With the announcement of Dan Quinn going to the Washington Commanders, the NFL officially has all 32 Head Coaches for every team. Surprisingly, Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel were both left on the outside looking in, suggesting that the NFL is moving in the direction of looking for younger coaches and moving on from the traditionally great but older coaches.
Of the eight hires, some were obvious choices, while others were complete surprises. Of course, for now, every fan base feels confident that they got the best hire possible, but not every team can actually have the best coaching hire. One team has the best, and another has the worst.
Determining which ones did better than others can be subjective. However, there are certainly some candidates that seem to be more promising than others. Here are the rankings:
How to Look at the NFL Coaching Hires
As just mentioned above, there are many different ways to look at the new coaches, and each of them could have a claim as being the perfect grand slam hire. To narrow down the list, the criteria will primarily be based on a few factors, including past NFL Head Coach success, recent success/momentum, and the potential opportunity to be successful.
8. Dave Canales – Carolina Panthers
Don’t get me wrong, the story of Dave Canales is a great story and it’s tough not to root for him, but he simply doesn’t have the resume or experience to likely turn around the Panthers program that is really struggling. Canales was only an offensive coordinator for one season and was a position coach under Pete Carroll for 12 years before that. He is young, determined, and has nothing to lose, so maybe he is the perfect fit.
7. Brian Callahan – Tennessee Titans
Brian Callahan is another coach who has never been a head coach in the NFL, and he was only an offensive coordinator for the past four years. In that time, he helped raise the Bengals from being a bottom-dweller to a solid playoff team. However, skeptics point to that being more on Joe Burrow and less on Callahan.
Tennessee desperately needed an offensive-minded coach, and they got that in the 39-year-old. The only question is whether he will be able to handle the role of Head Coach.
6. Antonio Pierce – Las Vegas Raiders
Speaking of great stories, Antonio Pierce is living the interim coach dream. After a 3-5 start to the season, Pierce took over from the Linebackers coach to being the interim Head Coach and finished out the season 5-4. Apparently, that was enough to please the front offices, and Pierce was promoted to Head Coach in 2024.
What’s crazy is that Pierce has only been in coaching in the NFL for two years. Before that, he was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Arizona State for four years. By all means, Pierece should be the lowest-rated coach on this list, but going 5-4 as an interim carries a lot of weight. Some coaches never even win five games, so Pierece has a slight edge. It also helps that the Raiders were already an eight-win team last year.
5. Raheem Morris – Atlanta Falcons
As a Head Coach, Raheem Morris hasn’t done all that much compiling a 21-38 overall record. In fact, of his five years of experience as a Head Coach, only once in 2010 did he lead a team to a winning record, but never to the Playoffs.
From just the standpoint of past experience, one may wonder how Morris got a third opportunity to be a Head Coach, especially for the Falcons, who had him serve as an interim Head Coach back in 2020. The answer may be as simple as recent success as a coordinator and familiarity.
Morris helped lead the Rams to a Super Bowl as the defensive coordinator in 2022 and led the Rams to another Playoff birth this past season. Having coached with the Falcons for five seasons before going to the Rams, Morris is going to know the fanbase, culture, and expectations.
Despite being a winner as a coordinator, he will have to have success quickly as the HC if he plans to coach long-term.
4. Jerod Mayo – New England Patriots
You won’t find a lot of writers who have Mayo rated this low, but here’s why. The Patriots have been living in the post-Brady shadow ever since the GOAT left the team following the 2019 season. Don’t get me wrong, Mayo seems like a great coach and has the kind of resume that would have ranked him in the top three on this list with any other team, but not the Patriots.
The Patriots need to move past the Brady era, and part of that means bringing in a coaching staff that has no strings attached to the old regime. Yes, he coached on the defensive side of the ball, but the former teammate of Brady just doesn’t feel like the kind of hire that is going to turn a new page.
3. Dan Quinn – Washington Commanders
In terms of experienced coaches, there aren’t many other coaches who have more experience. In fact, outside of Jim Harbaugh and Raheem Morris, Quinn is the only coach who has really spent a significant amount of time as a Head Coach at the highest level.
So why is Quinn not higher on this list? He hasn’t shown that he can be a consistently winning coach up to this point. Yes, he coached the Falcons in the 2017 Super Bowl (yes, the 28-7 game), but overall, he finished with a 43-42 overall record, with every season between 2016 and 2020 having worse records than the year prior.
Still, coaching for 5.5 years, plus his experience as a defensive coordinator could mean huge improvements from the Commanders.
2. Mike MacDonald – Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks did what the Patriots did not which is go a new direction. Pete Carroll was an excellent coach for the Seahawks, and following up that is going to be difficult. Perhaps the best way is to go in a totally new and young direction with Mike MacDonald.
MacDonald, who is just 36 years old, has quickly risen to the coaching ranks in only ten years. Ten years ago, he was an intern for the Ravens, but he stuck around with John Harbaugh and got promoted from intern to defensive assistant, defensive backs, linebackers, and then defensive coordinator for John’s brother Jim at Michigan. Following a year in Ann Arbor and having a Top 10 ranked defense, he came back to the Ravens and was the defensive coordinator for one season.
Yes, some of the other coaches earlier on this list were criticized for their lack of experience, but there is something different about MacDonald. He seems like he has got it all figured out and could be the next long-term coach. He’s already shown loyalty by staying with the Ravens for so long, so if it all works out, he may be the coach for decades to come.
1. Jim Harbaugh – Los Angeles Chargers
There needs to be a big line drawn between numbers one and two on this list because the gap is so big. There is no question that the Chargers have, by far, the best coach in Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh is bringing all the momentum of winning a national championship, the resume of a Head Coach who has coached in a Super Bowl, 15 years playing in the NFL, 20 years as a Head Coach, and a 44-19 record as an NFL coach.
The city of Angels hasn’t seen a sports star this big arrive in town since Lebron James joined the Lakers, and it may show as early as next season. The Chargers are already decent. They don’t need to completely rebuild. Sure, they went 5-12 which isn’t great, but they lost eight games by less than a touchdown. Yes, you have to finish out a game, but this team very easily could have gone 8-9 and been an average team.
Additionally, Jim Harbaugh already has his QB with Justin Herbert. This hire feels like a combination of the Lincoln Riley and Coach Prime hires. Riley walked into a goldmine of potential talent, and Coach Prime brought all the media. Harbaugh brings both of those and it would not be a shock at all if the Chargers were in the Playoffs in 2024.
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