Less than 48 hours after officially taking his new position, Rex Ryan is starting to fill his staff.
Offensive coordinator Greg Roman is departing the 49ers to take the same position with the Buffalo Bills, the team announced on Wednesday.
Roman makes the move from the West Coast to Western New York to join Ryan, recently hired to replace Doug Marrone, who chose to opt out of his contract.
Of teams with vacancies, Buffalo appears to be the one acting with the most conviction, quickly hiring Ryan and making changes to the rest of the staff. Buffalo now pairs one of the best defensive minds in the game today with a coach who has found some success as a coordinator.
Also joining the list of coaching changes in Orchard Park is Jim Schwartz, who might be lucky enough to greet Roman as he heads the opposite way through the door after being terminated by the Bills on Tuesday.
It will be interesting to see how Roman works with quarterback EJ Manuel, who showed some promise during his rookie season before it was undercut by recurring injury issues. But his second campaign never got off the ground after showing wild inconsistency in preseason outings that were so poor, Buffalo was projected to be one of the worst teams in the NFL.
Noticing a stopgap was needed -- possibly to save the job he ultimately chose to leave -- Marrone signed Orton out of retirement, leading the Bills to a 9-7 record while Manuel watched from the bench, as he was pulled after four starts. With a new coach and coordinator now in place, though, Manuel may have a second chance at finding success as the Bills' starter.
Roman spent the last four seasons with the 49ers as their offensive coordinator, running an offense that saw more than a few tweaks to its philosophy following a major switch at quarterback. Colin Kaepernick's inclusion into the Niners' offense made it a dangerous unit, combining with one of the league's best defenses to make a run to Super Bowl XLVII in 2012.
The Bay Area bliss didn't last forever, as Roman was often under fire in 2014, receiving plenty of criticism as Kaepernick and San Francisco struggled to an 8-8 record.
Roman is the first coordinator to depart San Francisco since the mutual parting of ways between the organization and head coach Jim Harbaugh, who landed quickly at the University of Michigan.
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