Best Candidates to Replace Doug Marrone as Bills Head Coach

After a 9-7 season that saw the team in playoff contention for much of the year, the Buffalo Bills weren't expected to be a team that would be in the market for a new head coach in 2014.

Well, so much for that.

2014 ended with a bombshell in Buffalo. As Chris Mortensen, Adam Caplan and Adam Schefter of ESPN reported, head coach Doug Marrone has opted out of his contract with the Bills.

"We are disappointed that Coach Marrone will no longer be an important part of our organization," Bills owner Terry Pegula said. "We thank him for all of his hard work and leadership during his tenure and wish him and his family the best with the next chapter in their lives."

It's a move that leaves a Bills team that appeared headed in the right direction once again stuck in neutral and searching for a new head coach.

As that search gets underway, here's a look at a handful of coaches who should be on the Bills' radar.

Jim Schwartz

Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

If the Bills were to consider trying to salvage some continuity from this year by going with an "in-house" candidate, then Schwartz would seem the easy call.

After all, not only is Schwartz coming off a very successful year coordinating a Bills defense that ranked fourth in the NFL, but Schwartz also has head coaching experience, taking the Detroit Lions to the playoffs during his five-year tenure at the helm.

Granted, that 29-51 tenure in Motown was marred by both on- and off-the-field incidents by players, but Schwartz is a popular guy among Bills players and remains under contract, making it highly unlikely he'll be inclined to join Marrone at his next destination, which ESPN had some information on after Marrone's exit became official.

Leaving Buffalo for the New York Jets? Talk about adding insult to injury.

Mike Shanahan

Peter Morgan/Associated Press

Schwartz is also the last defensive name you'll see on this list.

Assuming you believe that the Bills' franchise quarterback isn't yet on the team (sorry, EJ), it makes sense to think the Bills will focus their search on coaches on the offensive side of the ball.

And at that point, it's a safe bet that Mike Shanahan's name is at least going to get mentioned.

When it comes to experience, it's no contest. Shanahan has coached in over 300 regular-season games and 14 postseason contests with three teams, including a pair of Super Bowls. His .553 career winning percentage is nothing to sneeze at, especially compared to Buffalo's winning percentage the past 15 years.

As Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk reported, Shanahan also left a return to coaching open in a recent interview with Chris Berman of ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, stating that, "Well, one thing that I want to do is win. So it’s not just coaching but going to the right organization that will make a strong commitment."

In other words, even if the Bills are interested in Mike, there's no guarantee the feeling would be mutual.

Now son Kyle, on the other hand...

Josh McDaniels

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

Josh McDaniels is an interesting case. He's a highly regarded offensive coordinator, the architect of a New England Patriots offense that's annually among the league's best. McDaniels has a well-deserved reputation for finding an opponent's defensive weakness and then exploiting it.

Even better, McDaniels has some head coaching experience from his time with the Denver Broncos.

Of course, that's also the problem because McDaniels' tenure as the head man in the Mile High City was a disaster.

McDaniels alienated his players, the media and the guy who parked his car. Twelve games into his second season in 2010, with the Broncos sitting at 3-9, McDaniels was let go.

However, McDaniels has since rehabilitated his image to the point that his failings in Denver are apparently no longer a deal-breaker, as Doug Kyed of NESN reports that McDaniels will interview for the head coaching vacancies in Atlanta and San Francisco.

Adam Gase

Jack Dempsey/Associated Press

OK, so we've hit the in-house candidate, the grizzled veteran and the rebounding assistant who flamed out in his first bite at the apple.

However, it's possible that the Bills might look to a first-time head coach. If that's the case, then we could be looking at yet another candidate with ties to the Mile High City.

Like Josh McDaniels, Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase has been a hot name among assistant coaches as this cycle of coaching hires gets underway. However, as ESPN's Jeff Legwold reports, Gase has one thing going for him McDaniels does not—the endorsement of the person many people consider the actual offensive coordinator in Denver in quarterback Peyton Manning:

"

I don't think you need me to sit up here and campaign for him. Last year I talked to a couple teams on the behalf of him that reached out to me. That may happen again, so I'm certainly glad to share my thoughts, I mean it's pretty well documented my thoughts on him because I don't think he needs me to stand up here and campaign for him. I'm excited he has the opportunity he's going to have this week. He deserves it, I think teams that he talks to will be impressed.

"

With only two seasons at the coordinator level, the 36-year-old Gase is short on experience, but if the last two years have been any indication, he isn't short on the offensive acumen the Bills so badly need.

David Shaw

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Finally, it's possible that the Bills might go the same route that brought Marrone to Western New York by culling their new head coach from the college ranks.

Should that be the case, then Stanford's David Shaw should be near the top of their wish list.

Granted, Stanford's 8-5 2014 season wasn't the sort of campaign that inspires a lot of "oohs" and "aahs." That is, until you consider the injuries and talent level of this year's Cardinal squad.

At that point, it becomes apparent that even getting to 8-5 took quite a bit of doing, and there's the added bonus of Shaw's decade of experience as an NFL assistant before he joined Jim Harbaugh at Stanford.

Shaw's power offense isn't exactly the pass-wacky spread that we're seeing more of in today's NFL, but in December in Buffalo, being able to run the ball isn't a bad thing.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported recently that Shaw isn't interested in a jump to the NFL, however, so changing his mind could take some persuasion in the form of large stacks of tens and twenties.