Ranking every NFL head coach hire in 2021

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Right after the immediate scoring of draft picks, scoring coach hires before a single off-season training session or legal team reunion is the most perilous task in football’s media cycle. There is a lot that we don’t know and a lot that even the people who know these people don’t know. For example, do we think out of all the new hires from the last offseason, it would be Kevin Stefanski who would be most successful at pulling off a virtual offseason in stride and use a series of trivia contests and group therapy sessions to galvanize a list of stars. Zoom?

Did we think Joe Judge would emerge as the darling of the class rather than being seen as a consolation prize after failing to land Matt Rhule? Do we think that among all the new hires the most immediately struggling would be Mike McCarthy, a coach who won a Super Bowl?

The point is, like the project, there are a lot of immediate thoughts based on who we are told and who we observe to be ready. But you are never ready be the head coach of the NFL. The position exposes the depths of your personality and preparation unlike any position in sport. So, with that in mind, let’s give it a whirl, but also show our work in an effort to be transparent.

Kim Klement / USA TODAY Sports (Saleh); Christopher Hanewinckel / USA TODAY Sports (Smith); Kirby Lee / USA TODAY Sports (Culley)

New York Jets: Robert Saleh

I’ve said it before, but I believe Saleh brings all the good energy of the Rex Ryan era without the side effects. Basically Ryan’s green tea version. This is the emotional component of it. Yes, Saleh had excellent defensive training and complementary attacking in San Francisco, but he also had to contend with a defense of gigantic figures. You don’t just get someone like Richard Sherman on board without having the requisite solid knowledge of your project and its direction. Its slogan “All Gas, No Brakes” served as the motivational foundation for the 49ers roster that made the Super Bowl.

The other slice of A The note is the fact that he managed to pull Mike LaFleur away from Shanahan, who was holding on tight to his two best offensive assistants. Introducing this system to Sam Darnold, or using it to lure Deshaun Watson out of Houston, is part of that equation.

GRADE: A

Los Angeles Chargers: Brandon Staley

I think it’s good to like a rental but also not to like the circumstances in which it happened. Like my colleague Jenny Vrentas highlighted in last week’s edition of The Weak-Side podcast, much of the reason LA was seen as a prime destination this offseason was due to things that were put in place by ousted head coach Anthony Lynn (including Lynn’s own hand in progress by Justin Herbert).

That said, I wrote in early December that Staley was the next Sean McVay, right on the defensive end of the ball. He’s a former offensive player who devoured football’s most effective defensive scheme and calibrated it on a historic Rams unit that carried the team into 2020. Staley is the kind of buy-low proposition, buy-ahead that we are pushing more property groups to do. Like McVay and the Rams, the Chargers had to choose between catching Staley now or entering a much longer line next year.

GRADE: A-

Atlanta Falcons: Arthur Smith

Smith will bring Atlanta back to its most successful offensive system of Matt Ryan’s day. The former Titans offensive coordinator perfected the wide area system that Kyle Shanahan repopularized throughout the NFL. If Atlanta was going to rebuild itself, Smith probably wouldn’t be the right kind of organizational catalyst to, say, eventually swap Ryan and Julio Jones and reap the available capital. He’s in the perfect position to immediately inject offensive skill and bring the Falcons to a place they can compete in a division that has (likely) lost Drew Brees.

Before news of a Deshaun Watson trade hits, I would put Smith on pole for the all-favorite Coach of the Year, given the roster’s ceiling and how quickly he should be able to knock down the offensive.

Quality: B +

Jacksonville Jaguars: Urban Meyer

This rental brings complicated feelings. Meyer has flirted with top NFL jobs for years now and finally decided to jump head first once he was assured of a treasure trove of ceiling space and the greatest quarterback prospect. from Andrew Luck. On the one hand, it makes a lot of sense. Meyer’s last team, Ohio State, has operated seamlessly (on the court) since its release. He has the ability to nurture and develop good staff, but an obvious blind side to the actions of those staff members off the pitch – an important criticism that shouldn’t just be left by the wayside. . I think the programs should be more collegial anyway. It makes sense to have a team that can develop young players faster, and thus become less dependent on complicated long-term veteran contracts.

Meyer has the ability to surround himself with innovators and with the wide net his brand is capable of casting, he is more likely to attract top schematic talent that will help Trevor Lawrence thrive.

The downside here is that Jacksonville takes the bet at a turning point in franchise history. That, and the staff he is assembling right now, is not one that overwhelms from the start. If you are Lawrence and you have a choice between, say, Darrell Bevel and Brian Daboll or Eric Bieniemy, who would you bet the direction of your career on? There are coordinators and coaches with better and more proven track records for developing NFL talent. The same can be said of CEOs and their track record of responsible allocation of large amounts of space. At the moment, Jacksonville has a lot of faith in the Meyer brand.

CATEGORY B

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Philadelphia Eagles: Nick Sirianni

The Eagles, like the Steelers, seem to have a role model for what they want in a head coach. While Pittsburgh likes defensive coordinators in their early to mid-30s, the Eagles seem to like untapped potential on offense, often hiring young coordinators or position coaches before thriving in products known as only players, like Andy Reid once. Sirianni has the added benefit of working with Frank Reich who was an instrumental piece of the Philadelphia Super Bowl run and comes with a playbook on how to work with besieged Carson Wentz. Sirianni appears to be putting together a strong coaching staff that includes the critical retention of offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland and the removal of Florida offensive coordinator Brian Johnson to coach quarterbacks.

My lingering question here is whether Sirianni can properly navigate what could become a messy deconstruction of the list. The Eagles are going to change fundamentally and, in the process, lose a lot of the locker room soul. Can he grab the young core and galvanize it in the future?

CATEGORY B-

Detroit Lions: Dan Campbell

It was hard not to come out of Campbell’s introductory press conference a little more enthusiastic than we got. However, the most exciting aspect of his coaching tenure so far seems to be a drive to diversify his staff and provide high profile jobs for minorities. applicants who were thought to need “seasoning” or who were not deemed ready for the job. Having Anthony Lynn as a full-time offensive coordinator is a win, especially if they end up developing a young starter at QB. To have Aaron Glenn as the defensive coordinator is a victory.

I guess the Lions are betting on Campbell’s ability to have a Mike Vrabel-esque presence on the team while his coordinators do a lot of the heavy lifting schematically. And while Vrabel is awesome, we’ll see what the Titans look like now that Smith is coaching in Atlanta. Will it be a sustainable fashion?

Campbell may have scared some fans with his Wild West routine during his opening press conference, but if he is able to invest in the kind of players who buy this type of hokum, the Lions can quickly turn down. turn into a boring division. roadblock for NFC North bluebloods. This is much more than what we can say about the Lions under Matt Patricia.

GRADE: C +

Houston Texans: David Culley

I think it’s important to momentarily separate the rental from the situation, although it’s hard to underestimate how messy the Texans are now. They operate like a driver’s car which not only has a secondary brake set, but also a few additional steering wheels and accelerator pedals. The owner can run a franchise that the players don’t want to play for, but that doesn’t mean the coach they hired was bad. Culley, who is 65, has been in the NFL since 1994. He has mainly coached wide receivers, but has held positions as a quarterback coach and as the coordinator of the Baltimore passing game. Houston, after exhausting all of its initial options, appeared to be resorting to older coaches with a lot of experience compared to a head coach for the first time. If you’re GM Nick Caserio, you need to decide what type of voice resonates the most with a clearly downcast locker room. He bet on a longtime, soft-spoken tree lieutenant Andy Reid to do it.

I think Culley is a good coach. My problem here is that the Texans will likely rack up a mine of picks in the draft if they trade Watson. Will they heed Culley’s comments on how to spend this capital? Or are they just forcing him to take the brunt of the critics as they build the team they actually want to build behind the scenes, dealing with Watson and maybe JJ Watt in the process?

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