Perry Fewell is an American football coach. He currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Officiating Administration for the National Football League's officiating department. Before that, he served as the interim head coach and defensive coordinator of the NFL's Buffalo Bills. He was named interim head coach after serving as the team's defensive coordinator from 2006 to 2009 under head coach Dick Jauron. Between his stints with the Bills and Redskins, Fewell was the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants for five seasons. After working as the Jacksonville Jaguars' defensive backs coach, he joined the Carolina Panthers in the same position, and eventually worked as Carolina's interim head coach.
Fewell entered the NFL as the defensive backs coach for Tom Coughlin in 1998 and stayed there through 2002. Jacksonville's pass defense ranked third in the NFL in 1999 and two years later the Jaguars gave up only 13 touchdown passes.
St. Louis Rams
In 2003, Fewell moved to St. Louis, where he was the secondary coach of the Rams.
Fewell was hired as defensive coordinator of the Buffalo Bills in 2006. In what was statistically their best season under Fewell, the 2008 Bills defense ranked 2nd in the AFC in negative yardage plays, recorded 7 games of holding opposing offenses to less than 100 yards rushing, finished 4th in the NFL in red zone defense, and allowed just 14 passing TDs all year. In Week 10 of the 2009 season, the Bills fired head coach Dick Jauron after a 3–6 start and Fewell was appointed interim head coach. He led Buffalo to a 3–4 finish. Following the season finale, the Bills fired their entire coaching staff, including Fewell.
New York Giants
On January 14, 2010, Fewell was hired as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. Fewell served under head coach Tom Coughlin, under whom Fewell previously worked during his time with the Jacksonville Jaguars. On February 5, 2012, the Giants defeated the New England Patriots 21–17 to win Super Bowl XLVI. Under his leadership, the Giants defense was often criticized for being "off and soft", allowing other teams to come back into games they should not have been able to. On January 7, 2015, the Giants and Perry Fewell parted ways after he spent five years in charge of the defense.
Fewell served as defensive backs coach for the Washington Redskins for two seasons.
Return to the Jacksonville Jaguars
After Tom Coughlin returned to the Jacksonville Jaguars as the Executive Vice President of Football Operations, Fewell was brought in to act as the defensive backs coach on Doug Marrone's staff.
Carolina Panthers
Fewell was named the secondary coach of the Carolina Panthers on January 15, 2019. He was named interim head coach on December 3, 2019, following the dismissal of Ron Rivera.
NFL Officiating
In 2020, Fewell joined the NFL's officiating department as Senior Vice President of Officiating Administration.
