The defensive coaching mass exodus continue unfolding at One Bills Drive, with news on Thursday that Marcus West, who was the team’s defensive line coach, is heading to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the same capacity, per a report by Greg Auman.
West was a key member of former head coach Sean McDermott’s coaching staff, having coached Buffalo’s defensive linemen the previous two seasons. As Auman points out, the Bills finished top 10 in total defense three out of the four seasons West was on McDermott’s staff.
West joined the Bills in 2022, his first as an NFL coach, working as the team’s assistant defensive line coach through the 2023 season. At 42 years old, much of West’s coaching experience has come at the college ranks — beginning with Wartburg in 2008, where he cut his teeth as a defensive line coach. West would go on to coach in a similar capacity with Chattanooga from 2009 through 2015 before a move to Austin Peay for the title of assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach from 2016 through 2017.
He then accepted a position as a defensive line pass rush specialist with Minnesota for the 2018 college football season before his last collegiate stop at Charlotte where he again held the title of assistant head coach/co-defensive coordinator/defensive line coach.
The 6’3”, 280-pound West was an undrafted defensive lineman out of Memphis who was part of the Indianapolis Colts’ 2006 summer roster before carving out a short career with a pair of teams in the CFL during the league’s 2007 season.
