Uncredited/Associated Press 
 
 The Buffalo Bills have announced the hiring of Kathryn Smith as a quality control assistant under head coach Rex Ryan, which makes her "the first full-time female assistant coach in NFL history." Smith is the first female to be named to a full-time coaching position in NFL history. Smith issued a statement on Thursday regarding the news, via NFL on ESPN: 
 
 "I just like the way she is," head coach Rex Ryan said Friday, per Joe Buscaglia of WKBW. “She certainly deserves this promotion based on her knowledge and strong commitment, just to name a couple of her outstanding qualities, and I just know she’s going to do a great job serving in the role of Quality Control-Special Teams.” 
 
 “Kathryn has been working in a football administrative role and assisted the assistant coaches for years. She has proven that she’s ready for the next step, so I’m excited and proud for her with this opportunity. She will work with Danny Crossman and Eric Smith involving a number of responsibilities.” 
 
 “I consulted with Bruce Arians on this since he was really the first NFL head coach to make this kind of move when he hired a female linebackers coach through the summer. You can see the success some of these young ladies are having in the coaching profession, such as the young lady that is an assistant to Coach (Gregg) Popovich at the San Antonio Spurs, and realize how exciting this is for women like Kathryn Smith as well as the Bills organization.” 
 
 Smith, who will enter her 14th year in the NFL next season, joins the Bills coaching ranks after spending 2015 as the team’s administrative assistant to the head coach. She held an administrative assistant position each of the last two seasons, and before that she worked within the New York Jets' player personnel department. Smith originally began her career in 2003 as a Jets gameday/special events intern. She became a college scouting intern in 2005 before being promoted to player personnel assistant in 2007 and going on to be named assistant to the head coach in 2014.
– The Buffalo Bills made a power run through a glass ceiling on Wednesday by hiring Kathryn Smith, the first full-time female member of coaching staff in NFL history. Smith, who has worked in the NFL since 2003 and joined the Bills last year as an administrative assistant to head coach Rex Ryan, is the new special teams quality control coach, reports the Buffalo News. She started out at the New York Jets, where she became a player personnel assistant in 2007 and was promoted to assistant to the head coach in 2014. "She certainly deserves this promotion based on her knowledge and strong commitment, just to name a couple of her outstanding qualities, and I just know she's going to do a great job serving in the role of quality control-special teams," Ryan said in a Bills press release. Her hire is a big step for the NFL, Bleacher Report notes, although there are already full-time female coaches in MLB and the NBA, leaving the NHL with some catching up to do. (Last summer, the Arizona Cardinals made Jen Welter the first woman to hold any kind of coaching position in the NFL.)