The Buffalo Bills are targeting Oklahoma cornerbacks coach Jay Valai for a co-defensive coordinator role, according to a report Sunday from Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports. Valai and new Bills defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard are both former Wisconsin defensive backs, though they did not play together -- Leonhard's career finished in 2004, and Valai's began in 2006.
Valai operated a sports training facility for six years after his playing career finished in 2010, but he's been a fast riser since first taking a quality control role at Georgia in 2016. After two seasons under Kirby Smart, Valai spent 2018 as a quality control for the Kansas City Chiefs, and then took four college jobs in the four seasons after that: Rutgers, Texas, Alabama, and Oklahoma.
In one three-week span in 2021, Valai was the cornerbacks coach for the University of Houston, the Philadelphia Eagles, and Alabama.
He's been with Brent Venables's Oklahoma staff for all four years in Norman, and Venables has kept the in-demand Valai for four years now by continuing to add seniority and responsibility to his workload. Valai's official title for the Sooners: assistant head coach for defense, co-defensive coordinator, pass game coordinator, and cornerbacks and nickels coach.
Valai has been a key candidate for the open defensive backs job at Notre Dame, but could opt for the NFL instead. He would be the assistant head coach for defense and co-defensive coordinator in Buffalo.
Stay tuned.