In case you were wondering if the pipeline from Charlotte to Western New York was still in use . . .
According to ESPN senior NFL insider Adam Schefter, the Buffalo Bills are set to hire Chris Tabor as their special teams coordinator. The 53-year-old, who did not coach in the NFL this past season, spent the previous two campaigns with the Carolina Panthers.
Tabor, under then-head coach Matt Rhule, was hired as Carolina’s special teams coordinator in 2022. Despite Rhule’s firing in the middle of that season, Tabor stuck on with the Panthers and new head coach Frank Reich into 2023.
Reich, like Rhule, wouldn’t last—as he was dismissed 11 games into his first year in Carolina. Tabor would then take over as the team’s interim head coach for the final six games.
Carolina’s special teams, per Rick Gosselin’s annual rankings, finished as the NFL’s fourth-best unit in 2022 and the ninth-worst in 2023.
Before his stint with the Panthers, Tabor compiled 11 years of experience as a special teams coordinator—coaching for the Cleveland Browns (2011 to 2017) and Chicago Bears (2018 to 2021).