NFL head coach power rankings 2024

The NFL calendar has no breaks. With the 2023 season behind us, the NFL combine is around the corner and following that, free agency in March.

The coaching carousel has wrapped up (save for some assistants) and there are eight new skippers, ranging from high profile re-treads like Jim Harbaugh in LA to first timers like 36-year-old Mike Macdonald in Seattle. As we do every year, we couldn't help but rank all 32 of them. You can see our rankings last season here.

Jimmy Kempski, our Eagles beat writer, Evan Macy, the managing sports editor, Shamus Clancy, the deputy sports editor and Nick Tricome, a staff writer, each ranked all of the current head coaches with one guideline in mind, looking to craft a hierarchy based on "what have you done for me lately" as well as a full career's body of work.

We averaged out the rankings and will discuss them below.

Here is a look at the NFL head coach power rankings for 2023:

1. Andy Reid, Chiefs (last year: 1)

Nick Tricome: This was probably the worst Kansas City team in Patrick Mahomes' entire run so far as the starting quarterback and the Chiefs still won the Super Bowl. They're on back-to-back titles now and haven't finished short of the the AFC Championship game in six years. 

Big Red has a dynasty building in Kansas City, and that's been a long time coming. It just hurts a bit that he was never able to do it here.

Jimmy Kempski: I'd have Andy at No. 1 even if Bill Belichick still had a job.

2. Sean McVay, Rams (last year: 10)

Evan Macy: Really impressed with McVay this year. Perhaps more impressive than his Super Bowl win a few years ago, he sort of rolled with the punches, pulled the right levers to get superstardom out of Puca Nacua and Kyren Williams, and is still making Matt Stafford look like a Pro Bowler. 

3. John Harbaugh, Ravens (last year: 13)

Evan: He's won a Super Bowl and a Coach of the Year award. He has a .618 career in percentage. His teams have made the postseason 11 times out of 16 NFL seasons. And his defenses continue to rank in the top 10 every year — this year they were sixth best in yards allowed and best in points. Is it his fault or Lamar Jackson's fault they couldn't score on the Chiefs last month? 

4. Matt LaFleur, Packers (last year: 18)

Shamus Clancy: The way LaFleur had Jordan Love playing like a true star quarterback during the stretch run this past season proved that he was no simple hanger-on during Aaron Rodgers' MVP campaigns in Green Bay. A record of 56-27 is a hell of a way to begin a head coaching career.

5. Kyle Shanahan, 49ers (last year: 5)

Nick: Great coach. He'll get your team to the playoffs, even the Super Bowl if they can stay healthy. But in the big moment, he's proven to way overthink his play-calling and decision-making to the point where it can and will cost you. See: Super Bowl LIV against the Chiefs when his 49ers blew a 10-point lead and lost; the 2022 NFC Championship when his call to leave Brock Purdy basically unprotected against Haason Reddick flushed the Niners' chances right then and there; this past Super Bowl when San Francisco blew another 10-point lead to the Chiefs and lost again; and of course, Super Bowl LI when he was the OC for the Falcons and had his hand in the infamous 28-3 collapse to the Patriots. 

Oh yeah, and the whole overtime debacle with this past Super Bowl, too. That's embarrassing. 

Evan: I had a long argument with one of my best friends about where Shanahan deserves to be on this list. He's got talent, and has found ways to make less than superior quarterbacks Super Bowl signal-callers. But he's gotta win something to challenge Reid for top dog.

Jimmy: He's new-age Marv Levy.

6. DeMeco Ryans, Texans (last year: 16)

Nick: What Ryans was able to pull off in Houston within a year, flipping the Texans from a basement-dweller into a division winner is nothing short of remarkable, and stands to re-write the long-term outlook of what's long been a weak AFC South.

Jimmy: The Texans are the envy of some teams around the league with Ryans at head coach and C.J. Stroud at quarterback.

7. Dan Campbell, Lions (last year: 11)

Evan: There is clear contrast in the NFL between the X's and O'x geniuses and the motivational Ted Lasso types. Campbell, after his playoff performance in the NFC title game, is firmly in the Lasso category, along with the Nick Sirianni's of the world. The only Super Bowl winning coach I can think of out the last 12 or so from that category was Bruce Arians with the Bucs a few seasons ago.

Jimmy: Campbell is a little high for my tastes here. He's aggressive on fourth down and his players seem to respond to his personality, but the guy still has a career losing record.

8. Doug Pederson, Jaguars (last year: 2)

Shamus: After soaring to a playoff win in Jacksonville in his first year with the Jaguars, Pederson's squad regressed in 2023, as did franchise quarterback Trevor Lawrence. The AFC South appears tougher than ever, but Pederson is a sharp play-caller and carries that Super Bowl pedigree with him.

Jimmy: Pederson is probably most responsible for the NFL's shift toward analytics-driven decision making on fourth downs and two-point conversions.

9. Mike Tomlin, Steelers (last year: 9)

Nick: It's highly commendable that Tomlin has been able to keep the Steelers above water for this long, but these past few years, only staying slightly above it has been the best they've been able to do and without any clear direction to build toward greater. 

Jimmy: Pittsburgh's streak of 20 consecutive non-losing seasons is remarkable, and Tomlin has gotten there with some bad rosters.

10. Kevin Stefanski, Browns (last year: 25)

Evan: Major props to this year's Coach of the Year, who made the playoffs without Nick Chubb and with Joe freaking Flacco under center.

11. Sean McDermott, Bills (last year: 6)

Jimmy: He's new-age Andy Reid (Eagles version).

12. Sean Payton, Broncos (last year: 8)

Shamus: Payton is one of the greatest offensive minds of all time, but he hasn't been able to work wonders with a past-prime Russell Wilson just yet. His ranking here gives him a bit of the benefit of the doubt.

13. Mike McDaniel, Dolphins (last year: 21)

Evan: I sort of like the nerdiness and brut honesty McDaniel showed while he was on Hard Knocks at the end of the season.

Jimmy: McDaniel is funny and affable with the media and his offense is fun to watch so he is widely regarded as a really good coach, but the results aren't commensurate with the hype.

14. Jim Harbaugh, Chargers

Nick: At least off the bat, the Chargers upgraded over Brandon Staley and should have a lot more energy to them. 

15. Nick Sirianni, Eagles (last year: 3)

Nick: That collapse happened and it was all kinds of bad. Kellen Moore was brought in to run the offense and Vic Fangio the defense, while Sirianni is stepping back into a "CEO" style role. Fans were mad – still are – and wanted Sirianni gone – still do. But players haven't been shy about standing up for him since the season crashed and burned, which I think is telling that he still has the locker room, for now at least. 

Biggest risers/fallers

16. Shane Steichen, Colts (last year: 17)

Shamus: A bit of a hot take... the way people lost their minds about Frank Reich leaving Philadelphia in 2018 and having been the mastermind of the Eagles' Super Bowl team the entire team is more applicable to Steichen than Reich.

Jimmy: I don't know how Steichen won 9 games with this horrible roster. 

17. Zac Taylor, Bengals (last year: 7)

Nick: The Bengals weren't outright bad and managed to stay in the playoff picture for a good while, but going into the year with a banged-up Joe Burrow until eventually losing him entirely hurt a whole lot. 

18. Todd Bowles, Buccaneers (last year: 27)

Evan: Temple guy who overachieved this year and made Baker Mayfield relevant again. He had one of the more impressive performances in 2023.

19. Mike McCarthy, Cowboys (last year: 20)

Nick: I still don't know how he's Dallas' coach after that Wild Card thrashing from the Packers.

Jimmy: I still don't know how he's Dallas' coach after that Wild Card thrashing from the Packers.

20. Kevin O'Connell, Vikings (last year: 19)

Jimmy: In Week 3, with 41 seconds left, on a 4th and 5 from the Chargers' 15 and no timeouts, the Vikings converted with a 9-yard pass to T.J. Hockenson. Any sane team would hurry up to the line to spike it, and have plenty of time to take three shots into the end zone. Or maybe if Kirk Cousins and Justin Jefferson wanted to run some sort of wink wink hurry up fake spike fade route that they've worked on in practice and it only takes an extra three or four seconds to run instead of clocking the ball... fine. 

What did the Vikings do? They stood around leaderless while a couple dozen second ticked off the clock. Watch this video:

That sequence probably cost them a game. Maybe I'm judging O'Connell too harshly on that one moment, but holy crap that was bad.

21. Antonio Pierce, Raiders

Nick: The Raiders were a completely different team once Pierce took over, to the point where they even completely trashed the Chargers in a 63-21 embarrassment in Week 15. Turns out Vegas does know how to play and has more than a few pieces to build with. Josh McDaniels was just awful, and Pierce was the perfect fit to replace him. 

22. Brian Daboll, Giants (last year: 14)

Shamus: Daboll's 2022 Coach of the Year season feels about 25 years ago at this point. Daboll maximized the Daniel Jones experiment for a single season, but that was always unsustainable. 

Jimmy: Nothing ever seems to be his fault. He's always screaming at someone on the sidelines.

23. Jerod Mayo, Patriots

Nick: Mayo is a first-time head coach being tasked with following up one of the greatest ever. I do not envy his position. 

24. Dan Quinn, Commanders

Shamus: Luckily for Eagles fans, Washington went for a completely uninspiring hire, bringing in Quinn, slightly better version of Ron Rivera.

25. Matt Eberflus, Bears (last year: 30)

Evan: I was a little surprised, with the first overall pick and a decent young team, that the Bears are sticking with Eberflus. Will he be able to make Chicago a playoff contender next season? If not he'll be out of a job pretty quick.

26. Raheem Morris, Falcons

Jimmy: Morris got a head coaching job 15 years ago with Tampa, and was fired after three seasons with a 17-31 record. His quarterback was Josh Freeman at the time. In Atlanta his quarterback will be, uh... 🤷‍♂️.

27. Robert Saleh, Jets (last year: 23)

Evan: How on earth does this guy still have a job? I guess the answer is, Aaron Rodgers is allowing him to keep it...

28. Mike Macdonald, Seahawks

Jimmy: The Seahawks had a defensive-minded head coach over the last 14 years in Pete Carroll. I'm a little surprised they went in that direction again.

29. Dennis Allen, Saints (last year: 29)

Nick: Allen threw his team under the bus over a garbage time touchdown and all for the sake of the respect of a now former Falcons head coach who wasn't really deserving of any. It was lame.

Jimmy: This is the real "How did this guy keep his job" entry.

30. Brian Callahan, Titans

Jimmy: Nepo hire.

31. Dave Canales, Panthers

Evan: Canales is inheriting the worst situation in the NFL this season. Wishing him luck.

32. Jonathan Gannon, Cardinals (last year: 28)

Shamus: My prediction of Gannon being a one-and-done coach in Arizona did not come to fruition. Let's call him a "two-and-done" then.

Jimmy: He's a habitual liar. Nobody respects a liar.

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