Measuring the quality of NFL coaching is difficult. Beyond win-loss record, there are no stats. No wins above replacement or adjusted wins, either -- just wins, losses and the occasional tie.
As such, judging the quality of a coaching staff is largely an exercise in anecdote and inference. It's not hard to infer that Kyle Shanahan is a really good offensive coach -- we have the stats for his offenses, and we sure do have a lot of them. But riddling it out for Nick Caley (first-time coordinator), Mike McDaniel (great only with his starting quarterback) and Kevin O'Connell (unbelievable without his starting quarterback) is a lot trickier.
Then there's the stuff that happens behind closed doors -- the locker room management, the building of a staff, the construction of game plans. I can't tell you exactly what happened in the Eagles' locker room over the past two years, but I can tell you that Nick Sirianni has toiled to keep that room together and deserves his flowers for it. I can't tell you how good Dan Campbell's new coordinator hires will be just yet, but I can tell you he has earned a reputation as a great developer of coaches. Again, we can't really measure this. We just have to assess the vibe.
With the limitations of the exercise in mind, here are some more considerations:
Employing an elite, offensive playcalling head coach is the meta. I usually try to do rankings such as these in a vacuum, but there is no escaping the gravitational pull of an elite playcaller at the head coaching spot. Whoever calls a team's offensive plays might not be the single most important aspect of a staff's collective efforts, but it's definitely the aspect easiest to measure from the outside looking in. Securing a good playcaller as a head coach is the easiest way to ensure a functional coaching staff.
Particularly in the case of elite offensive designers, such as Sean McVay or Shanahan, we know that they can scheme around talent deficiencies in a way that few of their peers can -- that's an enormous, floor-raising effect. This is a self-evident truth: O'Connell won Coach of the Year last season for a reason, folks.
Special teams coordinator and (most) positional coaches don't have an impact here. It's not because they don't have an impact on a team's season -- they absolutely do! It's just impossible to create a fair ranking of special teams coordinators from the outside looking in, where our data on special teams is very limited, and the lack of public visibility on the role makes it further difficult to riddle out a ranking.
Similarly, I'm sure there's a best wide receivers coach out there (and a worst, and a 19th-best), but I can't fairly make that ranking, so I tried to avoid it entirely. There are some positional coaches who are so inescapably valuable to their team and have been so over the years -- Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and 49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek -- that their presence was baked into the rankings. But mostly as a tiebreaker, and only when their value was as plain as the nose on my face.
This is more a ranking of known to unknown rather than a ranking of good to bad. Thirty-two coaching staffs in the league, and while I understand that 16 of them have to be "below average" by mathematical law, it sure doesn't feel that way. I have the Bengals, Colts, Dolphins, Patriots and Browns as "below average" in this year's rankings, but not one of them is prohibitive to team success. In fact, all five have legitimately contributed to their teams overachieving in recent seasons.
So it's not the top of the list that's challenging -- it's the bottom. First-year staffs inevitably trickle down to the lowest ranks, even though at least one staff (and probably more) will just end up doing some of the best coaching this season. It's just impossible to argue Aaron Glenn and Tanner Engstrand over Jonathan Gannon and Drew Petzing until we actually see something from Glenn and Engstrand.
Just know that I don't really think any team has the 31st-best coaching staff in football (32nd I feel pretty good about). I just can't submit several consecutive "tied for 20th" rankings. I tried, and they didn't let me.
Let's get into my rankings of all 32 coaching staffs for this season. The head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator are listed for each team, as well as my ranking from this piece last year.
Jump to a team:
ARI | ATL | BAL | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN
CLE | DAL | DEN | DET | GB | HOU | IND
JAX | KC | LAC | LAR | LV | MIA | MIN
NE | NO | NYG | NYJ | PHI | PIT | SF
SEA | TB | TEN | WSH
32. New York Giants
Head coach: Brian Daboll
Offensive coordinator: Mike Kafka
Defensive coordinator: Shane Bowen
2024 ranking: 24
While the offensive brain trust of Daboll and Kafka has yet to string together multiple seasons of above-average offense, there are pockets of innovation. It's not much to hang a hat on, but if and when we see Jaxson Dart this season at quarterback, I expect the team to have some smart, easy ways to get him into a rhythm and involved in the running game. I can at least see the visions in New York, even if the plane often struggles to get off the ground.
I have a warmer appreciation for Bowen, who is always willing to get creative with alignment and coverages to solve personnel problems on the back end. The 2024 Giants' defense was definitely poor, but they have overhauled the secondary and added to the pass rush this offseason, so I'm happy reserving a stronger judgment for Year 2.
As it is, the best defensive season for Bowen was with the 2022 Titans, which was just above a league-average unit. Of course, Daboll's best seasons came with the much-improved Josh Allen at the helm in Buffalo -- otherwise, his best work was the 2022 season with Daniel Jones, which was also a league-average unit. And again, critically, was not sustained, developed or iterated on. It's tough to believe in a high ceiling with the Giants' current staff.
31. Jacksonville Jaguars
Head coach: Liam Coen
Offensive coordinator: Grant Udinski
Defensive coordinator: Anthony Campanile
2024 ranking: 18
The Jaguars don't deserve to be here. They really don't. To be fair, I had the Commanders at this spot in 2024, and that looks tectonically dumb now -- so maybe it's a blessed spot. But the Jaguars rank this low simply because of how inexperienced and unproven this staff is. Coen's first season calling plays in an NFL game was last season; he has only five years of NFL coaching experience heading into this job. Don't get me wrong -- he absolutely shredded it. Tampa was in the top five in pretty much every offensive metric we've got, but we know that offensive ingenuity does not always spell head coaching success (see team 19 for further details).
While other first-time coaches on this list have pursued veteran forces to join their staff -- Staley, Wilks, Eberflus -- the Jaguars went the other way. Udinski is 29 years old and first joined the NFL coaching ranks in 2020, serving as the Vikings' assistant quarterbacks coach in 2023 and assistant offensive coordinator in 2024. Campanile was a long-time college coach who joined the league in 2020, and this will be his first time calling defensive plays at the NFL level.
I am the last person to believe that tenure in the league guarantees competency or predicts improvement. If the Jaguars went through a thoughtful search and landed on these guys as coaching talents, then kudos to them. But from the outside looking in, it's hard to find a staff with a lower floor than the Jaguars', simply because of the inexperience. Coaching is about solving problems on the fly, and it's many years at the mast that make steady hands at the helm. The start might be rocky in Jacksonville.
30. New Orleans Saints
Head coach: Kellen Moore
Offensive coordinator: Doug Nussmeier
Defensive coordinator: Brandon Staley
2024 ranking: 29
The biggest question mark for Moore, who was a fine offensive coordinator even before his Eagles stint in 2024, is the obvious one: What does this look like when you're no longer calling plays behind the best offensive line in football? It's worth noting that while you can't take Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland with you, you can take one of his assistants. T.J. Paganetti is the new running game coordinator in New Orleans after eight seasons in Philadelphia.
Moore adjusted nicely for Jalen Hurts but typically runs a pocket-oriented, heavy dropback passing game that puts a lot of strain on the quarterback. I'm interested to see how that maps onto two young passers in Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough. I'm also interested in the return of Staley to the defensive coordinator position.
Staley's time as the head coach of the Chargers was fraught with key mistakes in game management and personnel upheaval, but the bones of the defense were always sound. His style of defense has spread across the league even as he has fallen out of the national eye. But this Saints defensive depth chart is not suited for his two-deep, cautious coverage, patient play style. Moore and Staley both need to coach out of their comfort zones to get a lot out of this Saints team in 2025.
29. Dallas Cowboys
Head coach: Brian Schottenheimer
Offensive coordinator: Klayton Adams
Defensive coordinator: Matt Eberflus
2024 ranking: 16
I didn't think I would need to brush off the old Schottenheimer stats from back when he was coordinating the Seahawks' offense for Russell Wilson and fans were beseeching Pete Carroll to pass the football, but here we go: Schottenheimer has been an offensive coordinator for 14 seasons in the league. Six with the Jets, three each with the Rams and Seahawks, then the last two in Dallas.
Schottenheimer called plays in 12 of those 14 seasons, but if we look at all 14, his average success rate on offense is 42.9% -- the league average last year was 43.5%. His offenses score an average of 1.85 points per drive -- the league average last year was 1.91. As far as expected points added per play, Schottenheimer's offenses literally average out to 0.00.
That's not to say the Cowboys' offense will be average -- in fact, the personnel matches up nicely with Schottenheimer's preferred offense (between-the-tackles running game, vertical routes in the passing game). It's just tough to argue Schottenheimer as an elevator of the Cowboys' offense, when we have a large body of work to show otherwise. Has he grown from his time coordinating the 2006 Jets? Without question, and hopefully that growth -- and his first time in the head chair -- leads to some pleasant surprises.
I struggle to get too excited about Eberflus as defensive coordinator, as Eberflus' defenses tend to look strong against bad opponents but struggle against elite quarterbacks. Simple scheme -- easy to find space. Adams at offensive coordinator, however, is exciting for the football hipsters. Previously the Cardinals' running game coordinator, Adams has a deep bag of quirky rushing schemes. An injection of creativity on the ground could be big for Schottenheimer's offense.
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28. New York Jets
Head coach: Aaron Glenn
Offensive coordinator: Tanner Engstrand
Defensive coordinator: Steve Wilks
2024 ranking: 19
Four first-time head coaches make up the bottom five teams in this exercise, but it's worth remembering that the cellar-dwelling coaching staffs here aren't so much bad as they are unknown. Glenn has never been a head coach. I loved his work as a defensive coordinator -- he is aggressive and challenges top offenses, he has proven capable of coaching around injury, his players absolutely love him -- but he has never been a head coach. The hire of Wilks was a smart one, as it will allow Glenn to take a lighter hand in preparing the defense and a heavier hand as the CEO of the team.
Engstrand, a first-time OC, has one of the more interesting jobs facing any offensive coordinator this season. He was most recently the passing game coordinator in Detroit, which was heavily predicated on a pocket passer in Jared Goff lining up under center and taking deep play-action dropbacks. In New York, Engstrand must build an entire offense for Fields, a true dual-threat quarterback who has yet to demonstrate Goff's sweet middle-of-the-field touch or pocket management that Goff offered. The offense has to be different with the Jets if Fields is to succeed.
I expect the Jets to play tons of young players, focus on development and not necessarily rack up wins in Year 1. But even when the Lions were 0-10-1 in their first season under Dan Campbell, it was clear the coaching staff had something cooking. I think we can see the same thing again in New York.
27. Tennessee Titans
Head coach: Brian Callahan
Offensive coordinator: Nick Holz
Defensive coordinator: Dennard Wilson
2024 ranking: 28
If someone stopped me on the street and said, "What do you think of the Titans' coaching staff?" I'd easily respond "I kinda like 'em!" I know enough of Callahan's efforts in Cincinnati with Joe Burrow to understand that the offense he ran for Will Levis last year wasn't his dream system. Rather, it was a fine attempt to build a system around a player's strengths.
While it bore no fruit for Levis, their running game looked surprisingly cogent for Tony Pollard and that offensive line, which could become a really good group under the elder Callahan's positional coaching. Meanwhile, on defense, Dennard Wilson was drawing blood from a stone. On paper, the Titans had the sort of defensive personnel that could have fairly spelled disaster. Six different linebackers took at least 100 snaps; a rookie fifth-round pick (Jarvis Brownlee Jr.) started at cornerback and a rookie second-round pick (T'Vondre Sweat) started at tackle. But the unit held its own despite the youth and upheaval -- 12th in success rate, 21st in EPA per play.
The Titans had the first overall pick in this past draft, so the Titans' coaching staff can't be that good yet. But as far as 27th overall coaching staffs go, this is one of my favorites.
26. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Head coach: Todd Bowles
Offensive coordinator: Josh Grizzard
Defensive coordinator: Kefense Hynson
2024 ranking: 22
Come with me to a magical land in which Liam Coen actually stayed as the Bucs' OC this season (too soon, Bucs fans?) They'd probably be 12th or 13th on this list -- maybe even higher. It'd be much easier to look beyond Bowles, a cautious game manager who regularly settles for field goals and extra points when he should hunt touchdowns and two-point conversions, if Coen's rockstar offense were returning. But it isn't, so those little margins from the head coach glare all the more.
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I'm very excited to see what Grizzard, who has the vibe of a whiz kid, does at the helm. Last year's passing game coordinator, he had a huge hand in the Buccaneers' league-leading third-down offense and spent some time under Mike McDaniel (the whizziest kid himself) in Miami before he joined the Buccaneers' staff last season. Color me intrigued.
But even if Grizzard has the goods, it will be difficult to replicate just how prolific the Buccaneers' offense was last season. Tampa needs more from Bowles' in-game decision-making, and he needs more from his defense. Tampa gave up more than 2.0 points per drive last season for the first time since 2019, Bowles' first year as defensive coordinator. Against the pass, their 0.11 EPA surrendered per dropback was the worst for any Bowles defense since the 2016 Jets.
25. Atlanta Falcons
Head coach: Raheem Morris
Offensive coordinator: Zac Robinson
Defensive coordinator: Jeff Ulbrich
2024 ranking: 21
This is a very strong candidate for "ranking that will most make me look dumb in a few months." Morris, Robinson, and Ulbrich have all been in charge of very successful units, very recently. Ulbrich was the defensive coordinator for a stellar Jets defense over the past few seasons, but now we have to see him away from Robert Saleh. Robinson showed good creativity in his first year away from the McVay incubator, but he could never solve the problems presented to him by Kirk Cousins' lack of mobility.
And then there's Morris, who I think is an excellent personnel manager and creative defensive mind on the chalkboard. But the game management last season was brutal. The timeout mistake against the Commanders drew the biggest headline, but there was another the following week against the Panthers. I'd be more willing to offer a pass if it were really Morris' first time in the job, but he has been a head coach before. Granted, it was a long time ago, but that's the point. In 2025, when so many resources can be dedicated to optimal timeout usage and clock management, it's just not acceptable to make these mistakes.
The Falcons are relying on a lot of key youth -- Michael Penix Jr., Jalon Walker, James Pearce Jr., Ruke Orhorhoro -- to power a return to the postseason. If they get the job done, it will be a triumph of coaching, and the No. 25 will look very silly next to their name.
24. Carolina Panthers
Head coach: Dave Canales
Offensive coordinator: Brad Idzik
Defensive coordinator: Ejiro Evero
2024 ranking: 27
One of the better coaching jobs across the league last season was the work Dave Canales and Brad Idzik did pulling out of the tailspin that was the Week 3 benching of Bryce Young and Week 8 Andy Dalton car accident, which led to the return of Young to the starting lineup. Young looked like a viable NFL quarterback down the stretch, when he began the season looking like that would never be in the cards.
Still, it's tough to get the Panthers much higher than this until we see what it looks like for a second season. The best thing they did on offense wasn't so much improving Young's play as it was improving the running game around Young. The reloaded offensive line, along with Canales and Idzik's commitment to heavy personnel and under-center, downhill runs, created a steady grind of moderate gains. When you pound the rock, you create easier reads for a young quarterback, and all of a sudden, those one-on-one downfield opportunities fill the kid with confidence. Can they continue to get that caliber of play out of Chuba Hubbard? Can they put more on Young's plate? The offense is still growing.
I've long been an Ejiro Evero fan, and the Panthers had plenty of defensive injuries last season, but I still have to dock some points for that dreadful showing. Dead last in points per drive allowed, success rate and EPA per play. The good news? Tons of reinforcements have arrived, both via free agency and the draft. Evero actually has tools to work with this time around.
23. Arizona Cardinals
Head coach: Jonathan Gannon
Offensive coordinator: Drew Petzing
Defensive coordinator: Nick Rallis
2024 ranking: 20
The Cardinals would be much, much higher in the "coaching staffs who do cool stuff" rankings. Gannon, who kept it fairly simple during his time as the Eagles defensive coordinator, has teamed up with Rallis to sow chaos in the defensive backfield with spinning, shifting three-safety looks -- really unique stuff at this level. Similarly, Petzing has built a multifarious running game out of heavy sets and a thunder-and-lightning backfield of running back James Conner and quarterback Kyler Murray.
At some point, there has to be some fruit on these funky trees. Arizona is 12-22 under Gannon and has failed to make a postseason -- make it three years running, and the seat starts to get hot. There was positive momentum from 2022 to 2023, especially on offense. The Cardinals were sixth in success rate and ninth in points per drive, largely on the back of the NFL's most explosive rushing attack. But they can't throw their way back into games, which is a glaring issue for an offense with a second-contract quarterback. And they have to throw their way into a lot of games, with a defense 30th in success rate.
One silver lining in the shaky defensive performance: The Cardinals were ninth in defensive red zone efficiency, regularly turning long drives into field goal attempts. If the retooled defensive line can win a few more passing downs on those long, bending-but-not-breaking drives, the Cardinals should take a step forward.
22. Chicago Bears
Head coach: Ben Johnson
Offensive coordinator: Declan Doyle
Defensive coordinator: Dennis Allen
2024 ranking: 25
I would usually hesitate to stick a first-time head coach this high, but I can't look you in the face and say, "I'd rather have the Cardinals or Panthers or Falcons staff over this group." Johnson has deservedly been the apple of the league's eye for a few coaching searches now. Yes, plenty of great offensive minds have tried and failed at the CEO position. But Johnson learned under one of the best in Dan Campbell, and he has taken this process from coordinator to head coach slowly and carefully. Those are positive, albeit early signs.
Also a good sign: Getting Allen at defensive coordinator. Last year's unit was a league-average group, but the Saints were a top-10 defense by points per drive surrendered and success rate with Allen at the helm from 2021-2023. It might take some time to onboard the current personnel into the defensive structure, as I'm not sure Allen has the man coverage guys he needs just yet. But eventually, I'm confident Allen can build a consistent top-10 defense for Chicago.
Perhaps I'm too far out on a limb here -- the four other first-year coaches are within the bottom-five teams on this list. But if I have to plant a flag, this Bears staff feels like the right group for it.
21. Cleveland Browns
Head coach: Kevin Stefanski
Offensive coordinator: Tommy Rees
Defensive coordinator: Jim Schwartz
2024 ranking: 13
Stefanski did some awesome work in 2020. The Browns had one of the most versatile running games in football, and they were booting and rolling young quarterback Baker Mayfield to great effect.
It is now 2025, and I'm sad to report that the half-life of that excellent season has officially hit. Reports are that Stefanski is hoping to return to the offense that was best for him, back to his roots as a Gary Kubiak disciple. It's the right call for his personnel, but I need to see another season such as the 2020 one before I confidently say Stefanski can continue to outscheme opposing defenses on a week-to-week basis. It's not fair to him -- he has been hamstrung by the Browns' quarterbacking foibles -- but it's the nature of the game.
My lingering Stefanski belief, who remains a quality in-game manager, is the smaller part of the puzzle. Most of the Browns' ranking belongs to Schwartz, who is one of the league's best defensive coordinators. Schwartz's defense crashed back to earth in 2024 after leading the league in many metrics in 2023, but that's the nature of his system -- they play a simple defense and let their guys be better, faster, stronger than opposing guys for four quarters. It's not perfect (they need a better game plan for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens, for instance) but when you have Myles Garrett, it's the right way to row the boat.
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20. New England Patriots
Head coach: Mike Vrabel
Offensive coordinator: Josh McDaniels
Defensive coordinator: Terrell Williams
2024 ranking: 30
Vrabel is a good head coach who will quickly return competency to the head position in New England. That is as clear as day. However, I think some estimations of the impact he had in Tennessee -- and will have in New England -- have overreached.
Vrabel went 54-45 as the head coach of the Titans. He won the division twice in six years, made three postseasons and went 2-2 in four playoff games. Vrabel was more of a CEO head coach with the Titans, but he also has a big hand in the defense, and his defenses weren't perennially above average over those six seasons -- 13th in points per drive surrendered, 16th in success rate and 17th in EPA per play.
Now, if we get back into the nitty-gritty of his stretch with Tennessee, we're reminded of why he has fostered his reputation as a quality head coach. He did all of this work with Marcus Mariota and Ryan Tannehill at quarterback. He oversaw the ascension of Derrick Henry and A.J. Brown into star offensive players; Jeffery Simmons into a star defensive one. He endured multiple offensive coordinator changes and regularly found strong playcallers underneath him. He's definitely good at this, though he hasn't yet earned a Pete Carroll- or Mike Tomlin-esque reputation as a franchise builder.
Just as Vrabel is definitely good, I'm very confident that McDaniels is capable of coordinating a good offense. He obviously did it for a long time with Tom Brady, but it was more impressive with a declining Cam Newton and rookie Mac Jones. His head coaching stints have been perilous, but I am confident competency will return to the offensive approach in New England, which was toothless last season despite a strong rookie season from quarterback Drake Maye. What comes beyond competency, I'm not yet sure.
One of my favorite names for the 2025 breakout coordinator is Williams. A proven quality defensive line coach with Keion White, Christian Barmore and Milton Williams as the foundation of his defense? I'm excited to see it.
19. Miami Dolphins
Head coach: Mike McDaniel
Offensive coordinator: Frank Smith
Defensive coordinator: Anthony Weaver
2024 ranking: 9
Another year, another struggle to appropriately rank McDaniel. On the one hand, McDaniel's offense in Miami continues to push the boundary on what NFL offenses can achieve via design. Despite a poor offensive line, a quarterback who struggles on extended plays and with downfield accuracy, and a receiver room that lacks size, McDaniel continues to author offense by using speed in creative ways.
Critically, McDaniel isn't just sticking to the script. He's innovating as defenses catch up. For the second year in a row, Tagovailoa had the fastest time to throw -- three years ago, he was fourth quickest. But how far the ball is going has changed. In 2022, McDaniel's first season at the helm, a league-high 44.5% of Tua's throws were at least 10 yards downfield. Last year, it was 26.6% -- nearly halved. The stretch has gone from vertical to horizontal, and the passing game still hums.
Critically, it's only with Tagovailoa. McDaniel has built a spectacular offense for maximizing Tagovailoa's strengths -- the quick decisions, the lightning-fast release. But his backup quarterbacks can't maintain the offense when Tagovailoa gets hurt. Good offensive coaches can build a system, but great offensive coaches can bend it around personnel issues. That's still missing in Miami.
The fact that McDaniel never got the locker room and ex-defensive coordinator Vic Fangio aligned also looks worse for McDaniel the further we get from the falling out -- Fangio did some good work in Philadelphia last season, in case you missed it. The good news is Weaver was a quality defensive coordinator last season, which keeps the Dolphins ranked fairly highly here.
18. Indianapolis Colts
Head coach: Shane Steichen
Offensive coordinator: Jim Bob Cooter
Defensive coordinator: Lou Anarumo
2024 ranking: 11
Both Steichen and Anarumo are hanging their hats on seasons now long past. Steichen's best work was as the Eagles' offensive coordinator in 2022; Anarumo, with the Bengals' defense for a couple of seasons before that. How much longer can they trade on those peaks? I'm willing to allow for another year of belief.
Steichen's time coordinating offense for Anthony Richardson Sr. has been far from perfect, but his ability to elevate Gardner Minshew in 2023 gives me faith in his ability to scheme a respectable offense around Daniel Jones if he starts in 2025 -- lots of RPOs in spread formations to create easy reads.
Anarumo, on the other hand, is a bit more uncertain. His defense fell apart in Cincinnati in large part because of young players who weren't ready to be out on the field. Was that the product of bad drafting from the front office? Or did Anarumo need to do more to develop the youth by simplifying his complex, communication-heavy defense?
We'll learn a lot in Indianapolis, where solid veterans populate all three levels of the defense. If Anarumo can get a quick jump out of this group -- and I believe he's that caliber of coach -- then this staff belongs up here, just above average.
17. Cincinnati Bengals
Head coach: Zac Taylor
Offensive coordinator: Dan Pitcher
Defensive coordinator: Al Golden
2024 ranking: 14
I feel poorly about this. Last season, I had the Bengals ranked a few spots higher and called it a big prove-it year for Taylor. Joe Mixon and Brian Callahan had just left, both of the main receivers were seeking new contracts, and Joe Burrow was dealing with a throwing hand injury. I thought Taylor had been improving as a head coach, and I wanted to believe he was ready for that huge season as both a schemer and locker room manager -- and despite missing the playoffs, he impressed.
The Bengals were more creative on offense than they had ever been before, finally getting production out of the tight end position and elevating a scatback in Chase Brown to a successful full-time role. Also of note: improved decision-making. Cincinnati was second only to the Eagles in EPA gained by making the correct fourth-down decision. Taylor, whose tenure is weirdly the seventh-longest among head coaches (doesn't seem that way, does it?), has gotten better at the job year by year, and I want to give him his flowers for that.
Yet here they are at 17th, and it's because Taylor doesn't have the same impact on the offense that Matt LaFleur or Shanahan or McVay (or McDaniel or O'Connell, and so on) have. That, and I just don't know much how Al Golden will fare as an NFL defensive coordinator. There are reasons for faith. He was a great positional coach for Cincinnati when it reached Super Bowl LVI, and succeeded as a defensive playcaller in college. But he hasn't exactly received a full cupboard of personnel, so the ask is steep for a team in need of quick fixes on defense to return to contention.
I'll put it this way: The teams between No. 14 and No. 17 make up the toughest stretch of this exercise. You could jumble them up in any order and I'd believe it was the way I ranked them.
16. Seattle Seahawks
Head coach: Mike Macdonald
Offensive coordinator: Klint Kubiak
Defensive coordinator: Aden Durde
2024 ranking: 26
This is probably too low for the Seahawks (can I say that about my own piece?). Mike Macdonald got this defense roaring down the stretch despite being hamstrung by injuries and personnel issues. Seattle ended the season fifth in points per drive allowed behind four emphatic playoff defenses (Denver, Philadelphia, Chargers, Minnesota) and sixth in explosive play rate surrendered. With an offense that should be better at ball control and sustained drives, the bend-not-break philosophy will shine next season.
The Seahawks made an offensive coordinator change, moving on from Ryan Grubb to hire Kubiak. I mark a Year 1 coordinator change against Macdonald a bit, though you could argue it's a good sign that he didn't stick to his decision to ride a dropback-heavy, college-inspired spread offense. The Seahawks failed to help their poor offensive line last season, and a new system was needed to account for that personnel limitation.
Kubiak looked like the next big thing for a couple of weeks last season in New Orleans before offensive line (then wide receiver, then quarterback) injuries lampooned a fiery start for the Saints' offense. He should bring a nice floor as a Shanahan disciple, but the ceiling remains to be seen -- especially with offensive personnel that doesn't fit the Shanahan meta all that well.
15. Pittsburgh Steelers
Head coach: Mike Tomlin
Offensive coordinator: Arthur Smith
Defensive coordinator: Teryl Austin
2024 ranking: 7
From August to February, there are few coaches I would rather have with me in the foxhole than Tomlin. No coach has a longer history of his teams punching above their weight than Tomlin's Steelers. Pittsburgh's defense is, for seemingly the 137th season in a row, a reflection of its coach: tirelessly tough, prepared for the key moment and never out of the fight.
It's tempting to leave it there, but Tomlin's influence on the Steelers' disinterested approach to the quarterback position is impossible to ignore. It is unfeasible to win in the modern NFL without treating quarterback as what it is -- an exceptional position that must be given exceptional resources. For his (however small) part in the Steelers' organizational direction toward stopgap quarterback options, Tomlin gets dinged.
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Austin has done well on the defensive side of the ball for multiple seasons now. Smith is the bigger question mark. The last time we saw his offense excel relative to its personnel was in the late 2010s/early 2020s with the Titans. That offense was an under-center, run-heavy, play-action oriented system -- the exact opposite of the offensive style Aaron Rodgers prefers.
A massive offensive overhaul has occurred since last season -- a new WR1, a new TE1, an entirely reimagined line and potentially a new RB1. Smith has to make something from scratch here, and my faith in his ability to do so is only moderate.
14. Los Angeles Chargers
Head coach: Jim Harbaugh
Offensive coordinator: Greg Roman
Defensive coordinator: Jesse Minter
2024 ranking: 17
Let's sing the praises of Minter for a moment. The Chargers' leading snap-getters at cornerback were Kristian Fulton (one-year veteran contract), Tarheeb Still (a fifth-round rookie) and Cam Hart (also a fifth-round rookie), but the defense was sixth in the league in EPA per dropback allowed and third in explosive pass rate allowed. Structurally, the Chargers played tons of zone and shell coverage, but to do so with inexperienced players and a first-time NFL playcaller was a huge ask. Offenses started to catch up later in the season, but Minter showed in Year 1 that he has the goods.
Why, then, are the Chargers 14th? Because I continue to struggle with Roman-led offenses, as I did during his time in Baltimore. Roman is known as a running game savant, but the Chargers' 7.6% explosive run rate was the lowest for any of his 11 seasons as an offensive coordinator. He has been at his best when including mobile quarterbacks in the rushing scheme -- Colin Kaepernick, Lamar Jackson. With Justin Herbert under center, he has lacked that tool in his toolbox, and his rushing attack has suffered.
It isn't all bad. The Chargers endured running back injuries and poor interior play, but as that gets better, Roman's running game should look better. He still doesn't bring much of a passing game, though -- a familiar complaint from his Baltimore days. Turn on the film, and you see heavy personnel creating dropbacks with only two or three live receivers, routes wasted on fullbacks and tight ends who don't present any danger with the ball in their hands. Poor spacing on too many familiar concepts. I need to see more from the Chargers offensive coordinator this season. (My apologies to Chargers fans, who are reading that sentence for seemingly the seventh offseason in a row.)
13. Washington Commanders
Head coach: Dan Quinn
Offensive coordinator: Kliff Kingsbury
Defensive coordinator: Joe Whitt Jr.
2024 ranking: 31
If I didn't know anything before last season about Quinn and Kingsbury, the Commanders would be much higher on this list. Both knocked the ball out of the park. Quinn's defense has evolved plenty from his days in Seattle and in Atlanta; it evolved again last season with a new chess piece in Frankie Luvu. Without an elite pass rusher or cover corner -- usually non-negotiables for a playoff run -- the Commanders got enough out of their defense to make the NFC Championship Game, in which they simply got outclassed.
But I've seen Quinn's defense enough against the top offensive schemes -- those of Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay and their ilk -- to know he still struggles against teams that can add bodies to the line of scrimmage, stretch the defense horizontally in the running game and then rip play-action passes behind. Quinn's status as a players-first coach and culture-setter is unimpeachable, but I'd like to see another season of this defense.
Similarly, I enjoyed Kingsbury's 2024 efforts more than any other Kingsbury edition in the NFL. I'd just like to see it again, please, before I get too far over my skis.
The Commanders ran a college-inspired offense heavy on packaged plays that allowed them to get into great playcalls at the line of scrimmage. Their screen game was perfectly executed; their QB run game was always a danger. But we know from the past 10 to 15 years of football that collegiate, option-oriented offenses can hit an upper bound on complexity and struggle once defenses get keyed into tendencies -- it happened to Kingsbury already in Arizona. Kingsbury stayed ahead of the curve last season, and I am cautiously optimistic for 2025. Emphasis on cautiously.
12. Houston Texans
Head coach: DeMeco Ryans
Offensive coordinator: Nick Caley
Defensive coordinator: Matt Burke
2024 ranking: 6
If the Lions are at No. 11 on the back of Dan Campbell, then the Texans make it to No. 12 on the back of Ryans, whom I would call the league's most underrated head coach. This past season, Ryans became only the eighth head coach to win a playoff game in each of his first two seasons. His impact on the defense is tenable -- the Texans play with an unmatched intensity, tackle extremely well and regularly show up against top opponents (other than the Baltimore Ravens, who admittedly have gotten Ryans' goat as of now). Ryans, like Campbell, is an elite culture-setter.
Even as the Houston offense came apart at the seams last season, Ryans kept the drama in-house, and the team pushed all the way to the divisional round. He waited until the offseason for the appropriate personnel and coaching changes.
What, then, does Caley bring to the offense? I like him on paper -- a Patriots lifer with a dash of McVay in his system spells a nifty offense. The problem facing him is clear: The Texans couldn't get opposing defenses out of shell coverage last season. C.J. Stroud attempted 50% of his passes against two-deep defenses, the sixth-highest rate in the league. The running game wasn't good enough, and the offense lacked fresh designs to counterpunch such coverages.
There are a couple of ways to skin that cat -- heavier personnel, tighter formations, better screen execution, more quick game. Should Caley find a couple of answers, expect this offense to leap right back to 2023 levels. But of course, it's never that easy. Starting running back Joe Mixon is already dealing with a foot injury of uncertain severity. Caley's job is as tough -- and as important -- as any other coordinator's this season.
11. Detroit Lions
Head coach: Dan Campbell
Offensive coordinator: John Morton
Defensive coordinator: Kelvin Sheppard
2024 ranking: 2
The trick in ranking the Lions is putting them low enough to acknowledge the loss of two excellent coordinators in Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, but not so low that Campbell makes me look like an idiot when he keeps this train chugging right along in 2025. No. 11 seems right.
Morton is not a total unknown. The offensive coordinator for the 2017 New York Jets (see how many starters you can name from that team before you keep reading), he got a highly respectable 3,000-yard, 18-touchdown season out of Josh McCown throwing to Robbie Chosen, Jermaine Kearse and Austin Seferian-Jenkins (Bilal Powell and Matt Forte split touches out of the backfield). Morton spent time under Sean Payton in New Orleans and dabbled in college under Pete Carroll and Steve Sarkisian at USC -- he isn't afraid to spread the field out, and he has a wide menu of passing concepts to hunt matchups. I'm excited to see what he does.
Sheppard is more of a mystery. A player as recently as 2018, he has only coached in Detroit under Glenn, so his coaching DNA is trickier to riddle out. Morton and Sheppard get the advantage of an excellent leader in Campbell, but also a sneaky good schematic mind -- Campbell had a much bigger hand in the development of Johnson's offense than is often appreciated. There will be an inevitable drop-off in playcalling from Glenn and Johnson, but I'm confident it'll be small.
10. Green Bay Packers
Head coach: Matt LaFleur
Offensive coordinator: Adam Stenavich
Defensive coordinator: Jeff Hafley
2024 ranking: 8
I feel bad about the Packers being this low. LaFleur had one of his better seasons as an offensive coach in 2024. The Packers endured an early-season Jordan Love injury with a creative offense under Malik Willis and kept the running game chugging as Love slowly worked his way back to full health. And after years of beseeching them to make a defensive coordinator change, they finally did -- to good effect! Hafley made the climb from college to NFL handily, showing more schematic creativity than was expected of him in the process.
Two key coaching points give me pause in Green Bay. It ended the season dead last in defensive success rate against dropbacks but second in EPA per dropback faced. How? Tons of interceptions. The Packers ripped off 17 picks, tied for third most in football, and recovered 14 fumbles. They finished third in defensive EPA on takeaways (behind Denver and Buffalo), and though I don't think their defense was poorly coached by any stretch, it probably punched above its weight last season.
The second is Green Bay's performance against elite teams. It ended the season 1-5 in its division (beating only Chicago on a game-ending field goal block) and lost to the Eagles twice, including in the playoffs. The best defensive coordinators -- Vic Fangio, Brian Flores and Aaron Glenn -- were able to flummox Love and expose that opportunistic defense. Green Bay's staff never found a solution as the season went on.
This is still a good staff, and I have faith in their continued growth into a playoff contender. But I need to see it first.
9. Las Vegas Raiders
Head coach: Pete Carroll
Offensive coordinator: Chip Kelly
Defensive coordinator: Patrick Graham
2024 ranking: 32
It required an unspeakable amount of personal control to not put the Raiders in the top five. There are few head coaches I have more faith in than Carroll, who consistently does the following: gets great performance out of rookies; prepares backups well (and accordingly coaches around injury); and adjusts his defensive scheming to the players available, protecting them from their faults. There are few better culture coaches in football, but his scheming -- much lauded in the early 2010s -- has become underappreciated.
I also have a huge amount of faith in Kelly. An offensive coordinator role suits him better than the head coaching jobs (Eagles and 49ers) that overwhelmed him in the mid-2010s, as he won't have control over personnel. Indeed, his offense over the past few years (in college at UCLA and Ohio State) has become far more oriented to heavier personnel and a diverse running game -- the sort of stuff that's cooking in the league right now.
And finally, three words on Graham: good defensive coordinator. The Raiders ranked second in defensive success rate down the back half of last season, behind only the Ravens and just above the Eagles. Of course, they've lost over 5,000 snaps from that unit in free agent departures, and now Christian Wilkins is off the team. But hey, Graham is a good defensive coordinator.
The Raiders were poorly managed at the top last season, but today is a new day. I'm expecting a big leap in competence.
8. Philadelphia Eagles
Head coach: Nick Sirianni
Offensive coordinator: Kevin Patullo
Defensive coordinator: Vic Fangio
2024 ranking: 15
I had the Eagles seven spots lower a year ago, saying that they were impossible to rank and that I shouldn't be asked to do it. Well, they won a Super Bowl and are now eighth. But they are still one of the most challenging teams to rank.
Let's start with what we know for sure: Fangio still has the juice, kids. His 2023 season in Miami ended acrimoniously, as some players had choice words for his coaching style following his departure. But the culture fit is far better in Philadelphia, and every player on the Eagles' defense has improved under him -- that's not an exaggeration. Behind the headliner, All-Pro linebacker Zack Baun (who was primarily a special-teamer before arriving in Philly), were huge improvements for Nakobe Dean, Nolan Smith Jr., Milton Williams, Reed Blankenship. Fangio, who is inarguably the most influential defensive coordinator of the past decade, is still firmly in the argument for being the best DC doing it today.
The Eagles' lack of passing volume limits A.J. Brown's ceiling as a top-tier receiver.
Here's what we don't know: how the Eagles' fourth offensive coordinator in four years will perform. Patullo steps into Kellen Moore's shoes, and the last time an internal promotion replaced an outgoing offensive coordinator following a Super Bowl appearance (just two years ago), the Eagles took a big step back. It's unlikely they crash out again, as offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland keeps the floor quite high, and the presence of Saquon Barkley this time around is a difference-maker. But this system is not as plug-and-chug as others in the league.
And then there's Sirianni. On the one hand, the Eagles had the most EPA generated by optimal fourth-down decisions last season. Of course, they play for fourth down a little more than the average team on account of the tush push, but Sirianni is still one of the best in-game decision-makers in football. And although his grip on the locker room grew so tenuous as to put his job in jeopardy following the 2023 season, he seems to have firmly reclaimed the room. But winds change fast in the NFL -- Sirianni should know that better than anyone. It's hard to have unflapping confidence in Sirianni's position as the tip of the spear.
Very tough team to rank. I would not fault a ranking with the Eagles in the top five -- or outside the top 10.
7. Buffalo Bills
Head coach: Sean McDermott
Offensive coordinator: Joe Brady
Defensive coordinator: Bobby Babich
2024 ranking: 12
Here's one of the most painful stats ever: By DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average), the 2020-24 Bills just had the best five-year stretch in history for a team that failed to make a Super Bowl. (The 2020-24 Ravens are second, which makes this more of a Patrick Mahomes stat than anything else. But still. That hurts.)
There is no doubt Buffalo is well coached. Its defense always impresses for its communication and cohesiveness -- few teams run a Cover 2 more cleanly than McDermott's Bills, and that has been the case for years now. The offense pivoted to a run-heavy approach with great success last season, in large part from the work of line coach Aaron Kromer (the stars on that Bills' O-line are all homegrown) and coordinator Joe Brady, who unlocked an improved version of Josh Allen that was less turnover prone.
As such, it's hard to put the Bills much lower than this. But it's also tough to put them much higher. McDermott has had eight seasons to figure out a solution to Andy Reid and Mahomes, but the defense continues to underwhelm in postseason play. End-of-game clock management and go-or-kick decisions have also played an infamous part in a few crushing Bills losses of the past five years.
I go back to that stat at the top. It's a testament to this coaching staff that the Bills have been so successful; it's also a referendum on the same staff that they've failed to accumulate any hardware for their efforts.
6. Denver Broncos
Head coach: Sean Payton
Offensive coordinator: Joe Lombardi
Defensive coordinator: Vance Joseph
2024 ranking: 23
The Broncos' leap from last season is the biggest change in these rankings. I was suspicious of Payton's offense after a lackluster season with Russell Wilson, and I wondered what the ceiling was on a Joseph defense that had underwhelmed the past two seasons. They were both established, veteran coaches -- but had the game passed them by?
Nope! Payton and Joseph both shredded. Payton's offensive work was some of his best. The Broncos never had a good running game, and rookie quarterback Bo Nix looked overwhelmed early. By November, Payton had the team putting up 30-point performances on the back of swings, screens, sprint-outs and perfectly timed shot plays. Nobody got more out of less talent on offense last season than Payton. As Nix grows and reinforcements join the offense, the ceiling in Denver is very high.
Joseph's work was familiar but still impressive. His defenses have generally paced the league in blitz rate, and last season's unit was a respectable fourth. Only the Lions called more man coverage behind blitzes than Denver did, as Joseph weaponized an elite cover man (Pat Surtain II) while concealing shakier coverage linebackers (by sending 'em, baby).
Defensive performance is volatile year over year, and Joseph coaches a particularly volatile brand of defense. But when it works, it sure does work. A great bounce-back season all around for the staff in Denver.
5. Los Angeles Rams
Head coach: Sean McVay
Offensive coordinator: Mike LaFleur
Defensive coordinator: Chris Shula
2024 ranking: 3
The Rams are very well coached on offense. McVay is a whiz kid-turned-whiz man. We all know this. Moving on.
Defense: I really struggled with this one. On one hand, the Rams' defense was not great last season. It ranked 28th in EPA per play allowed and 24th in success rate; it gave up 2.24 points per drive, the worst figure for a defense that made the playoffs. L.A. got better as the season progressed, but it was never an above-average unit.
On the other hand, the personnel available was clearly that of a below-average defense, and I like what Shula did schematically. The Rams protected an undermanned back seven with creative zone coverages and brackets, trusting in their pass rush to win games for them (e.g., the 27-9 wild-card victory over Minnesota). The pass rush was certainly powered by Defensive Rookie of the Year Jared Verse, but don't overlook Shula's impact. The Rams had one of the league's lowest blitz rates, with one of the highest rates of dropping players off the line of scrimmage and into coverage. Shula used pre-snap alignment to generate one-on-ones without taxing his secondary -- the right approach, given his personnel.
Consider me cautiously optimistic about Shula, who needs to draw even more blood from the stone of his defensive personnel if the Rams are to make a legitimate NFC push. There are no new starters expected in the secondary this season.
4. Baltimore Ravens
Head coach: John Harbaugh
Offensive coordinator: Todd Monken
Defensive coordinator: Zach Orr
2024 ranking: 5
The best offensive playcallers are all head coaches, but if we narrow our scope to coordinators, the best one around is Monken. Last season, Lamar Jackson led the league in open targets (61% of his attempts) and wide-open targets (36%, the most for any season in the NFL Next Gen Stats charting database, which goes back to 2017). Jackson certainly helps those receivers get open by breaking the pocket and threatening to run. But recall how congested those Ravens' passing designs were before Monken got to town. He has elevated the entire offense around the two-time MVP.
One of the best 2024 coaching moves was the midseason reshuffling of the Baltimore secondary, which is a feather in Orr's cap, even if it was a decision made collectively. From Weeks 1 through 10, the Ravens started Marcus Williams and Eddie Jackson at safety, using star defensive back Kyle Hamilton as more of a roving nickel/linebacker. They were the fourth-worst defense by EPA per dropback and sixth worst in points per drive. Then, after Williams and Jackson were benched and Hamilton was relocated to a true safety role, Baltimore became the league's best defense in both metrics.
Under Harbaugh, the Ravens have always been good at adjusting to midseason injuries and correcting poor play. They also remain one of the league's best in managing fourth-down decisions and late-game clocks, even if they still have a unique skill for blowing fourth-quarter leads.
3. San Francisco 49ers
Head coach: Kyle Shanahan
Offensive coordinator: Klay Kubiak
Defensive coordinator: Robert Saleh
2024 ranking: 4
The 49ers had a weird defensive coaching arrangement last season. Nick Sorensen, who had alternated between coordinating special teams and coaching defensive backs in his career, was the titular defensive coordinator. But assistant head coach Brandon Staley had a heavy hand in introducing new fronts and coverages to the tried-and-true Legion of Boom-inspired defense the 49ers had run successfully for years.
The blend never took. Sorensen and Staley are with different teams now, as the 49ers sprinted back to the warm embrace of Saleh and the Pete Carroll system. Saleh is an exemplary defensive coach who has tailored his approach around both his personnel and the unique matchups of opposing offenses across his time in San Francisco and New York. In his 2½ seasons with the Jets, they ranked first in points per drive, first in EPA per play and third in defensive success rate. He has the juice. The 49ers' defense is on my short list for "units about to take a massive leap in 2025."
Here's another reason for coaching staff optimism in San Francisco: It kept an offensive assistant this year! For 2025, Klay Kubiak was promoted to coordinator after a season as passing game specialist. But it's not the title bump that matters, it's the fact he's still in the building. The constant trickle of key offensive assistants leaving for bigger jobs -- Klint Kubiak, Bobby Slowik, Mike McDaniel -- hurts a staff's ability to grow year over year.
For all his offensive acumen, Shanahan is not perfect -- he still has plenty of room to grow as a game manager. But that offensive system sure is something, isn't it?
2. Kansas City Chiefs
Head coach: Andy Reid
Offensive coordinator: Matt Nagy
Defensive coordinator: Steve Spagnuolo
2024 ranking: 1
The Chiefs, who have reached three consecutive Super Bowls and won three of the past six, deserve a lifetime achievement award. There is no doubt Reid is a Super Bowl-caliber head coach; there is no doubt Spagnuolo is a Super Bowl-caliber defensive playcaller.
But the Chiefs had a coaching problem they couldn't solve in 2024: how to get explosive gains out of their offense. The early-season injury to Rashee Rice and diminished athleticism of Travis Kelce left them without reliable receivers over the middle of the field, and the offense turtled. Thirty-two percent of Patrick Mahomes' pass attempts were to targets behind the line of scrimmage -- only Tua Tagovailoa outpaced him. And 10.7% of Mahomes' attempts created explosive gains -- the lowest number of his career.
Check out the trailer for ESPN's "The Kingdom," documenting the Chiefs' quest for a three-peat.
To a degree, this was a personnel problem. The Chiefs' receivers struggled with downfield tracking, and the team's poor offensive tackle play made sustained pass protection a challenge. But it was also a coaching choice, as Reid and Nagy remained married to their spread-style, RPO-heavy base offense. Could the Chiefs get under center more and scheme up some longer dropbacks with deeper-developing route concepts? Even if the pass catchers return to full health this season, 2024 proved the system could do with a touch of tinkering.
The staff in Kansas City is still remarkable. But this is an important year.
1. Minnesota Vikings
Head coach: Kevin O'Connell
Offensive coordinator: Wes Phillips
Defensive coordinator: Brian Flores
2024 ranking: 10
When I ranked the Vikings in this exercise last season, I sang the praises of Flores, the defensive coordinator who had done the most with the least in 2023. But I wondered if O'Connell, another branch off the Shanahan-McVay tree, could innovate and evolve beyond the tried-and-true system he had run with Kirk Cousins to that point. What could he offer a younger quarterback in need of development?
The answer: a whole lot! Not necessarily to the quarterback we expected, as Sam Darnold started the entire season in J.J. McCarthy's absence -- but what a season it was. O'Connell's mastery is in opening intermediate and downfield passing windows. Darnold had more passing attempts at least 10 yards downfield than any other quarterback, and NFL Next Gen Stats charted those targets with an average separation of 2.7 yards -- fifth highest in the league.
O'Connell has easily leaped into that utmost echelon of offensive designers, and Flores remains the cream of the defensive crop. There are always little things to wonder about -- scheming for a rookie is different from scheming for a veteran, even if that veteran had never been successful elsewhere -- but there is no doubt that O'Connell & Co. elevate players more than any other coaching staff in football.