into the future despite having drafted Zach Wilson and later signing future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Phil Savage, the Jets’ senior football advisor has been serving as the interim general manager since Douglas’ departure.