The NFL’s annual head coach churn gets the attention. Makes sense. It’s the top coaching job in professional football and there’s only 32 of them. It’s an under-the-radar coaching churn but the annual shuffling of offensive coordinators can be interesting as well. There’s also only 32 offensive coordinator jobs. All of the league’s coaching changes start with the new head coaches. There were ten this year.
10 New Head Coaches
New York Giants: John Harbaugh
Atlanta Falcons: Kevin Stefanski
Tennessee Titans: Robert Saleh
Miami Dolphins: Jeff Hafley
Baltimore Ravens: Jesse Minter
Cleveland Browns: Todd Monken
Las Vegas Raiders: Klint Kubiak
Arizona Cardinals: Mike LaFleur
Buffalo Bills: Joe Brady
Pittsburgh Steelers: Mike McCarthy
Because the NFL is such a pass-centric league, teams looking for a new head coach are often looking at the hot offensive playcallers. Of the ten teams looking for a head coach, four hired a coach that worked as an offensive coordinator last year.
Todd Monken
Klint Kubiak
Mike LaFleur
Joe Brady
Only two of those left the team that employed them.
Klint Kubiak
Mike LaFleur
Todd Monken was the offensive coordinator for John Harbaugh with the Baltimore Ravens. Monken lost his job when Harbaugh was fired. Joe Brady was the offensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills and promoted to head coach after Sean McDermott was shockingly fired.
Because of the head coach churn, 10 teams were looking for new offensive coordinators. The Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams were also looking for new offensive coordinators because Klint Kubiak and Mike LaFleur were taken from them. Another nine teams were looking for a new offensive coordinator this offseason because they weren’t satisfied with the results of last season. In total, 21 of the league’s 32 teams were looking for new OCs. About 65%. That feels like a lot.
Teams with New Offensive Coordinators
Tennessee Titans: Brian Daboll
Los Angeles Chargers: Mike McDaniel
Kansas City Chiefs: Eric Bieniemy
Detroit Lions: Drew Petzing
Miami Dolphins: Bobby Slowik
Washington Commanders: David Blough
Atlanta Falcons: Tommy Rees
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Zac Robinson
Baltimore Ravens: Declan Doyle
Buffalo Bills: Pete Carmichael
Philadelphia Eagles: Sean Mannion
Cleveland Browns: Travis Switzer
Denver Broncos: Davis Webb
New York Giants: Matt Nagy
New York Jets: Frank Reich
Arizona Cardinals: Nathaniel Hackett
Pittsburgh Steelers: Brian Angelichio
Chicago Bears: Press Taylor
Las Vegas Raiders: Andrew Janocko
Seattle Seahawks: Brian Fleury
Los Angeles Rams: ?
For most of the above, the changes are just a shuffling of offensive coordinators. Brian Daboll and Mike McDaniel were head coaches last year. 14 of the 21 offensive coordinators in new places were either offensive coordinators elsewhere last year or recently. Only six of the above are first-time NFL offensive coordinators. When Sean McVay finally makes his decision (Nate Scheelhasse?), there could be a seventh.
David Blough
Sean Mannion
Travis Switzer
Davis Webb
Brian Angelichio
Brian Fleury
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the above six newbies is that David Blough, Sean Mannion, and Davis Webb played quarterback in the league in the 2020s. With the thousands of football coaches that have done the grunt work for decades for a head coach shot, it’s shocking how quick some of these offensive-centric coaches get to this level of the football-coaching world. Blough, Mannion, and Webb are probably only a year or two from their own shots at the top job. Webb even interviewed for a couple this year.
One of the great coaching mysteries of the NFL is how Eric Bieniemy has never gotten a head coach opportunity. He was Andy Reid’s right-hand man for the early years of the great run of the Kansas City Chiefs. He had some interviews but never offered a job. Perhaps to pave his own path to his own team, he left Kansas City after a second Super Bowl win. He even went back to college football for an assistant head coach job. Still, nothing. Now, he’s back with the Chiefs as Reid’s offensive coordinator. I’ll bet Blough, Mannion, AND Webb get a head coach job before he does. Wonder why?
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