Ranking (Almost) Every NFL Head Coach

Gregg Rosenthal is joined by SB Nation's JP Acosta to draft the non-first-time head coaches across the NFL. Find out which coach gets taken off the board first overall (03:38), where coaches like Dan Campbell (08:35), Sean Payton (19:20), Mike Tomlin (27:30), Pete Carroll (38:34), Nick Sirianni (42:50), Zac Taylor (01:02:40), and every eligible coach falls on the board! 

Note: time codes approximate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to NFL Daily, where we've never watched game film
with Matt Aberflus either. I'm Greg Rosenthal and I'm talking
to my friend JP Acosta of sp Nation, and Jp,
you made a mistake. You did too awesome of a
job last time. You're a fan favorite of the listeners
of NFL Daily, so I asked you back real quick,
and I'm talking Eberflus because we're talking coaches today. We're

(00:26):
going to rank the best coaches in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
I hope you're ready.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
I'm ready. I'm ready for it.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Unfortunately, Matt Eberflus will not be on this list, but
I think his beard should be an honorable mm.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
I know it feels like kicking a guy when he's
down to call him out. He's a very good defensive coordinator,
and his defense in Chicago had an identity and he
got it going. So that's one thing I look for
in a coaching staff and a head coach especially. I
think he'll be good in Dallas. But he's actually someone
I was thinking about. And I'm referring to the article

(00:58):
that Seth Wickersham wrote about Caleb Williams is actually an
excerpt from his book we'll mention that maybe a little later,
but just that he was just all.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
On an island.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
No one was watching game film with him. And just
thinking about Eberflus makes me think about if we did
this exercise a year ago right now, I think there'd
be more obvious guys at the bottom. And so that
was my overarching thought. We're not going to rank the
first time head coaches just because it seems silly, But
me and you were gonna go back and forth making
picks and just rank them one to twenty nine because

(01:27):
there's four first time head coaches, and so we're not
gonna mess with with Kellen Moore. It's like, what are
we gonna do ranking him? But Mike Rabel, Pete Carroll
like they're up for grabs because they've been head coaches before.
And my thought was, like, the coaches are pretty they're fine.
Like I feel bad for whoever gets ranked twentieth to
twenty ninth, or it's like they don't seem like they're
bad coaches. I think in general, my overarching statement is

(01:49):
the coaches are fine. There's not as big a difference
between like a bad coach and a good coach as
you think there's a few bad coaches usually, and actually
I think right now, like there's not that many.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Yeah, I think this.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
I guess who can call it parody among coaching ranks
like it? There's a lot of balance around the league,
and I think some of it is due to all
there's sort of every coaching tree has its own like
offshoots where everybody comes from like a Shanahan or McVeigh
style offense. So eventually those things sort of kind of

(02:21):
work out. But there's so many there's so much balance
across the league, like you said, like you said among
coaching staffs that it made ranking this really hard because,
like like you said, going to like the into the twenties,
you're like, oh, like I could see this guy moving
up a lot.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Why they seem like good coaches even whoever's going to
be around ten to twelve.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
We'll see what happens.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
I have long had a theory which I would probably
tweak now, but it was it was mostly that there's
like a handful of really big difference makers on each
side of the leisure when it comes to coaches, like
on the plus side and on the negative and the rest.
It's just like it's about the players, and it's still
always about the players, but that there's a big middle
class where there's not that much different. So what we're

(03:02):
gonna do, like I said, we're gonna rank them in
a unique way. It's basically like a draft, but it'll
end up being a ranking where we just go back
and forth, taking who we think the best coaches left
on the board, and we're really evaluating them, not really
for everything that they've done or even what's going to
happen in the next five years, Like who do you
want coaching your team right now? And of course what

(03:24):
they've done in the past, you know, comes into that.
That's their track record that informs your pick. So I
wanted to have you on in part because I was
curious who would be your number one coach. So I
will give you the first pick here and start out
with picking your coach.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Okay, So the way I kind of thought about this
is if I were a team building an expansion franchise,
if I'm trying to get a team from the floor up,
you know, and that that actually raised a lot of
questions about a lot of coaches in the league where
you're building something you're trying to grow into a team
being a consistent force. I say all that to say

(04:01):
my number one pick is Andy Reid still Okay.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
I think Andy.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Reid is still the best coach in the NFL. I
think his ability to maximize everything that he does on
the offensive side of the ball as a play caller.
But he gives his his players so much confidence and
we're going to talk about that a little later with
a lot of other coaches, but the confidence that his
players play with and the ability for like a Travis

(04:28):
Kelcey to catch the ball.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
And then lateral it behind him in a way that
I don't.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Think any other coach in football we don't even have
to go to like we can go to like high
school levels. No coach is teaching their players to do that.
But Andy Reid gives his players this freedom to kind
of just be kind of just move freely in the
form of an NFL offense or just on both sides
of the ball. So I think that freedom and that

(04:54):
ability to consistently build something from the floor up, the
consistent winning I think Andy Reid still number one.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
I agree he's got everything that you would look for
now if it was for the next ten years. Obviously,
he's getting up there. Could you say the creativity the
last couple years, have we seen it as consistently? I
guess that would be a question. I'm just trying to
think of any reason you wouldn't. But no, he was
my number one because a he builds a great coaching staff,
he has the respect of his players, the freedom that

(05:23):
the type of place that Steve Spagnola would want to
stay there forever. And I know he has Mahomes, but
I'm old enough to remember having the take for a
long time before he ever won a Super Bowl that
he was the second most important, maybe the most important,
but the second best coach of this century before he
even ever won a super Bowl, because that was the
influence that he had on the offensive side, and how

(05:45):
he never stopped evolving. And now that he's won all
those super Bowls, it's not just about Mahomes for me.
He can manage players, but he gives you a schematic advantage,
and that's for me, like the ultimate package, the person
who can run an entire building in his case, because
he's ultimately more important than the GM there too, run
a coaching staff and give you a schematic advantage and

(06:06):
handle the personality. So I'm with you. I'm going to
go with my pick number two. And this was where
it started getting tougher for me, at least. I am
going to go with Sean McVeigh for similar reasons to
Andy Reid in that I think he is a culture
in himself. Everyone talks about culture changes for players. I

(06:26):
think he is a culture and I think getting him
right now and I'm really evaluating on twenty twenty five,
I think he's grown in that aspect, how he manages people,
how he manages the building, everything that you hear about him.
He's won a playoff game half the years he's coached.
We've seen him do it with different quarterbacks. We've seen
him have to pick new staff in terms of defensive coordinators.

(06:49):
All of that has really worked. And yeah, I want
a guy who adds a schematic advantage and works with quarterbacks.
So it was close to the next handful of picks.
I wouldn't argue if someone took ahead, but McVeigh would
be my number two.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
I think that point about evolution is so important.

Speaker 2 (07:02):
We talk about Sean McVay because it's important to remember
they he's still thirty nine years old, like crazy like,
if we're.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
Thinking about sixty seven and those are the two guys,
they kind of are comps for me. It's crazy to
think of them as comms for they're thirty, you know,
years apart.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, it's insane that we think about coaches that we
want for the next ten years and we're still talking
about Sean McVay and this conversation. But that constant evolution,
like you said, going from a Rams offense the first
time they went to the Super Bowl that was so
hyper outside zone boot action, very traditional like kind of

(07:35):
West Coast, the offense that you think of when you
think of Sean McVay, and to see it more from
that into what they run now schematically with a whole
lot more like power counter duo. The way that they've
changed that team not only from a philosophical standpoint, but
with the body types that they add in. You have
to have a lot of trust in your head coach

(07:56):
to not only implement that and get to it ahead
of time, but have enough trust in him to make
sure that you are developing the players to get to
that point. And I think player development has been something
that the Rams do really well. They pick all these
guys late on day three, but they find all the gyms,
you know. So I think that's a big reason why

(08:17):
McVeigh is. I had him at number two as well.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Okay, too much agreeing, and that's a good call about developing,
about evolving, and I thought even about like just working
with everyone in the building like he inherited Lesnie. They've
made that really work. Obviously mcmay's the most important guy there.
But yeah, he is a pretty strong number two. I'm
curious who you go with number three?

Speaker 2 (08:39):
My number three, I I kind of parody myself here,
but my number three is Dan Campbell.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
I love Dan Campbell.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
I love everything that he stands for, everything that he
has morphed this Lion's team into. When I was talking
about a coach that you want to build a franchise
from the floor up, the first guy I thought of,
outside of Andy Reid was actually Dan Campbell because of
his ability to instill a culture. And I know culture
kind of gets thrown around like a lot, very buzzworthy

(09:12):
around NFL franchises. Ultimately, you have to have good players.
But all the players in Detroit believe in Dan Campbell.
They have a faith in him no matter what he does.
I think he stays on the front foot when it
comes to aggressiveness with fourth down calls, with the timeout usage.
And I also don't think he gets a lot of
credit for what the offense has done in Detroit because

(09:35):
Ben Johnson was not his original offensive coordinator. Higher he
went out and got Ben Johnson, he went out and
kind of helped him become what Ben Johnson is.

Speaker 3 (09:45):
So I think Dan Campbell's awesome.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
You can see the passion and the emphasis all his
players have in wanting to play for him, and that's
something that I think if I'm building a franchise from
the ground up, I want that energy.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
I want that juice in my room.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, we've had the exact same ranking so far. Game
management is something that I didn't point out with you
know McVeigh or even read because I don't think it's
their biggest strength, but that as an advantage. But building
a staff is so important for everyone, and I think
Campbell just nailed it when he got that job. He
knew which guys to get, and yeah, Ben Johnson wasn't
there initially, but he made the tough decision to elevate

(10:22):
him and recognize talent. I think he's been so good
at that. That's why I'm not as worried about the
coordinators leaving, because I think he's shown he can identify
talent as coaches. But yeah, doing this exercise, I went
back and looked at all the records all that stuff,
and you know they went from three wins to nine wins,
to twelve wins to fifteen wins. And yeah, he's worth
a little extra just for the social media content like

(10:45):
after the game.

Speaker 2 (10:45):
So I'm with you.

Speaker 1 (10:46):
That was my number three.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
I want him leading me.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
And he's the first guy where it's like, technically he's
not providing that schematic advantage, but I think is important.
Although he has called plays and I think he has
a bigger say in the offense, like you mentioned than
other people think. And now this where it's really interesting,
and I'm I don't know if if this is a
reach or what you'll think, but I'm going KOC next.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
I do believe it.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
This is where I could have gone with anyone in
the next like six seven picks, And I think you
can make an argument and maybe he's getting an advantage
like Dan Campbell that they've only coached for so long
and we haven't seen many of the warts, or almost
any of them. But in that article I mentioned about
Kayleb Williams, like they didn't want to go to Chicago,
Caleb Williams, him and his dad at first, they wanted

(11:30):
to go to Minnesota because they believed in what Kevin
O'Connell is doing so much. Same thing with Brett Favre.
I mean with Aaron Rodgers. I mean, Aaron Rodgers is
prostrating himself saying he'll take less money, he'll do whatever,
he'll be a good teammate because he wants to go
for Kevin O'Connell. And I get it. I believe because
of him, the combination of him as a person, in
him as a scheme guy, in him as a quarterback guy. Man,

(11:54):
that is a great place to start. And that's why
I just gave him like a little edge of anyone else,
because anyone else I just was picking knits that I
have a hard time. I don't know where to pick
the nets with Kevin O'Connell right now. He's kind of
had a charmed life.

Speaker 2 (12:08):
So I actually I had him in my top seven. Okay,
I think, I think, But I agree with everything that
you said and some of the one year that I
think really threw my appreciation for Kevin O'Connell was the
last year Kirk Cousins had before he towards Achilles and
ended up leaving the Vikings because of how much Kirk

(12:29):
had grown as a passer, where he's like stet Holt,
staying in there in the midst of like pressure, firing
darts over the middle. This is something that I don't
think I've seen Kirk Cousins do in a long time.
VP candidate Kirk Cousins, I mean, yeah, it was.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
It was insane.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
So I was like I grew my appreciation for Kevin
O'Connell grew that year, and then this past year with
Sam Darnold, that quarterback in the ways that he's able
to maximize his offense around what his quarterback is good
at and kind of he kind of masked the inefficiencies
of his quarterback within the offense and just turns up

(13:05):
all the explosives and all the things that his quarterback
is good at, which is something that a play callers
should do. But not only that, Like this team is
built in Kevin O'Connell's image. They have everything that they
want that you look for in a contender in a
Super Bowl contender, and I think Kevin O'Connell's ability to
remain steady in the force of that. He's always a

(13:26):
calm presence on the sideline, which I think really matters
and is really going to matter this year when you
have a rookie quarterback. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
I thought a lot about staffing too, and like they
had to change their defensive coordinator and he made that
tough decision, and he he on some hand he got
lucky that Brian Flores was available, but I appreciated that
he respected Flores to bring him in at that point,
in particular in Flores's you know, ten year when the
rest of the NFL maybe wasn't as high on him
and lets him do as thing. The one negative, if

(13:53):
I try to think of it, I do worry a
little bit about the Quesi adopha mensa thing and his
relationship there. It just seems like they not you've heard whispers,
they're not totally on the same page, and that's that's
tough for a first time head coach. He inherited Questi.
It's not like they came up together. So I didn't
want to knock him too much. I was thinking if
it was my team, who do I want to run

(14:13):
a team ideal situation, he would be my pick. But
who do you got as your next pick?

Speaker 2 (14:18):
This is number five, So I'm going between two right now,
they're my four and five, and I think if I'm
going moving forward into the future, I am going to
choose Kyle Shanahan. Still he's my nice guy too. I
think he is still one of, if not the best
play caller and offensive designer in the NFL. It's not

(14:38):
just oh he draws up the cool plays, it's the
intention with which the plays are always like, play calling
is so much less about the design and win to
call the right play, and I think Kyle Shanahan has
done such a great job of mixing both the design
and when things don't work, just hammered, just hammered the

(14:59):
thing that does. And I think that's something that Kyle
Shanahan has done well. The game management stuff really really
scares me sometimes. I remember saying it all the Shanahan
McVeigh coaches, if they're like RPG characters. They spend all
their points on on intelligence and charisma and none on

(15:21):
wisdom when it comes to game management. But Shanahan's ability
to also consistently find good hires on both sides of
the ball.

Speaker 3 (15:30):
You know, he found Mike McDaniel.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
I think the defensive coordinator hires outside of the weird
Nick Sorenson Brandon Staley amalgamation that they had last year,
have all been good. So I'm I'm still a fan
of what Kyle Shanahan does. I know, for a weird reason,
there's always been like the well Kyle Shanahan get traded
or is guy? Are the Nyers gonna fire Kyle Shanahan,
And I'm just like that None of that makes sense

(15:54):
to me, ever, because I still think he's one of
the best coaches in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (15:58):
Yeah, their question with him, he was next on my
list too, because ultimately I was thinking about I was
sort of thinking about this year, like whod I want
and the ceiling is so high, that's what I want.
In terms of he might be the best play color.
He's won multiple playoff games in four of his eight seasons,
so not just making the playoffs, not just winning one
playoff game, but winning multiple games. Half the season. Now

(16:20):
the other half he's lost double digit games, and so
that sort of it does make you worry about how
does he handle the rest of it, the emotions of it,
all the ups the downs, handling the front office side
of it, where he's you can tell he's the big
voice there. It reminds me a lot of his father,

(16:40):
who I think ultimately was the best play color of
his generation. But all the rest of it, like kind
of the human side of it, got in his own
way over and over again. And so he's a high risk,
high reward pick. And yet I would take him, And
I got to say, the next name that I wrote
down is.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Also from that coaching tree.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
But then I would realize that we would have taken
four of the McVeigh trees guys in the top six.
So just because I now feel differently, I'm actually gonna
take John Harbaugh because push comes to shove, I'd rather
have a scheme guy. And that's why even on my

(17:21):
initial list, I have the other you know, McVeigh tree guy.
You can guess who it is that's still sitting out there.
But he's done it with two quarterbacks. He's done it
over twenty years. He is excellent at handling all the
other parts of the job in terms of the media
and getting the building all on the same page, and
man can he hire like he has gone through so

(17:41):
many different staffs over the years, and ultimately they've all
been going in the right direction. I think he's in
a good spot in Baltimore with the gms that they've
had and everything like that. But you can only evaluate
what he's actually done. And I just feel good after
you just took a big swing on Shanahan. I just
feel like John Harbaugh to me, is a safe and
an underrated and a good pick.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
I think John Harbaugh is one of the faces of
stability when it comes to an NFL franchise. You always
know what John Harbaugh as your head coach, you are
going to at least make the divisional round of the playoffs. Now,
whatever happens after that is like weird. Every Ravens like
divisional round or AC championship game gets really weird. I

(18:21):
don't know what happens there, But like you said, the
ability to consistently make good hires and the ability to
understand when something isn't working, you know that untethering from
Greg Roman who had been like been his guy.

Speaker 3 (18:36):
It's something that has to be commended.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
So I'm a big fan of John Harbaugh still as
a coach, and like what he brings to a franchise.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
How he manages people is really important to me. I'll
never forget how he managed Lamar's rookie year and how
steadfast he has been since day one when Lamar took over.
How I think he has just managed that relationship and
under stood Lamar's greatness and how to work with him
so well from day one. And I think, I mean, look,

(19:06):
he's grateful to Lamar because he helped save his job.
That was in the twenty year run. You know that
Harbors had about that. There was about a two three
year run there where it was getting a little rickety.
But yeah, I think the emotional intelligence is sneaky high there.
All right, you're up with our next pick.

Speaker 2 (19:21):
What are we at? Number seven?

Speaker 3 (19:22):
Here?

Speaker 2 (19:23):
I'm going back to the unction. I'm going Sean Payton.
And Okay, I think this past year with how he
handled bo Nicks, made me appreciate Sean Payton a lot
more because I know it's very like, oh, obviously it's
really hard getting a rookie quarterback acclimated to the NFL.
And what he did with kind of not forcing him,

(19:47):
I think early in the season, they tried to force
him to do a lot of the big boy quarterback
stuff and then realizing that this just isn't going to work,
This isn't going to be sustainable right now. It's something
that I had a big take away from from watching
the NFL's past season is just getting your quarterback, your
young quarterback in and doing what he does best right
now while you just sprinkle in things that you want

(20:10):
him to improve on. You sprinkle in all the difficult stuff.
You're not going to ask your rookie quarterback to come
in and do master's level quarterback stuff. You just have
him do the beginner stuff and then sprinkle it in
as he grows over time. And I think that growth
is something that I really appreciated from Sean Payton's offense.
I think the position coaches that he hires are really good,
especially their offensive line coach who has helped develop that

(20:33):
offensive line into a really, really good unit. I do
think the vance Joseph like just kind of lett advance
Joseph hang around still is like, Oh, that's really smart.
Letting that guy who coaches a really good defense stay
around is a good idea. But what Sean Payton has
done to maximize his rookie quarterback while not asking.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
Him too early to do too much.

Speaker 2 (20:54):
It's something that I really appreciate, and I think that's
something that's going to really kind of despite his age,
I would still want him as like in a one
game sample size, I would still.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Sure, or even a one season I look, I thought
going into last year, I'll admit I was wrong about
the Broncos and I thought he was giving some parcels
vibes that it was getting towards the end, and you know,
maybe he's not as detail oriented at as he was
with the Saints, because that's one thing you always heard
about the Saints and the second he left, like you
saw the difference, like he sees the whole picture. He

(21:26):
he like the way their teams drill and situational football
and not making mistakes and line play and obviously quarterback play.
He really makes it happen. You have to give him credit,
like the way he could win games without Drew Brees
after he left. Like to me, was impressed in the
impressive the way he's done it with Nick. I think
you get a little bit of drama if we were

(21:47):
in this hypothetical world. We're ranking, we're not pretending we're
NFL owners and giving us billions of dollars in our pocket.
I would be as an owner a little like more
anxious about Sean Payton because I think there might be
like a little bit more like drama behind the scenes
and some he's like a little bit of a diva
maybe compared to some of these other coaches. But you

(22:07):
know what, He's earned it, so he wasn't too far
down my leay.

Speaker 2 (22:10):
He was only a couple more down my lists. So
I like that.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
I'm going Matt Lafluir now since I didn't last time.
Like he's sixty seven and thirty three as a head coach.
His worst season as a head coach is eight wins.
He obviously can work with different types of quarterbacks and
kind of make the system work to you. The Malik
Willis couple games was just like awesome and showed his
like was a way for him to flex, but didn't
surprise me just because of the way that I saw

(22:34):
him improve Aaron Rodgers, the way Jordan Love came out
as a pro in terms of as a starter. I
don't know if he like I just said, Sean Payton
like really sees the whole picture in a way that
maybe no other coaches. I think that was probably a
shortcoming for Lafleur, like when he started and he doesn't
need to be the GM or anything in Green Bay,

(22:55):
and he doesn't, you know, it's not all about relationships.
But I think he's grown into that kind of like mcvagh.
Not as high level as Sean McVay, but I think
he's a better coach than he was when he started out.
So he's giving you that schematic advantage. I think he's
been through some wards and man, he's won a lot.

Speaker 2 (23:10):
That stretch where Jordan Love was hurt and Malik Willis
played is some of the best coaching I thint of
the season. And just not only were they able to
hold water offensively, they were still generating explosives in the
run game. They were having like they were running like
darn near like Paul Johnson, like triple option stuff at

(23:31):
Georgia Tech in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
And I thought that ruled I would.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
I love Matt Lafleur's design and play calling offensively, he
was one of the guys I was thinking about picking.
But I think a little bit of my shortcomings with
him comes from the game management. I still think that
kind of Again, he's the Shanahan McVay tree where you
spend all the points in drawn plays and really nice

(23:55):
edge ups when it comes to the beard. But I
think the game, the game management still has to improve.
But like you said, if it's a one game or
one season sample size I'm taking, I would really like
Matt m Floor as my head coach.

Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, he also maybe hung on to his defensive coordinator
too long before you know, I was. I was rewarding
some coaches for making a switch. Is that entirely his
decision or not?

Speaker 2 (24:21):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (24:23):
It depends on the organization. But look, he's he's kind
of established as himself as a guy. All right, JP,
you are up next with the ninth best coaching.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
Oh man, I'm trying to decide between the unction again,
are going to a new generation? I'm gonna take a
swing here. I'm gonna go with Demico Ryans.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
He was next on mine too. Man, we were two
on board the same way.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
I had to Miko Ryans on this list, and it's
sort of it was sort of contingent last season on
what would he do with Bobby Slow? It because that
offense just completely sputtered out. It looked like slow. It
could kind of run out of answers with that offense,
and the offensive line play was god awful as we
all saw. But Demiko Ryan showing that ability to self

(25:10):
scout and go all right, this isn't working, we got
to get him out of here was a really big
feather in his cap. But I also think the big
thing is just how he's managed and grown that defense.
That defense is still incredibly young, but could be one
of the best defenses in the league this upcoming season.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
And again I'm a big fan of.

Speaker 2 (25:28):
You see the passion and the energy that the guys
play with because of him, because of that growth and
that faith that he puts in a lot of those
young guys on the team. Like this, I think the
Texans being good so quickly his sort of mass fact
that they are still a very young team, sort of
like with Matt Lafor's Packers. They've been the youngest team

(25:49):
in the NFL for the last couple of years, but
the Texans are right behind them. So I think what
Tamiko has done with such a young team so quickly
makes him my pick here over guys who might be
a little older, who done it more. But I'm taking
a swing on Demico and what he's able to do.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah to me as as a prospect as a choice
in this draft, and I had him in exactly in
this spot. Actually, you're taking a bigger swing, you know.
I'm trying to think of like who he would be
as a prospect that like, maybe there's some downside like
a Drake may or something like that, but he's got

(26:25):
every tool that you want in two years. Look, he's
won a playoff game in each year with a team
that the three years previous to him coaching there had
won to combine ten games, So I do think that matters.
Now he's only had two years, but he combines what
we've liked about a lot of these top coaches, especially
like a McVeigh. To me, I think he has that
sort of ceiling where I think he kind of can

(26:47):
be a culture unto itself. I don't think he's getting
involved in the front office as much. But he's also
providing a schematic advantage and that's really important for me
if I'm going to pick a defensive guy, because there's
only so many defensive guys that you can see their
imprint and it's consistent. Defense is less consistent in general,

(27:07):
and you've seen it as a coordinator and now you've
seen it as a head coach. That is a demico
Ryan's defense, and he got them going right away. His
game management is definitely a downside of where he's at,
So you hope that he gets better. But I admit
I'm being a little ageist here and I think you
are too in that with like the tie went to
the young guy, I think because I think they can

(27:28):
grow into the job a little bit. All right, I'm
going to make the tenth pick here. It's it's kind
of sad that he's sat here this long, but I'll
go Mike Tomlin. It is about respect a little bit,
because like, ultimately I do want a more offensive minded guy,
and I don't know why they haven't been more aggressive

(27:50):
about fixing the quarterback situation, but in the end, they
are more than the.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
Some of their parts.

Speaker 1 (27:57):
Like it's facts that he reaches these players on a
level that's like hard to completely quantify, and that he
is a great defensive mind, and he's a frustrating coach
I think for Steelers fans right now because of the ceiling,
and that's why he fell this far, because look, he
could have had an argument some years to be in

(28:18):
the top two or three in terms of what he
has done. Obviously we know like you're gonna have a
good record when you have him, but the fades at
the end of the season are a little bit of
a detraction. And yet when it comes down to it,
and I looked at the rest of the names on
this list, like I do want Mike Tomlin, Like we'll
figure it out, bro, Like I'm gonna help you out,
get you figure out how to higher coordinator. That's probably

(28:39):
like the number one thing that he has not been
able to do offensively.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
I mean, yeah, I think, And Mike Tomlin is one
of the guys I was considering with Tamiko Ryans is
he's always going to get you to a point where
you can compete for a playoff spot, and you will
be in the playoffs. What happens when you get there,
you might just run out of gas because the all
doesn't have enough juice. But Mike Tomlin has become sort

(29:04):
of this like Steelers fans want him to be fired,
and every fan outside of Pittsburgh is like, no, that
would be so stupid because he brings this consistency, like
we said with John Harbaugh, the consistency that he brings
to a franchise in just we are going to play
a certain style, We're going to play a certain type

(29:26):
of way, and it's going to get us this far.

Speaker 3 (29:30):
I can appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (29:31):
I can appreciate getting to the playoffs, getting to the
wild card. As a Jaguars fan, I can appreciate making
the wild card every year because most teams would wish
for that level of consistency from their head coach. But
like you said, the coordinator stuff has been just it's
been the reason they've fallen apart at the end of
seasons and then the game management leaves you wanting a

(29:54):
little more. But at the end of the day, he's
gonna get you to He's gonna get you to the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
He's going to get you to that point. He's sort
of he's sort of similar.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
I know that they have Spolster has won more, but
I think where Air is with the heat and where
Mike Tomlin is what the Steelers are sort of similar.
Where the talent on the team is not the same,
It's not the same level as when they were super
highly considered like one of the best teams of the
twenty tens. Obviously, but you always want that guy as

(30:27):
your coach because he's going to get He's gonna make
you competitive, he's going to get you.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
He's gonna get you to the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (30:32):
What happens when you face a more talented team who knows,
but he's gonna get you to that point every year.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
He's a little like Belichick, and that like Belichick needed
Brady to unlock how special of a coach on some
level as a head coach Belichick was. It doesn't mean
that Belichick wasn't special. If you dropped a great quarterback
into Tomlin's lap the last six years, like we'd be
talking about him differently. But I do think think that's

(31:00):
the reason why it's okay that he fell this far,
because ultimately, I think the coaches that do help out
their quarterbacks are more valuable. And this was the first
pick that I made that I almost immediately regretted that
I actually felt in my heart it was my team.
I do think there's maybe a name or two we
haven't gotten to that maybe if I was making the decision,
I wouldn't. But I'm just like, I'm afraid of Mike Tomlin.

(31:21):
He you know, just I respect Mike Talmin and I
couldn't let him fall anymore. All Right, we will be back.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
We have not drafted the Super.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
Bowl champion head coach that was our top ten. We'll
be back in a minute, back on NFL Daily. I
can already hear the complaints from some fan bases. Maybe
from our producer Eric Roberts, you might complain. Eagles fans

(31:53):
might be complaining.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
We've gone through the top ten quarter coaches in the league.

Speaker 1 (31:57):
Who will you stop the slide? It's interesting we're combining
on this list, so some of these coaches, it's like
it's up to us to stop the side if we want.
You have the number eleven pick here.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
I will not be stopping to slide. I'm going back
to the unction. Give me Jim Harbaugh.

Speaker 1 (32:11):
Yeah right, he's next on mine too. We're too similar.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
I love I love Jim Harbaugh, not only because like
he is he's so much of the raw, raw run
the football guy that it's just like it makes you
kind of think, like, oh, he's just a meathead.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
But the way that he kind of helped Justin.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
Herbert grow a little bit where he kind of Herbert
has always been like a football cyborg, where he's gonna
get from one to two to three and always play
getting from one to two to three. Jim Harbaugh kind
of helped them like loosen up a little bit, play
a little more out of structure. And we saw a
lot of growth from Justin Herbert in that area. So
I take a lot of that into stock and picking

(32:53):
Jim Harbaugh here. The reason I picked him earlier was
largely because of like Greg Roman. Like the attachment to
Roman were like, if I'm starting a franchise and I'm
thinking about hiring Jim Harball, is he going to bring
Greg Roman along with him? But you also think about
I know he did it in college, but hiring Jesse
Mintter and bringing him to Los Angeles. Jesse Mincher looked

(33:16):
like one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL.
So it's just kind of that back and forth with Harball.
But that ability to take a Chargers team that looked
like the roster had completely been stripped to parts and
take them to the playoffs is something that I think
I really appreciate with Harball.

Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, and you think about even with Greg Roman, like
the offense did improve. It was twelfth in DVOA last year.
It was coming off a pretty rough year, so it
was efficient. He is the guy I think this might
be kind of the end of a tier that I
immediately regretted taking Tomlin over. And to be real, if

(33:54):
you had taken him as high as four or five,
I'm not gonna hate it because he He's proven it.
He is a culture changer being around like as someone
that's you know, gone to training camp with the charge
and stuff like it's like the difference between when Brandon
Staley's coaching the team and Jim Harbott, Like he came

(34:14):
in there and he makes like he makes them a
real franchise in a way that they just didn't feel
and that that's pretty invaluable. So to me, any of
these guys from about four to to this spot, like
you could shake him up and I wouldn't argue too hard.
All right, I'm gonna go next, and again I'm going
off my board slightly. It is interesting you when you
actually get on the clock, you you realize how you

(34:36):
really feel. And I don't think Sean McDermot should slip
any further, and so I'm taking I'm taking him now.
And here's why I've always thought he was underrated in
that he provides a really clear schematic advantage defensively. Now
it hasn't been very good in the playoffs. It it
just hasn't. But we're talking about like the whole, the

(34:58):
whole thing. He he did help change the culture with
Brandon Bean. He brought Brandon Bean there. Josh Allen obviously
is the most important person in that organization, but they
went back to the playoffs before they got Josh Allen,
and they have been the most consistent defense in the
NFL since he got there. They have an identity. They've

(35:21):
actually gotten a little more creative and in terms of
what they do defensively lately, and they just rack up
the wins.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
And there's.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
You know, you don't like love how tight he seems
to get, and you don't like love the image of
him giving that nine to eleven speech and thinking, Yeah,
if there's one coach in the NFL that I can
imagine doing that, it is Sean McDermott. And that's why
I like he's not number one or two, but I
do think he really he knows how to do the
job of being a head coach, and he gives you

(35:51):
a pretty clear defensive schematic advantage that to me is proven,
and so that's why I'm taking him here.

Speaker 3 (35:57):
Sean McDermott exists in kind of a weird space when it.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Comes to NFL coaches, where it's like he's a great,
he's a good coach. Also has Josh Allen, but he
also helped build that defense, but the defense also falls apart.
It's like the Kombucha Girl meme where it's like, oh,
the team always does great in the regular season, and
the defense falls apart.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
In the postseason.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
Ah, the offense a great, got Josh Allen, but it's
like he's good. He just again, with some of these coaches,
it's just haw to beat the Chiefs in the playoffs,
like it's just unfortunate.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
But he is eighty six and forty five, and he
has found the right coaches around Josh Allen. Now, Josh
Allen is helping to make those coaches, but I do
give him some credit. I actually want to bring in
Eric Roberts.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
It's rare.

Speaker 1 (36:45):
I know Eric doesn't like to talk too much on
the show. He's been killing it lately. Just the best
editor in the game. But I am just curious. It's
been a long time with Sean McDermott. Obviously he helped
you guys out. I'm wondering how you feel about him.
How do you think the average Bills fan feels about
him too?

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Well? I like him the average Bills fan.

Speaker 4 (37:06):
I mean, there are plenty Bills fan facebook groups and forums.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
That want him fired every other week. But I mean
he does great.

Speaker 4 (37:15):
But like JP pointed out, you run into Patrick Mahomes
every year, it's gonna happen. I mean, I said this
when they beat us again this year, it's like, you're great.

Speaker 2 (37:26):
We're in the playoffs every year. You can't complain it.

Speaker 4 (37:29):
Just it's at a bad time to be good in
the AFC because you have the giant in Kansas City
that you just can't get past.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
He's like the Jerry Sloan if you know who Jerry
Sloan is, the old Utah Jazz had good. He's won
a playoff game Sean McDermott five straight years, at least one.

Speaker 2 (37:43):
It's trust me.

Speaker 4 (37:44):
I lived through the drought, I live, but I lived
through JP Lossman, I lived through Trent Edwards. You know,
Josh Allen is a big piece of this, and McDermott's
just there with him, and it's I compare we're doing
basketball prepers. I compare him Lob City Clippers back when
the Golden were They're fun. Yeah, dunks made it in
the playoffs. Couldn't get past the Warriors. Just can't get

(38:04):
past Kansas City. I don't want him fired. What are
we going to get? The thing is too with these coaches.
People want fired. Who we bringing in? What are we
going to change? You know?

Speaker 1 (38:13):
Right if it went south like it was, it was
getting close there in that year where he made the
speech and then they turned around. I think twelve is
a is a perfect spot for him. But this is
where I decided to just stop the slide. I felt
like it was too disrespectful for him to go any
any lower than twelve, because I thought he's always been
just like a tick underrated Trent Edwards, by the way,
I drafted way too high in a Dynasty League fantasy

(38:36):
draft like a long long time ago. All right, let's
go to pick number thirteen here at JP AM I.

Speaker 2 (38:43):
About to clear out the entire AFC West. I think
every AFC West coach. I'm not going to stop here
going full aunction. I'm a big believer in Pete Carroll.
I know he's coming out of the front office back
to head coaching. I don't think, but I think don't
think that gap between him coaching versus him being in

(39:04):
front office is too far. I think his prowess and
sort of his adjustments defensively don't get talked about as
much when we talk about the Legion of Boom and
how that defense shaped the NFL, and then how his
defense has evolved to what they've become now. He's always
consistently made great defensive HighRes I think the work that

(39:25):
he did with the offense too, until like the Russ
stuff at the end of the Russ tenure got really
got weird. But I'm still a believer in what Pete
Carroll does and what he brings in terms of a
floor razor to an offense. The only reason he's not
getting picked higher here is he's seventy three. Like if

(39:46):
we're taking like if we're taking a coach for the
next few years, Pete Carroll might not be your guy,
but in a one game and a one season where
you're just trying to get you're trying to get a
team off the floor.

Speaker 3 (39:58):
I think God fit keep Carol.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
I love him for the Raiders job. This is the
first time we've disagreed. I had him much lower ultimately,
like I had him below twenty because I still think
there's a lot of guys who bring certain advantages and
his defense to me just wasn't good enough for too
long at the end of his Seattle run. But as
a guy for the job that he was hired to
do and and sort of how you evaluated on some level,

(40:23):
which was like an expansion team, I do think he
he's great for that. But do I really I don't
know if I believe he brings enough kind of scheme
and he certainly you know, doesn't seem like offensive minded.
At this point, I am I'm gonna go with dan
Quinn okay next, And part of it is I think, man,

(40:44):
actually I should have just taken.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Syriana because Eagles fans are gonna look crazy.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
But I'm given a lot of credit to the second
time around theory that dan Quinn has talked about, and
that I believe that he learned about what went wrong
for him the first time around. Number one, and then
number two. I think he's evolved schematically to in a

(41:09):
way that is intriguing.

Speaker 2 (41:10):
Now.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
Their defense had a lot still left out to be
desired a year ago, but I think he did learn
a lot, and he is in that mold of a
Dan Campbell or a Mike Tomlin or a John Harbaugh
that I think is going to get an entire organization
on the same wavelength, even if you're not hiring him
just for scheme. Obviously he's coming off of a great year,

(41:34):
but it's everything you heard about him as an assistant
too in Dallas. I don't think they should have let
him go. So if it was my team, he is
the guy i'd want running my team next on this list.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
I have a lot of questions about Dan Quinn, especially
for being a defensive coach. The defense sort of like
the defense wasn't that good in Washington this first year.
But where I give dan Quinn a lot of credit
is the coaching hire off coordinator higher. He saw that
what Jane Daniels did at LSU, and he brought in

(42:05):
Cliff Kingsbury.

Speaker 3 (42:05):
To kind of help him do that same thing.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
While like we said about Sean Payton helping him grow
as you continue to add stuff into the offense instead
of throwing everything in the book at him from day one.
So I give dan Quinn a lot of credit there.
I just I worry a little bit about the defense.
But on the brea on if we're spin zoning this,
there wasn't there wasn't a lot of his players on

(42:30):
that roster yet. So it's also Washington, like I do.

Speaker 1 (42:34):
I did give extra credit for guys that were in
I think entering tougher situations, and I think that was
that was what he did as opposed to the guy
we still haven't taken who won the Super Bowl And
so who's kind of in the perfect situation? Are are
you going to just get him off the board here?
We're at We're at yeah, fifteen, Okay, he was next
on my list too. I stuck to my list. I

(42:54):
kind of regret not going off of it and just
taking him there.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
But well, I'm going to take Nick Sirianni here.

Speaker 2 (42:59):
And the way I describe Nick Siriani to a lot
of people who don't really follow football is he is
the perfect coach for the Philadelphia Eagles because he is
such a Philadelphia like he if we're talking about a
culture coach. He is Philadelphia as a head coach, He's
gonna rub people the wrong way a lot. He's gonna

(43:20):
make his own fans want to fire him. He's gonna
make his own fans like yell at him during games,
which tappened during the season they won the Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (43:30):
The players were fighting on the sidelines.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
But at the same time, like his ability to rally
this team and the ability to continue to get this
team to a certain level of play. Is it because
the team has built an incredibly stacked roster. Sure, but
he has a say in building said roster. I know
we gave Howie Roseman a lot of credit, but Siriani

(43:53):
also has a play in building that roster and then
the quarter.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
Though test I don't know, man Man, I don't know
if he has.

Speaker 3 (44:01):
I mould say the coordinaty stuff gets weird because like
it's just it's just tough.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
Because Steichen and Jonathan Gannon obviously great hires both of
them to be head coaches. Then Brian Johnson and the
unholy alliance of Matt Patricia and Sean Decai did not work.
So you go out and get Vic Fangio and Kellen Moore,
who were both sort of already established names as coordinators, and.

Speaker 1 (44:29):
Elewnership I think gets them, and that gets kind of
gets to the trick with Theoryane. He's like a system coach,
you know, like you have system quarterbacks. I think they've
made it clear that the front office is more important there.
So in this evaluation where we're kind of trying to
divorce the coach from the situation, I think it's totally
fair to put him where where we did. You could

(44:52):
argue he could even be lower because some other guys
have done other stuff.

Speaker 3 (44:57):
Look.

Speaker 1 (44:57):
I was listening to the pha Ypi cast last week
and Bo Wolf Zach Berman. They were talking about how
I think it was after the Cleveland game. They remember
they were two and two and then he did something
I forget which off field, you know, distraction, like whether
it was yelling at the fans or what it was

(45:18):
that Sirianni like, you know, and that was to get
them to three and two. And they believed that there
was a legitimate chance Sirianni was not gonna make it
through the season, that this was getting untenable and it
wasn't just about wins and losses, and it wasn't and
they weren't just saying that like they think that, Like

(45:40):
I think that was a conversation that was happening in
the Eagles building. And now they won the Super Bowl,
and I think the players love him and that's why
he goes number fifteen. But the fact that that's where
he was at like five weeks Anyway, this is.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Too long on, Sirianni. I'm sorry, all.

Speaker 1 (45:54):
Right, number sixteen.

Speaker 2 (45:55):
Man. This is where it gets tough.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
This is where it's tough because I like the next
eight or nine coaches and it's really tough to separate them.
And I think I'm gonna again go off my board.
I'm really not a disciplined drafter. I'm gonna take Kevin
Stefanski here. It goes to what I was saying about

(46:21):
the organization that I give him a lot more credit
for winning two Coaches of the Year trophies in Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
Yea.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
And I don't think he's been handed a full deck
in terms of his front office or ownership. I think
he can coach offense. And we're getting to the point
of the draft is like, what do I know you
can do? And I think he can coach offense. I
think he can coach quarterbacks. I think he can help
the offensive line. I don't think he's taken anything away
as like a leader of men or anything like that.

(46:52):
And so I just feel good about him. He's sixteen.
He actually he makes a lot of sense to me,
as like right in the middle, you.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
Know, this is actually going to be my next guy,
Kevin Okay, And again I put a lot of stock
into winning two Coaches of the Year, not only at Cleveland,
but one of those Coaches of the Year you won
with Joe Flacco playing quarterback, Like this is not a
team that has had like a bevy of talent on
the offensive side of the ball, like just this overwhelming

(47:19):
number of good quarterback play, but he's been able to
get them to at least a solid level when running
his offense. Now, you can make the argument last year
that he wasn't running his offense because of the worst
quarterback in the NFL, But it's I think when he
gets to when he's running his stuff when he wants,
when he's doing his stuff offensively, the offense looks good.

(47:42):
He has a vision and he has a plan for
what he wants to do. I think, like you said,
this is the perfect spot for him where it's like,
I know what you can do.

Speaker 3 (47:50):
It's just about like the Cleveland tax.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
Right, great, great Beard and yeah, like now, Baker has
played well in in Tampa, but a lot of the
other quarterbacks in Cleveland other than Watson, played their best
ball ever with Stefanski, Like Jakoby Brissett played his best
ball ever with Stefanski. He's done that repeatedly. Jim Schwartz
was a good hire. Ultimately, I just think he's a
really solid head coach. All right, you're up number seventeen.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
I'm sort in the same boat as you, where I'm
trying to evaluate, evaluate what you can do for me
if you can provide a schematic advantage. This is probably
the first one where I have a little bit of regret.
I'm gonna go Mike McDaniel. Okay, so I'm gonna go
Mike McDaniel here because I at least know what.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
That offense is going to do for me. I know
what he's going to bring to an offense.

Speaker 2 (48:44):
And I think when that offense was fully up and
running and they were healthy, that offense still was one
of the more impressive units in the league. I think
he has shown that he has the ability to adapt
and grow his offense. But my biggest issue with Mike
McDaniel is, for the last three years they've been one
of the worst short yardage teams in the NFL. Eventually,

(49:07):
that's got to come back to you and eventually, like
the offense is going to have to find a way
to be sustainable in the cold. In the cold, it's
gonna have to You're gonna find a way to be
sustainable in playoff level, playoff scenarios if you want to
be taken more seriously as an NFL head coach. So
I have a lot of questions there. I think the hires,

(49:29):
I mean, he calls playoffs plays on offense, but the
defensive highers have been all right. I think Anthony Weaver
was I think I actually think Anthony Weaver did a
pretty good job as deef to cornatd first year. The
Fangio thing just did not work. I don't think that
worked at all. But I still believe in what he
can bring, like you said, and I think he's gonna

(49:50):
bring an offense that I know what I'm gonna get.

Speaker 1 (49:52):
Yeah, I think, like Stefanski, I think he's in a
tough situation, and he does have a clear skill set,
not for nothing. He's got twenty eight and twenty three
and three years for an organization that has not been
very good, and so it's not like he doesn't have
some some pelts on the wall in terms of actual production. Yeah,
I only had I had two guys ahead of him,

(50:13):
because you are worried about like is he a system
coach if you put him into the right situation, like
if he's the Eagles, you know coach, if you put
him in there, if he if he was a successor
to Andy Reid in kansasity, like I would love him
in a situation like that, And so I think he
could succeed. Can he succeed everywhere? Do I think that
this might totally crumble? Because he is not the Sean
Payton type that can handle the entire building, Like, yeah,

(50:36):
that could happen, but that's happened to basically every Dolphins
head coach, so that might be more about the Dolphins.
I will go with the Patriots head coach here, Mike Rabel.
To me, he is like the coach pick of looks
good getting off the bus, like literally, but also like
he builds his team that way, and he's just like
in front of the podium, everyone believes. I think he's

(50:57):
gonna get buy in in a way that dan Quinn does,
so like to me, they were kind of similar options.
Second time around. He's got to show me it and
dan Quinn already did, but second time around, and he
was better than dan Quinn the first time around. Fifty
one and forty five in Tennessee, like, those are all positive.
There's a lot of reason to believe that it could
go really well and that he could be like a

(51:18):
top ten, top twelve type of guy. The downside is
he's a defensive guy who just has proven he doesn't
add a schematic advantage to his defenses. He's been average
at best, a little below average on average, and then he.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
Gets in.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
Fights with his coworkers a little bit like he's just
there's just been office drama. And I did take that
into account, he'd probably be three or four spots higher.
And maybe that's not on him, maybe it is, but
there's been like palace intrigue that's kind of followed him around,
and I think that's important, I really do. I think
that's part of the job, being able to manage all
of that, like the power dynamics, and I'm not sure
that's a strength of his.

Speaker 2 (51:57):
I feel like, if we're again, if we're putting this
scenario of building expansion franchise and you want to hire
Mike Rabel, I feel like as a GM, as an owner,
you have to like physically best Mike Rabel for him
to respect you. You have to like win an arm
wrestle against him. You gotta like him run the show.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
I think he's old school, where like he sort of
has to be the dude, and you're signing up for
that with its pluses and its minuses, you know.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
Yeah, I think you have to let him have the control.
I think that's something that kind of failed him in
his last in Tennessee. But to his credit, it's really
hard to get the number one seed in Tennessee. It's
really hard to get that home field advantage, and he
did that through a roster that he built. I think
some of the game management stuff is actually pretty good. Yeah, yeah,
that's a plus build. But I think it's a plus

(52:42):
for him. But again, like you said, outside of the
Matt l Floor, offensive higher Arthur Smith was pretty good
for him as an offensive higher.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
It sort of, it doesn't look that great for him,
so it went on.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
It went off the rails.

Speaker 1 (52:58):
The defense thing, too, is the thing that to me
a little bit that they put a lot into that defense,
and it was always just like, eh, it's okay.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
Yeah, it went off the rails a little bit.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
But I think Rabel's a really solid pick in this
area because he's gonna bring at least he's gonna bring.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
A culture, good value, good value, good value. Who you
got number nineteen.

Speaker 2 (53:19):
So the margin between my nineteen and twenty is super
super small. And at this point, I'm kind of thinking,
if I need one game, can I get a guy
who gives me a schematic advantage. I think this might
be a little bit of a reach, but I'm gonna
go with Mike McDonald. Wow, Okay, this might be because

(53:42):
I am such a huge believer in Mike McDonald's defense.
I'm a big believer in what he's done to build
out the defense and get his guys maximized.

Speaker 3 (53:54):
I think when you look at what.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
Boye Mafe did last year with Derek Hall and being
too starting quality edge rushers, the stuff that he's done
with Devin Witherspoon has been incredible. I think it's been awesome.
And then again, the moving of Kobe Bryant from nickel
to safety has really worked out for his career, getting
Julian Love to a Pro Bowl caliber level as a safety.

(54:17):
I think that defense, if we're talking about one game
sample size, I want to believe in Mike McDonald's defense
that gives me him the advantage over guys like Todd Bowles.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
So I think is a great defensive guy.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
But he's the next pick, my next pick. Yeah, the
game management sort of comes and goes, but I just
want to see more from his offense or the offense
that he wants to run. But again, the feather in
the cap forum is seeing that it didn't work the
first year and was like, Okay, scrap it, we got
to go do something different. So yeah, I think.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
It's a good high upside pick. His defense came together.
I want to see proof of concept from a coach.
What is it that you're bringing to the team. You
absolutely saw it the second half of that season. I
had him ranked a handful of spots lower. Mostly I
think just because it's been one year and some of
these other guys just like have proven it. But I

(55:11):
think he's got a higher ceiling than the rest, probably
a higher ceiling than Todd Bowles, who is my pick.
And this is interesting with us going back and forth
ranking it like this, sometimes we'll have guys that were
up higher for some reason. I jumped Vrabel over him,
but like on my initial list, actually had him fifteen
or sixteen, and he's going at twenty here because he's

(55:33):
had really high highs as a defensive play caller. In
a one game scenario, he's dangerous. It's not always consistent.
Defenses aren't in general. But I think he's a very
smart defensive mind. There's obviously no question about it. He's
a defining defensive coach of the last fifteen years. And look,
they've won plenty of games. He's done a good job

(55:54):
hiring coordinators. I think he's a good value here. Like
I said, doing the math again, actually had him fifteenth
on my board and he falls to twenty here.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
I think he's a good coach.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
Yeah, I think with Tod.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
Though terrible, it's like evaluating how important is that? It's
just yeah, it's terrible.

Speaker 3 (56:10):
Yeah, you gotta take the ups with the downs in
this range.

Speaker 2 (56:12):
And for as bad as Todd Bowles is with game management.
If you want one guy to call a defense for
you for an entire game, Todd Bowles is like one
of the guys where I'm like, Okay, I'm gonna let
you just cook on this.

Speaker 3 (56:25):
I think the biggest examples are the things that he's.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
Done to the Eagles, like he's done like he's put
that offense in a blender for most of the time
that they've played Philadelphia's So that ability to get the
most out of your defensive guys. I think some of
the issues come from just their personnel's gotten hurt. But
like you said, not only has he coached really good

(56:47):
defenses that can call really good defense, He's also hit
a lot of home runs with his hires on the
other side of the ball. So I think that's something
that you have to take into account with Todd Bowles.
It's just how high can you put him while also
acknowledging he might lose you a game when it comes
to game management.

Speaker 1 (57:05):
The crazy thing though, is if Todd Bowles is the
twentieth best coach in the league, like we're doing pretty good.
I know he wasn't like inspiring with the Jets and
actually his record with the Bucks is only three games
over five hundred, so it's not like regular season he's
been amazing, but he's a pretty good coach to be

(57:25):
twentieth here. All right, we will wrap up our final
ten just after the break. And yes, by the way,
you mentioned the Eagles. They are headed back to Tampa
Bay again at the same time of the season, week four,
one thing we didn't mention in the schedule release show.
So I'm very intrigued to see if Jalen Hurts will
finally solve them all. Right, back with the final coaches
right after this back on NFL Daily. I misspoke a

(57:56):
little earlier. I said there's four first time new head coaches.
There's actually five. Liam Cohen, Kellen Moore, Brian Schottenheimer, Ben Johnson,
Aaron Glenn. They're not getting ranked today, so we're ranking
twenty seven coaches that have actually coached at the highest
level in the NFL. We're up to twenty one.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
JP. It's your pick, so I'm going to pick Jonathan
Gannon here was my pick too, and pick two. I
think he's sort of become like I think he got
memed into hell when he first got the job, but
it's done a good job with this Cardinals team, and
I think it starts with his hires on the on

(58:35):
both sides of the ball. I think Nick Rowlis has
done an amazing job with that defense and what he's
done without the surefire personnel up front, some of the
stuff they do schematically. I love going back and watching
the Cardinals defense because they just throw different stuff at you.
It's so many different cool looks. And then it's complimented

(58:56):
by Drew Petts on the other side of the ball
that runs this version like monster ball that they like
to run with all the twelve and thirteen personnel and
everybody on the field is like six to four and
above except for Kyler Murray. So I think it's super
cool what he's done with his hires. I think the
management stuff is cup has been pretty good. It's just
about getting over the hump at this point, and can

(59:19):
he get over the hump? Yeah.

Speaker 1 (59:21):
The two Seattle games late last year were like, oh, Okay,
they're not ready. Yeah, they just had moments where it
was like, oh, but going into last year they had
a six and a half.

Speaker 2 (59:33):
Over under win total.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
They won eight games. I thought they were much better
than their four and thirteen record the year before. I
thought they were feisty. You know, they were maybe expected
to be the worst team in the NFL and they
could have had more than four wins. So I just
I watched them. I think they're a really well coached team.
Like he's creative. You mentioned it with the Highers, good stuff.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
That was.

Speaker 1 (59:52):
That was who I had. Next two, I'm gonna go
with his old buddy, Shane steichen Oka is the Colts
coach in seventeen in his two years. Again, if this
is the twenty second best coach in the league, like
we're we're in pretty good shape here. I think he
has a clear style, like you know what a Shane
Stike in offense looks like. He held on to Gus

(01:00:13):
Bradley too long. I guess that's on him. He kind
of inherited him. He did pull off like a winning
record with Gardner Minshew. I mean, I'm giving him some
credit for that. He hasn't been able to develop Richardson.
That's on him. That's on Richardson. And I still have hope.
You know, I think at this point in the coach's draft,
he hasn't shown me to be like a huge negative

(01:00:36):
in any way.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
So I think he's solid. The QB management really gives
me some pause when it comes to stike In, not
only just like the Richardson lack of development. It's the
putting Richson in, pulling him back out, puting in Jill blackout,
pulling him ba out.

Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
Putting Richardon back in.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
It's all these different like all these different quarterbacks coming in,
and you never can really.

Speaker 1 (01:00:57):
Could have been ownership putting their thumb on the ski.
In fact, that's the suspicion, you know. So, And that's tough.
That's a tough situation with the Colts.

Speaker 3 (01:01:05):
It is tough.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
But I think Stichen's a good value pick here because
I just I think the offense is good. I think
the offense has shown they can be good. They almost
made a Playoffs with Gardner Minshew at quarterbacks. So I'm
buying in there. All right, twenty three, you're up.

Speaker 3 (01:01:19):
I'm gonna go with Dave Canalis here.

Speaker 1 (01:01:22):
Man, we are really disrespecting someone will get to it's tough.

Speaker 2 (01:01:27):
I think what Dave Canalis did at the end of
the season with his QB development of Bryce Young, I
think that has to play a lot in here. I
think I would like to see the Panthers win more
games now that they have their full belief in Bryce
Young and that offense is sort of that offense is
starting to take take a shape that looks like what

(01:01:49):
Dave Canallis wants it to be. So I'm excited to
see what they do this upcoming year and then continuing
to hold on to Idiro. Everro, who I think is
a good coordinator, is still it deserves a lot of
feather in his cap as well, but I think I
just would like to see them win more games with
some weight to them for him to move up.

Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
Yeah, the development he has had with Baker Mayfield. You know,
you're not gonna give him too much credit because I
wasn't as a head coach, but you know he helped do it,
and just his spirit and he's trying to be Pete
Carroll two point zero. He's open, He's open about it.
That's his mentor. I had him at twenty five, so
a few spots lower just because he hasn't done it yet,
but it was promising. It was good to see something

(01:02:31):
in his first year, like like I kind of said
with Mike McDonald, like you saw the canals imprint on
Bryce Young and that was awesome. I'm going to take
Zach Taylor now, just so I don't get labeled Zach
Taylor hater anymore than I already am. I think I
used to describe him that he was just like a
polo shirt of a coach. You know, I'm wearing one
right now. Nothing against polo shirts, like, but they're just

(01:02:55):
you know, they're just you put on a polo shirt
and you're not going to get too much tension for it.
It's not too good, it's not too bad. And that's
Zach Taylor. I just think players matter, and I'm not
totally sure if you dropped him into different situation how
well it goes.

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
I do think he manages his players pretty well in
terms of I do think they like Zach Taylor like
I think he manages personalities. Okay, but they're forty six
and fifty two. You got to count those first couple
of years, and when Joe Burrow has started games the
last two years as just one year, they're fourteen and thirteen,

(01:03:34):
and so that's malpractice from an organization. And I think
he's fighting up hill like some of these other coaches
in terms of the organization. But ultimately, I'm not sure
what I really have with Zach Taylor. So he's twenty four,
so I hey, look, if you're gonna come at me
Bengals fan, I actually just bumped him up ahead of
Raheem Morris, who I actually had written above him. But

(01:03:54):
I'm gonna put him twenty four just because it feels
bad him goes state.

Speaker 3 (01:03:58):
On things that I agree with you on.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
SA Zach Taylor, it just feels like he's not running
the offense that we thought he would coming from the
McVeigh offense. It feels like the Bengals are like, and
you have Joe Burrow and you have t Higgins Lamar Chase.
You're not going to run wide zone every play, you know,
But it doesn't feel like the offense has his imprint

(01:04:21):
on it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:21):
It feels like it's a Joe Burrow offense.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
But isn't that?

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
Yeah, just to look, he's twenty fourth. That's where I
had him too, So I'm not disagreeing with you, but
you could make the case. Look, you got to meet
the players where they are. Joe Burrow has a very
specific style that he clearly wants to play, and I
think it's you know, to Taylor's credit on some level
to get the best version of that offense out there.
But you're right, kind of an awkward fit. Probably the

(01:04:45):
best moments just of his career, like as a coach.
Other you know, they did almost win the Super Bowl.
That's that's pretty good for the twenty fourth best coach.
And like I was when he was winning games with
Jake Browning and putting up some offensive numbers, that was
pretty good. All Right, you're twenty five. We only have
three left.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
Oh man, I'm gonna go with Brian day Ball here. Okay,
poor Raheem.

Speaker 3 (01:05:08):
He won a playoff game, like.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
He has won a playoff game, no matter what happened
in the in said playoff game, he manages that team
to get to a point where you won a playoff game.

Speaker 3 (01:05:21):
He won a playoff game with Daniel Jones at quarterbacks.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
So I think his offenses like it's it's tough because
you want to say that this team hasn't had a
lot of talent on the roster, but he also plays
a part in acquiring and developing talent, so which is
why he's twenty fifth here. But I I guess I'd
go with him over the last two guys, because you

(01:05:45):
know he's had experience in the playoffs.

Speaker 1 (01:05:47):
He's not a bad coach. That's what I was getting at,
where like I don't know fifteen to twenty five, even
twelve to twenty, Like, I don't think he's a bad coach.
The reason I had him so low, I actually had
him twenty six was ultimately I went to Pro Football
Reference and he has run an offense either as a
coordinator or a head coach, eleven times, and his Bills

(01:06:08):
teams with Josh Allen were in the top ten three
times out of his four years in terms of points. Otherwise,
he hasn't been over fourteenth once. And you can go
look at those Miami and Cleveland team like they're bad quarterbacks.
I get it. But over the non Josh Allen seasons,
JP his teams have averaged twenty fifth in points scored.
So you're an offensive guy. I don't know if he

(01:06:29):
has the big picture. I thought the upside for Rahiem
Morris was higher because I do believe somewhat in the
raw ros stuff for lack of a better word for
like the team building, for the getting everyone on the
same page, kind of like a Dan Quinn. He needs
to prove it. You know, they went eight to nine

(01:06:50):
last year. That's probably about right for the talent that
they had. They were twenty ninth in defensive DV away.
But you hear from his players and people that have
coached with him, They swear by him, and I think
second time around he could be a good coach. So
I think he actually has a higher ceiling than a
Canalis or Tailor, maybe not Canalys but Dable. But you know,
we're just we're splitting Harris again. The fact that he's

(01:07:12):
twenty six is a good sign for the state of
NFL coaching.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
Yeah, I think it's a great sign. I believe in
what Maraheem Morris is doing. Culture wise, I think that
the players obviously love him. I do want to see
what the defense looks like when he's running his defense,
because it felt like Jimmy Lake last year was running
Jimmy Lake's stuff, and then after Jimmy Lake was fired,
he was like this.

Speaker 3 (01:07:32):
This is now the Raheem Morris defense.

Speaker 2 (01:07:34):
And we've already heard and seen players like Matt Judon
like say like, I did not like running that defense
because why am I always dropping in the coverage, So
I want to see what he does with his defense
now and his players in there.

Speaker 3 (01:07:49):
So I'm a little lower going forward, but I.

Speaker 2 (01:07:52):
Do like what he's done to kind of change the
culture of that team. Right.

Speaker 1 (01:07:56):
I am glad he brought up Judon because I was
the highlight of the twenty twenty four Patriots season other
than landing a great franchise quarterback. I suppose that's number one.
Number two is getting a third round pick for Matthew Juden.
All right, Last up is Brian Gallahan. I can make
the pick for you because he's the only one left,
and it's just kind of like, I don't know what
you thought about him, but it was more just like

(01:08:17):
it's incomplete. What are we gonna do at this point?

Speaker 3 (01:08:20):
It's incomplete.

Speaker 2 (01:08:21):
I honestly did not think he would make it through
last season. I thought he was gonna be a one
and done because man, there's not a lot that inspired
you when it.

Speaker 3 (01:08:31):
Came to watching Tennessee.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
But I also can say that Dinard Wilson and that
defense they had, there's talent on the defensive side of
the ball. There's not it's not like overwhelming, but you
have some guys there that you can build off of,
and now you have cam Ward number one pick. It's
let's see, let's see it now, like we I would
like to see that offense be a little bit better,
and I think the Bill Callahan like floor raizer for

(01:08:56):
the offensive line should help out this upcoming season. But
I'm a little less optimistic about how I did.

Speaker 1 (01:09:04):
Yeah, does does he get credit for bringing his dad along?
I'd say yes, because that should help him and it
only helps so much last year. But I think their
offensive line is the right direction. I'm more on the incomplete, like,
I have my doubts. I know he got picked on
once or twice. We're being a little like emotional behind
the podium. I actually think if you watch his press

(01:09:24):
conference and hear him speak, it's in his favor. I
think he I think it comes across as an intelligent,
like well thought out head coach and he's just got
to prove it. He was in a tough situation. It's incomplete.
I think any and everyone else on this list has
shown just a little more. We did it, We figured
it out.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
JP.

Speaker 1 (01:09:42):
We did not disagree too much either. I got to
say I was wondering, like if you were just going
to take some some coach that I wasn't that big
a fan of at number four, and I was like,
then it'll just be there for for all time, because
we're gonna do this every year. We're gonna take We're
gonna take a look and see see how this how
this thing changes. I appreciate you JP.

Speaker 3 (01:09:59):
Of course, thank you for having me on.

Speaker 1 (01:10:02):
Yeah, check out JP his latest thing on Espianation. I
believe it was it was your girlfriend that helped rank
the schedule release videos and you're putting her to work.

Speaker 3 (01:10:15):
Yeah, I outsourced this story.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
I got my girlfriend to help me rank the schedule
release videos because as much as I love her and
as great as she is, she does not have a
lot of knowledge about sports. So one of the quotes
in there is who is Ai speaking about the video
that featured Alan Iverson?

Speaker 3 (01:10:32):
So I had to explain that bit to her.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
But she's awesome and she helped me build that list
that I think is one hundred percent correct.

Speaker 1 (01:10:40):
Shout out to her, And yeah, that Bill's Ai video
got got attention for some other reasons, if you know,
you know, but I think the Titans won that one.
You might have come in last place in this coaching rankings,
But my choice was the sky Rizzy Titans one that
was having me and my.

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
Son Walker just crack up.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
We will be back on Tuesday. You know what it is.
It's the see you Next Tuesday crew, it's Colleen Wolf,
it's Jordan Rodrigue. Really looking forward to that one. Thanks
again to JP and uh yeah, when when we're making
Bengals fan and Zach Taylor fans mad again, like you know,
football scat