Orchard Park, NY – The Buffalo Bills today announced that Michael Hamlin, Aaron Kromer, Sanjay Lal, Anthony Lynn, D’Anton Lynn and Chris Palmer have been hired to the coaching staff.
Michael Hamlin (Special Teams Quality Control): Hamlin enters his first year with the Bills and his first year in the NFL after spending the past two seasons as defensive graduate assistant at Clemson, his alma mater. Hamlin was drafted in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys and spent time with Dallas (2009-10), Jacksonville (2010), Indianapolis (2011) and Washington (2011) during his playing career. He was a four-year starter and team captain at Clemson as a safety.
Aaron Kromer (Offensive Line): Kromer enters his 15th year in the NFL and his first with the Bills. Kromer has extensive experience coaching offensive lines, as he has coached an offensive lineman to the Pro Bowl in each of the past six seasons. He spent the past two seasons working with the Chicago Bears, where he served as the team’s offensive coordinator in 2014 and the offensive coordinator/offensive line coach in 2013. Under his watch, G Kyle Long earned two Pro Bowl berths—the first Bears offensive lineman to earn Pro Bowl honors since 2006. Kromer joined the Bears after spending five years with the New Orleans Saints where he worked with the offensive line and running backs in addition to serving as the interim head coach of the Saints for the first six games of the 2012 regular season. During his tenure as the Saints offensive line coach, five blockers were named to 10 Pro Bowls (T Jermon Bushrod 2012-13; G Jahri Evans 2010-13; C Jonathan Goodwin 2010; G Carl Nicks 2011-12 and T Jon Stinchcomb 2010) and New Orleans was tied for the fewest sacks in the NFL with 96. He was a member of the 2009 coaching staff that captured the Super Bowl XLIV title. A native of Sandusky, OH, Kromer played offensive tackle for Miami (Ohio) from 1986 to 1989.
Sanjay Lal (Wide Receivers): Lal enters his first year with the Bills and his ninth season in the NFL in 2015, after spending the past three seasons with the New York Jets. Prior to his time in New York, Lal spent five seasons with the Oakland Raiders, the last three as wide receivers coach. During the 2014 season, Lal helped incorporate Eric Decker in to the wide receivers group and coached him to 74 receptions for 962 yards and five touchdowns. Lal came to the Jets after spending time with the Raiders (2007-11), University of California (2004-06), Saint Mary’s College (2004), Los Medanos College (2003) and Miramonte (CA) High School (1996-02). Lal played wide receiver at the University of Washington and was a Husky Hall of Fame selection. He was on the Huskies 1992 National Championship team and a member of two Rose Bowl teams.
Anthony Lynn (Assistant Head Coach/Running Backs): Lynn enters his first year with the Bills and his 16th year in the NFL. Lynn spent six seasons with the Jets overseeing the running backs and adding the title of assistant head coach in 2013. From 2009 – 2013, the Jets running game produced an NFL-leading 137.0 yards per game . Prior to joining the Jets, Lynn coached running backs for the Browns (2007-08), Cowboys (2005-06) and Jaguars (2003-04). Lynn entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with the Giants in 1992, spending six seasons in the league—including three with the Denver Broncos winning back-to-back Super Bowl championships (XXXII, XXXIII).
D’Anton Lynn (Defensive Assistant): Lynn enters his third season in the NFL in 2015, after spending the past two seasons with the New York Jets. He spent time with the scouting department in 2013 before joining the coaching staff as a seasonal intern in 2014. Prior to joining the coaching ranks, Lynn was signed by the Jets as an undrafted free agent as a defensive back out of Penn State in 2012 and was with the team in the 2012 training camp. Lynn also briefly played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL in 2013. Lynn played cornerback at Penn State from 2008-11 and was a three-time All-Big Ten honorable mention selection.
Chris Palmer (Senior Offensive Assistant): Palmer comes to Buffalo with 22 years of NFL coaching experience. He last was the offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans in 2011 and 2012. Over his career, Palmer spent two seasons as the head coach for the Cleveland Browns and seven seasons as an offensive coordinator with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans. He led the Titans to the fourth highest passing yardage total (3,923 net yards) in franchise history in 2011. From 2007-09, Palmer was the quarterbacks coach for the New York Giants. He worked with Eli Manning and helped to guide 2008 edition of the Giants to a Super Bowl XLII title and Manning earned MVP honors for the game. Palmer has worked in a total of four professional leagues (NFL, UFL, USFL, CFL) and has 15 years of experience in the college ranks as well.
The Bills also announced that Kurt Anderson (Assistant Offensive Line), Donnie Henderson (Defensive Backs), Jason Rebrovich (Outside Linebackers) and Jason Vrable (Offensive Quality Control) will be retained.
