Ranking the Best 10 NFL Head Coaches Ahead of the 2025 Season
As the months draw closer and closer to the 2025 NFL season kickoff, once again, each of the 32 head coaches have been ranked ahead of the NFL’s 106th season. There are some surprises at the top and bottom, and there are those who are always at the top of their class or near the top of their class. Here are the 10 best head coaches ahead of the 2025 season.
1. Andy Reid, Chiefs
Yes, you may be surprised to see The Walrus or the NFL’s best Santa Claus cosplayer at the top. But Andy Reid is a special coach, no matter who you’re a fan of. He’s a veteran entering his 13th season behind a Kansas City team that’s looking for a much smoother postseason run after slogging through last postseason en route to an embarrassing Super Bowl 59 loss to the Eagles. The 71-year-old may be aging, but he’s still got plenty of experience left, seeing as how he’s guided the Chiefs to at least the AFC Championship in 5 of the last 6 seasons.
No other head coach can accomplish that kind of feat. When Reid retires, he’ll no doubt be a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer. And given the new league rules on eligibility, he wouldn’t have to even wait that long. At minimum, Reid could be inducted as early as a single season after he hangs up his headset. For coaches, the previous minimum wait was 5 years after retirement.
2. Sean McVay, Rams
As the NFL’s youngest head coach, McVay took a reborn Rams team and has made it into a solid NFC Wild Card contender, led by the offensive attack of RB Kyren Williams and WR Puka Nacua. While losing veteran wideout Cooper Kupp hurts, McVay isn’t going to be phased as he looks to extend his 6 playoff appearances in the past 8 seasons. Two of those 6 in 8 ended in a Super Bowl appearance, winning one over the Patriots, albeit with the lowest scoring Super Bowl in modern NFL history. The only piece missing from the Rams’ perfect puzzle is a healthy QB.
Matthew Stafford is getting old, and now 3rd third-string Stetson Bennett still hasn’t managed a full-time 2nd-string role, despite his prowess in college. Heck, he even won the national championship at Georgia playing in the Rams’ (and Chargers’) very stadium. Instead, he finds himself below Jimmy Garoppolo on the depth chart. The Rams still need that top-tier signal caller if they want to go even further in the postseason in 2025, but against other NFC juggernauts like the Eagles and even the Commanders, it won’t be easy.
3. Jim Harbaugh, Ravens
Another single-team veteran, Jim Harbaugh enters his 18th season with the Baltimore Ravens, leading one of the AFC’s scariest offenses with the dynamic duo of QB Lamar Jackson and RB Derrick Henry. Harbaugh is easily over his AFC North constituents, given the fact that he’s been able to craft Jackson into a dynamic two-way QB that can scramble as good as he can throw downfield. That’s tough for any head coach to mold their QB into one of the league’s best, and Harbaugh has successfully done that, being rewarded with a healthy dose of playoff appearances over the last decade, unlike the others in the AFC North.
While Harbaugh’s only Super Bowl win came long before Jackson, there’s no reason why he can’t guide his dynamic duo even further this postseason. Sure, he’ll face the usual tough AFC gauntlet of Kansas City and Buffalo, with a touch of Cincinnati, but Harbaugh will be ready like he’s always been. He’s been the Ravens’ head coach since 2008 for a reason.
4. Nick Sirianni, Eagles
It seems that mid mid-season incident with a Browns fan didn’t result in any lasting impact for Sirianni, as he led the Eagles to their 2nd Super Bowl title in the last decade. Like Baltimore, Philadelphia also possesses a scary QB-RB duo in Jalen Hurts and Madden 26 cover star Saquon Barkley. Now entering Year 5 with the Birds, Sirianni enters the 2025 season with a bit of a heavy heart- his 8-year-old cousin Eloise Peck was one of the at least 132 lost in this month’s devastating Central Texas floods.
The Chiefs can hold a candle to their Super Bowl enemies in that aspect, too, after the loss of Janie Hunt, a cousin of the Hunt family, Kansas City’s longtime owners. But Sirianni is a head coach who emboldens the passion of Eagles fans like almost no other can. This loss will only further drive him to succeed. And with an offense that’s a carbon copy of Baltimore’s, with extra flair from WRs AJ Brown and Devonta Smith, things will just keep soaring.
5. Dan Campbell, Lions
Speaking of a head coach that embodies their team’s spirit, you can’t not bring up the Lions’ Dan Campbell, turning what was once the NFL’s laughingstock into an offensive juggernaut in 2024. With a top NFC ranking barring the Eagles, this year could be the Lions’ year to go all the way, with QB Jared Goff and the dual RB threat of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery leading the charge. Sam LaPorta also will continue to make his case as one of the NFL’s top tight ends, making Detroit as high-powered of an offense as a factory Ford Mustang from Dearborn.
Campbell is also entering year 5 as head coach of the Lions, like Sirianni, and he’s also got the tools to match, if not a little more. For a team named as such, Campbell is a lion himself, maybe even more than Sirianni is an Eagle. He did grow up as a Browns fan, after all. But our man Campbell is from big ol’ Texas, and he always lets it show.
Rounding out the top 10 NFL head coaches for this season are:
- John’s younger brother Jim of the Chargers
- The 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan, even with the perennial choke job attributes applied to him by fans
- Matt LeFleur of the Packers, who’s still working to make Jordan Love a solid QB2
- Kevin O’Connell of the Vikings
- Veteran Mike Tomlin of the Steelers, whose job remains untouched even after all the drama-filled years
Related: Jalen Hurts is Ranked Lower on the Best NFL QBs List Than He Should Be?
