Head coaches get all the headlines, but the coordinators they hire (and fire) often make or break their careers. Whether they’re filling out their first staff, replacing a coordinator who got a head coaching gig or retired, or firing an underperforming assistant, head coaches have a lot of responsibility to get these hires right.

The NFL loves a good retread coach, but there were a lot of new names this year as well. With 10 new head coaches, there was a ton of movement among the coordinators, and these teams could look very different next year with new blood in key positions.

Six coordinator spots remain up in the air, but for now, here are grades on all new coordinator hires:

Bills OC Pete Carmichael

Carmichael was the longtime offensive coordinator of the Saints under former HC Sean Payton. He helped engineer some of the most potent offenses in NFL history and followed Payton to Denver in 2024 as a senior offensive assistant. Like Payton, new Bills HC Joe Brady will run the offense. It makes sense for a young coach like Brady to hire a veteran offensive assistant who’s used to not calling plays as his offensive coordinator.

Grade: B

Bills DC Jim Leonhard

It’ll be interesting to see how this hire ages. Leonhard is a very different type of hire for Brady than Carmichael. Instead of a veteran coach with decades of experience, Leonhard is a rising star-type who’s only been coaching for 10 years.

The Broncos’ pass game coordinator for the last two years, Leonhard was promoted to assistant head coach in 2025. Everyone in Denver raves about this guy and he has a lot of upside as an exciting young defensive coach. The issue is Brady is a young head coach with a background on offense. Leonhard will be charged with retooling an aging, underperforming Bills defense, and we don’t know how well he’ll do that.

Grade: B

Jets OC Frank Reich

The former Colts and Panthers head coach is known as one of the best quarterback developers in the game. He’s been out of the NFL for a few years but he knows his stuff, working under Doug Pederson in Philly before taking over in Indy.

The Jets don’t have a quarterback for him to work with yet, but they could take one in this draft. Unfortunately, there’s only one top-tier quarterback prospect this year in Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, and he’s all but officially gone to the Raiders at No. 1 already. Realistically, New York is looking to 2027 for their quarterback of the future, but this staff needs to survive this season, which may be difficult given its options.

Reich is already 64 and probably doesn’t have another decade of coaching ahead of him. Still, he’s a good offensive coordinator and playcaller, and Jets HC Aaron Glenn is setting up his staff to shepherd a young rookie quarterback no matter when they draft him.

Grade: B+

Jets DC Brian Duker

Duker’s connection to Glenn goes back to when the two worked together on the Lions’ staff. Most recently, he served as the pass game coordinator and secondary coach for the Dolphins from 2024-2025. That Dolphins pass defense was awful, but in fairness, the roster at cornerback in particular was pretty barren. Besides, this is ultimately Glenn’s defense.

Grade: C+

Dolphins OC Bobby Slowik

New Dolphins HC Jeff Hafley made a great hire here with Slowik. A Shanahan disciple, Slowik was the offensive coordinator in Houston under HC DeMeco Ryans for two seasons. After 2023, a season in which he orchestrated a potent Texans offense, he was a hot head coaching candidate who elected to stay put. After a down 2024 season, he was blamed for the offense’s sluggishness and was let go.

As we saw this season, Slowik was not the problem for the Texans (or he wasn’t the only problem, at least). Perhaps Houston needed to go in a different direction anyway, but the Texans offense got worse after Slowik left. He joined Miami’s staff in 2025 as the senior passing game coordinator and now steps up as an offensive coordinator once again. I like Slowik a lot and this was one of the better hires of the cycle.

Grade: A-

Dolphins DC Sean Duggan

A young defensive coach, Duggan has been working with Hafley for some time now. After stops at Hawaii, UMass and Ohio State, he joined Boston College’s defensive staff under Hafley and held several positions there, including co-defensive coordinator. He came to Green Bay with Hafley as a linebackers coach and now follows him to Miami to be his defensive coordinator. It’ll be Hafley’s defense, but he clearly trusts Duggan enough to make him his top assistant on that side of the ball.

Grade: B-

Commanders OC David Blough

A fast riser, Blough’s short playing career ended less than three years ago. But he’s already worked his way up through the coaching ranks, joining former Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury’s staff as an assistant quarterbacks coach for two seasons before being promoted this cycle. Blough played under Kingsbury in Arizona for a year, and the two clearly formed a strong relationship.

At first glance, the Commanders rushing to promote Blough after just two seasons as an offensive assistant seems ill-advised. But he was starting to get serious buzz league-wide — the Lions brought him in to interview for their open offensive coordinator position and even had a second interview scheduled when Washington locked him down.

I got a chance to work with Blough a little bit when I was a student at Purdue. I can’t speak to his coaching prowess, but everyone gushed about his leadership qualities and knowledge of the game, and he commanded immense respect in that locker room. The Commanders believe he’s a rising star — while there’s inherent risk in hiring someone so inexperienced, I think there’s a lot of upside to this hire as well.

Grade: B+

Commanders DC Daronte Jones

An experienced defensive coach, Jones has coached everywhere from high school to college to the CFL and, of course, the NFL. Most recently, he served as the Vikings’ defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator under DC Brian Flores. The Commanders had the worst secondary in the league last year, and Jones has prior experience as a defensive coordinator at LSU. This hire makes a lot of sense.

Grade: B+

Giants OC Matt Nagy

Nagy was the Chiefs’ offensive coordinator before landing the Bears’ head coaching gig in 2018, returning to Kansas City as their offensive coordinator once again after his stint in Chicago ended. Surprisingly, he got some head coaching buzz and went deep into the process with the Titans despite an underwhelming resume.

This hire has a decent floor, but new Giants HC John Harbaugh is betting the development of second-year QB Jaxson Dart on Nagy, and that’s a risky gamble to make. The Chiefs were all too happy to let Nagy walk this offseason when his contract expired, and there’s a reason Andy Reid — not Nagy — is credited with developing Patrick Mahomes.

Grade: C-

Giants DC Dennard Wilson

A former assistant with the Rams, Jets, and Eagles, Wilson spent a year as the defensive backs coach under Harbaugh in Baltimore in 2023 before landing a defensive coordinator gig in Tennessee. The Titans weren’t good during his two years there, but their defense always outperformed their talent level, which is a good sign.

Grade: B

Browns OC Travis Switzer

Switzer is a Todd Monken guy through and through. The new Browns head coach is the former Ravens offensive coordinator, and Switzer worked under Monken during the latter’s entire tenure in Baltimore. Most recently, Switzer was the run game coordinator for a creative and explosive Ravens scheme.

Grade: C-

Ravens OC Declan Doyle

A young assistant with experience with the Saints, Broncos and Bears, Doyle gets a promotion of sorts as he was just serving as the offensive coordinator in Chicago under Ben Johnson. Now he gets a playcalling gig, one in which it’ll be his scheme to design and execute. Doyle has learned from Sean Payton and Johnson, two of the better offensive minds in the game today.

Grade: B-

Ravens DC Anthony Weaver

It’s a return to Baltimore for Weaver. Another potential head coaching candidate, Weaver served as the Ravens’ defensive line coach and run game coordinator in 2021, getting assistant head coach added to his title for the next two seasons. More recently, he was the defensive coordinator in Miami, overseeing a deeply underwhelming Dolphins defense.

The Dolphins had a severe lack of talent on that side of the ball, but it’s still not a great data point for Weaver. People in the coaching world rave about Weaver’s leadership and coaching acumen, though.

Grade: C+

Eagles OC Sean Mannion

A backup quarterback in the NFL for about a decade, Mannion got his coaching start with the Packers as an offensive assistant in 2024 before being promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2025. Now with the Eagles in just his third year of coaching, he’ll be tasked with revitalizing a talented offense that struggled throughout last season.

This is an odd hire in context. Eagles HC Nick Sirianni has had incredible success during his time as Philly’s head coach, but he’s bizarrely hot and cold depending on who his offensive coordinator is. In three years with Shane Steichen and Kellen Moore as his offensive coordinator — two coaches who now have head gigs in the NFL and an established track record of success before arriving in Philly — he’s made two Super Bowls and won one.

In the two years without those coaches, his teams have still been good, but collapsed down the stretch of both seasons and had a lot of inner turmoil and dysfunction. It sounds crazy to say about a coach who’s just a season removed from winning it all, but Sirianni has a lot riding on the 2026 season. The Eagles aren’t afraid to move on quickly from even good coaches if they feel the need to, and Sirianni’s seat is a little warm right now. Pinning his hopes of revitalizing his offense on Mannion is a bold and perhaps poor move.

Grade: D

Steelers OC Brian Angelichio

A veteran tight ends coach who got his start with Division III’s Ithaca College back in the 90s and early 2000s, Angelichio has been a tight ends coach for six different NFL teams. That includes three seasons with new Steelers HC Mike McCarthy in Green Bay from 2016-2018. Most recently, he was the tight ends coach and passing game coordinator under Kevin O’Connell in Minnesota. This will be Angelichio’s first offensive coordinator role since Ithaca College in 2005.

Grade: C-

Steelers DC Patrick Graham

A longtime defensive assistant with the Patriots, Graham is coming off a four-year run as the defensive coordinator for the Raiders. He has prior experience with McCarthy as the Packers’ linebackers coach and run game coordinator in 2018. Graham’s defenses with the Raiders were never good, but he also wasn’t given much to work with in terms of personnel. He’s viewed a lot more favorably in league circles than the raw results of his defenses might suggest. 

Grade: B-

Packers DC Jonathan Gannon

The former Cardinals head coach, Gannon spent two years as the defensive coordinator in Philly before landing the Arizona job. He was a hot name at the time and his defense during his last season with the Eagles was genuinely great. This is a solid retread hire for sure.

I’m a little lower on Gannon than others probably are, though. His first season with the Eagles in 2021 did not go well and fans were loudly calling for his job. In three years in Arizona, his defense never ranked higher than 21st in the league. I don’t know that this hire has a ton of upside.

Grade: B-

Lions OC Drew Petzing

This is probably my least favorite hire of the cycle. Petzing served as the offensive coordinator in Arizona under Gannon and caught a lot of flak for his performance over three seasons. The Cardinals had one year under Petzing where they ranked 11th in total offense; they ranked 19th in his other two seasons despite the talent to outperform that.

Lions HC Dan Campbell isn’t going into 2026 with his job on the line by any means, but if he misses the playoffs again, 2027 could get very interesting. When former Lions OC Ben Johnson left to take the Bears’ head coaching job last year, it was important for Detroit to prove that Johnson wasn’t the secret sauce behind their elite offense. They couldn’t do that.

The Lions struggled on offense for stretches last year, leading Campbell to take over play-calling from former OC John Morton. Campbell is now stapling his success to a coordinator who was nearly fired from his last job and failed to elevate a unit with some clear talent. Petzing is a safe name but the most likely outcome here is that he’s not an upgrade over Morton.

Grade: D

Buccaneers OC Zac Robinson

This is another hire that makes zero sense to me. Robinson served as the Falcons’ offensive coordinator under former HC Raheem Morris for two seasons, and was the QB cocah for the Rams before that. Coming up through the McVay tree is usually a good sign.

Robinson was abysmal in his two seasons in Atlanta, however. And unlike other failed offensive coordinators, where it can be hard to parse out blame for an offense’s shortcomings, Robinson had some very clear deficiencies in his scheme and playcalling. Last year, the Falcons ran absurdly high percentages of pass and run plays based on formations — they were literally telegraphing the playcalls based on how they lined up. The raw yardage numbers for the Falcons under Robinson were pretty good, but the efficiency metrics and situational football issues painted a different picture.

The context here makes the hire even worse. Bucs HC Todd Bowles was nearly fired after the season and offensive inconsistencies plagued Tampa Bay all year. Without clear improvement in 2026 (likely needing a division title), Bowles will be out of a job this time next year. Betting your career on Robinson is not a smart gamble.

Grade: D

Falcons OC Tommy Rees

Falcons HC Kevin Stefanski is bringing his offensive coordinator from the Browns to the same role on his new staff in Atlanta. That’s a bit of a questionable decision, as Cleveland’s offense has struggled mightily in recent seasons. It’s easy to point to a very poor depth chart on that side of the ball as the reason why, but a shake-up in the coaching staff couldn’t hurt.

It might be unfair to blame Rees for the Browns’ offensive woes, but at the same time, Stefanski is staking a lot on Rees being right for the job. Credit to him for sticking by his guy, I suppose.

Grade: C

Titans OC Brian Daboll

I’ve been a major critic of Daboll’s ability to be a head coach in this league during his time with the Giants. His temper, poor leadership skills and penchant for blaming his players after losses — not to mention his blatant disregard for the league’s health and safety protocols — made for, at best, a poor look.

Still, it doesn’t get much better than Daboll as an offensive coordinator. He’s one of the league’s best playcallers and quarterback developers, and the Titans have a second-year quarterback in Cam Ward who could use someone like Daboll as his mentor. As long as Titans HC Robert Saleh stays in control, this hire should age well.

Grade: A-

Titans DC Gus Bradley

I’d be more critical of this hire if it was any other team, but I actually think this is a great fit for the Titans. Bradley was the defensive coordinator in Seattle during the prime “Legion of Boom” days, but he hasn’t really updated his scheme since then and the league figured out how to exploit those looks. He plays a lot of passive Cover 3, and his last few stints as a defensive coordinator with the Chargers, Raiders and Colts didn’t go well.

That said, this will be Saleh’s defense, not Bradley’s. The two worked together in San Francisco last year and now they’ll do it again in Tennessee. Saleh is one of the top defensive minds in the game and Bradley’s two decades of NFL coaching experience will come in handy. This was a solid hire.

Grade: B+

Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy

Reid has exactly two offensive coordinators he likes in the entire league. When Nagy leaves, he hires Bieniemy, and vice versa. Bieniemy is known as a tough coach who makes up for what he lacks in bedside manner with the ability to get the best out of his players. This is Reid’s offense, but Bieniemy knows the assignment.

Grade: B+

Broncos OC Davis Webb

A seismic riser in the coaching ranks, Webb preceded Mahomes as the star quarterback at Texas Tech before bouncing around the NFL for about six years. Like Blough, he rose through the coaching ranks at one franchise, joining the Broncos as the quarterbacks coach in 2023. He was promoted to offensive pass game coordinator last year before getting the full promotion for 2026. Payton jettisoned longtime assistant Joe Lombardi to clear a path to retain Webb, which shows how highly he’s viewed. 

Webb is a young superstar in the coaching world and had significant interest as a possible head coach this cycle. The Broncos managing to keep him is a win. Even though Payton calls all the shots on offense, Webb is an integral part of what they do. He might even start to take over some of the play-calling duties from Payton this year. 

Grade: A-

Chargers OC Mike McDaniel

This was probably the best coordinator hire of the cycle between the strength of the candidate and his fit with his new team. Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh is hoping that McDaniel will open up the offense led by QB Justin Herbert, one of the best vertical passers in the league. McDaniel runs an offshoot of the Shanahan system and is known as one of the best schemers and playcallers in the league.

Despite how poorly his tenure ended in Miami, the former Dolphins head coach still fielded an explosive and productive offense, even with the quarterback questions that cropped up during his final season. Bad offensive line play was his kryptonite as a head coach, but Los Angeles has arguably the best tackle duo in the league — when healthy. Improving their depth and retooling the interior of the offensive line will be paramount for the Chargers to make the most of this hire, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see McDaniel top head coaching searches again as soon as next year.

Grade: A+

Chargers DC Chris O’Leary

O’Leary might seem like an out-of-left-field hire, but I actually really like it — in theory. He’s a young coach and spent 10 years in the college ranks, most notably at Notre Dame, with a brief stint as the Chargers’ safeties coach in 2024.

Most recently, he was the defensive coordinator for Western Michigan. The Broncos paid a premium to keep him in Kalamazoo and fended off bigger college programs that were sniffing around. There’s risk in hiring someone with so little NFL experience, but O’Leary was a highly coveted coach by a lot of college programs.

Grade: B

49ers DC Raheem Morris

Morris’ stint as the Falcons’ head coach was underwhelming, but he’s been one of the best defensive coordinators in the NFL every time he’s been in that role. Now he returns to the NFC West as probably the best defensive coordinator candidate on the market, replacing Saleh. Morris has bounced between offense and defense throughout his career and won a Super Bowl with the Rams when he was their defensive coordinator.

I don’t have a ton of analysis here. This is just a good hire and a good fit.

Grade: A

Cardinals OC Nathaniel Hackett

Aaron Rodgers to Arizona? Let the speculation begin. New Cardinals HC Mike LaFleur will be running the offense and has already said he’ll be calling plays (something he didn’t do under McVay in Los Angeles as the offensive coordinator) so Hackett will have fewer responsibilities than most offensive coordinators.

Still, what are we doing here? Hackett gained notoriety for his disastrously brief stint as the Broncos’ head coach and for an unsuccessful tenure as the offensive coordinator for the Jets, but he had some good years in Green Bay before that. Rodgers loves the guy for reasons that basically come down to the fact that he’s a good hang — Hackett doesn’t have a great track record of putting together a competent offense without prime Rodgers running the show.

LaFleur was already one of the weaker hires of this coaching cycle, and his first coordinator hire doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence.

Grade: D-

Coordinators Table

Here’s the OC and DC landscape around the league, with new hires in bold. The Raiders won’t be able to fill out their staff until after the Super Bowl when Seahawks OC Klint Kubiak takes the gig. Browns DC Jim Schwartz is under contract with Cleveland still but that situation remains tenuous after he was passed over for the head coaching job. 

Team	OC	DC	HC playcaller?
BUF	Pete Carmichael	Jim Leonhard	Joe Brady
NE	Josh McDaniels	Terrell Williams/Zak Kuhr
NYJ	Frank Reich	Brian Duker	Aaron Glenn
MIA	Bobby Slowik	Sean Duggan	Jeff Hafley
WAS	David Blough	Daronte Jones	Dan Quinn?
NYG	Matt Nagy	Dennard Wilson
DAL	Klayton Adams	Christian Parker	Brian Schottenheimer
PHI	Sean Mannion	Vic Fangio
PIT	Brian Angelichio	Patrick Graham	Mike McCarthy
CIN	Dan Pitcher	Al Golden	Zac Taylor
BAL	Declan Doyle	Anthony Weaver	Jesse Minter
CLE	Travis Switzer		Todd Monken
MIN	Wes Phillips	Brian Flores	Kevin O’Connell
GB	Adam Stenavich	Jonathan Gannon	Matt LaFleur
DET	Drew Petzing	Kelvin Sheppard
CHI		Dennis Allen	Ben Johnson
CAR	Brian Idzik	Ejiro Evero	Dave Canales
ATL	Tommy Rees	Jeff Ulbrich
TB	Zac Robinson	NA	Todd Bowles
NO	Doug Nussmeier	Brandon Staley	Kellen Moore
IND	Jim Bob Cooter	Lou Anarumo	Shane Steichen
JAX	Grant Udinski	Anthony Campanile	Liam Coen
HOU	Nick Caley	Matt Burke	DeMeco Ryans
TEN	Brian Daboll	Gus Bradley	Robert Saleh
KC	Eric Bieniemy	Steve Spagnuolo	Andy Reid
LV			Klint Kubiak
DEN	Davis Webb	Vance Joseph	Sean Payton
LAC	Mike McDaniel	Chris O’Leary
SEA		Aden Durde	Mike Macdonald
SF	Klay Kubiak	Raheem Morris	Kyle Shanahan
ARI	Nathaniel Hackett		Mike LaFleur
LAR		Chris Shula	Sean McVay