On Thursday, the Baltimore Ravens announced that they have chosen defensive coordinator Jesse Minter to be their next head coach, a decidedly obvious move to address their loss of Mike Macdonald when he left for the Seattle Seahawks in 2024. Minter is Macdonald in a different form as both were “raised” by John Harbaugh on Baltimore’s staff and both ended up becoming the defensive coordinator for Jim Harbaugh at the University of Michigan.
Macdonald, who was hired by the Seahawks specifically to counter-act
the offensive mindsets of the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers, will be coaching against Sean McVay in a rival-take-all NFC Championship on Sunday.
Minter is the third defensive coordinator and fourth non-offensive coordinator (including John Harbaugh) to get a job out of five hiring thus far in the cycle. Has the NFL shifted its approach to hiring head coaches with a defensive background because of Macdonald and more importantly are the Rams on the right path for the next 10 years if McVay puts off retirement into the distant future?
A defensive-minded coaching cycle
Only a fool couldn’t see that NFL teams with openings haven’t shifted their approach from a predominantly offensive coordinator-heavy hiring mindset to a defensive one:
- Titans hire 49ers DC Robert Saleh to replace OC Brian Callahan
- Giants hire former Ravens HC John Harbaugh (previous: ST coach) to replace OC Brian Daboll
- Dolphins hire Packers DC Jeff Hafley to replace OC Mike McDaniel
- Ravens hire Chargers DC Minter to replace Harbaugh
- Falcons hire former Browns HC Kevin Stefanski (OC) to replace “DC” Raheem Morris
The one exception of a team replacing defensive with offense is Atlanta, but Morris is not a real defensive coordinator. Whereas Callahan, Daboll, and McDaniel all called their offenses, Morris does not call plays. It was never even his strong suit when he was the Rams defensive coordinator. That’s not what he does.
Meanwhile, four of five teams have hired coaches with no offensive background, three of whom are probably going to be calling defensive plays for their teams.
How interesting.
Where could the remaining five jobs be heading?
The Browns are strongly considering defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz for their head coaching opening to replace Stefanski. Cleveland was interested in Chris Shula, but he turned them down.
It’s still looking like the Browns could hire an offensive mind like Nate Scheelhaase or Grant Udinski, but Cleveland already has one of the top defenses in the league and doesn’t want to lose Schwartz. If they hire an OC, they’ll want him to keep Schwartz, which could be a problem.
The Steelers might land Shula. That could be the reason that he turned down Cleveland so quickly. Rumors connect Shula to Pittsburgh, but other rumors say that Mike McCarthy is in play and they’re also interviewing DC Anthony Weaver.
The dust hasn’t settled on the Bills firing Sean McDermott, so it’s far too early to predict a final answer. Some say offense like Daboll or Joe Brady, but there are also rumors of Anthony Lynn and Lou Anarumo.
The Raiders are moving extremely slow on replacing Pete Carroll and most of their interviews have been offensive minds so I think that could be the direction they move in, like Scheelhaase or Klint Kubiak because presumably they might be taking so long because their top candidate is still in the playoffs. Or maybe they want Broncos DC Vance Joseph.
We could find out an answer next week.
Similarly, the Cardinals seem to be taking forever to replace Jonathan Gannon, another fired defensive coach. They could also be hoping for Kubiak, but are also connected to Joseph, who was once the defensive coordinator in Arizona. Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile has had two interviews with Arizona already.
And if you can believe it…Raheem Morris.
Don’t rule out Sean McDermott from landing one of the other four remaining jobs either. That would be another defensive coordinator getting a job and McDermott is essentially just replacing himself as far as how many defensive-minded head coaches there will be in 2026.
So if we’ve already seen 3 DCs get jobs + Harbaugh, that’s 4/5 not going with offense.
If Shula and McDermott get jobs, that’s 2 of the remaining 5 openings.
And what about Joseph, leader of arguably the most underrated-great defense in the playoffs, the Denver Broncos? They might be better than Seattle’s defense.
What if 3/5 remaining jobs go to defensive coordinators? That would mean only 3 of 10 openings went to offensive minded head coaches. Who would have predicted that?
Is McVay/Shanahan going to fall behind?
It’s hard enough to win one Super Bowl. It’s nearly impossible to be successful as a head coach for a decade. And two decades? How many people have done that besides Belichick?
Since 2017, McVay and Shanahan have both consistently had success and produced many of the league’s head coaches and offensive coordinators. It’s remarkable and it’s clearly still working with the Rams in the NFC title game and the 49ers reaching the second round despite so many key injuries.
But as teams like the Seahawks try to counter-act those offensive coaches with defensive coaches, could the offensive coaches lag behind in 2026, 2027, 2028, and beyond?
Maybe that’s an answer we will get on Sunday when the #1 offense faces the #1 defense in the NFC Championship. There’s a great breakdown of their schematic philosophies going head to head by Armchair Coach Justin on YouTube:
The Cardinals could be the next team to try to “if you can’t beat ‘em, stop ‘em” philosophy if Arizona hires a defensive coordinator head coach. Obviously that’s what they tried to do with Gannon, but maybe this time it will work.
Meanwhile, “defensive” coaches in the NFC as of 2026 will now include:
- Macdonald, Seahawks
- “Fangio”, Eagles (not HC but he kinda is)
- Quinn, Commanders
- Harbaugh, Giants (not DC, but he kinda is)
- Campbell, Lions (not DC, but he kinda is)
- Bowles, Bucs
It’s still a majority offensive conference and I’m stretching the truth on the Eagles, Giants, and Lions. But those are defensive-mentality football teams. The Cowboys just hired a new defensive coordinator as of Thursday. Harbaugh will hire a new defensive coordinator in New York. (Stefanski is keeping DC Jeff Ulbrich.) The Packers have to replace Hafley. Brian Flores remains the DC in Minnesota…for now. He could also become a head coach again.
The Panthers are retaining Ejiro Evero, unless he gets a HC job. The Saints have former Rams DC Brandon Staley running their defense in 2026.
McVay’s job will continue to get harder as he, and other coaches, navigate an ever-changing landscape of schematics that should (in theory) know him better than he knows them.
So is this just a fad or the future?
Three of the four teams left in the playoffs are decidedly DEFENSIVE football teams, with the exception of the L.A. Rams. (Sorry Sean Payton but your offense is not the story of the Broncos.)
Unless the Rams win the Super Bowl, and they very well could, defense is the story of 2026. And so therefore it could stay in the headlines for a few years to come.
What do you think? Are defensive-minded head coaches the way to go or a mistake to overlook offensive coordinators for defensive guys in 2026? Scroll down to the comments!
