The NFL offseason is officially upon us, which means discussing various topics that do not revolve around actual games being played on actual fields. One way to pass the time is to rank every possible thing relating to the National Football League.
NFL insiders polled by The Athletic recently did just that — putting together a list of the new head coach hires from this offseason and ranking them in order. In total, nine coaches and executives — none from the teams making the hires — ranked all ten
hires during his cycle. Each was asked for their top-five hires, and a point system was used based on where each coach landed in those individuals’ rankings.
John Harbaugh of the New York Giants was the number one overall hire according to these rankings — scoring 42 points and securing 6 first place votes. Kevin Stefanski of the Atlanta Falcons came in second after scoring 25 points and earning one first place vote. Jesse Minter of the Baltimore Ravens was third — earning 24 points and one first place vote. Mike McCarthy of the Pittsburgh Steelers came in fourth with 13 points and no first place votes.
Finally, Jeff Hafley of the Miami Dolphins rounded out the top-5 of the 10 new head coaching hires made this offseason according to NFL executives and coaches. He scored 9 points and did not receive a first place vote.
According to one executive polled, “Hafley and Jon-Eric is the cleanest combo coming in together. Hafley being a coach at [Boston College] is going to benefit him tremendously with this. I think that’s a really cool fit. They have a way to go with the roster.”
Rounding out the top-10 was Klint Kubiak of the Las Vegas Raiders and Robert Saleh of the Tennessee Titans tied for 6th, Joe Brady of the Buffalo Bills ranking 8th, and Mike LaFleur of the Arizona Cardinals and Todd Monken of the Cleveland Browns tying for last place with neither getting a single top-5 vote.
For the entire list, with explanations for each ranking, click here.
