Big Red is No. 1 again.
Andy Reid was voted the NFL’s No. 1 coach by The Associated Press in a preseason survey for the fourth straight year.
Despite coming off his first losing season in Kansas City, Reid remains the standard for coaches.
A panel of eight AP pro football writers ranked the top five coaches entering the 2026 season. First-place votes were worth 10 points. Second through fifth-place votes were worth 5, 3, 2 and 1 points.
Reid, who has
three Super Bowl rings and leads both Kansas City and Philadelphia in all-time wins, received five first-place votes and one second. He was left off two ballots.
Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay got the other three first-place votes and finished second. Seattle’s Mike Macdonald, who led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl title last season, finished third. San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan placed fourth and Denver’s Sean Payton came in fifth.
Nick Sirianni, John Harbaugh, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Vrabel and Ben Johnson also received votes.
The Chiefs had 12 straight winning seasons, made 11 playoff appearances, won nine consecutive AFC West titles and reached five Super Bowls in six years before going 6-11 in 2025.
Injuries slowed the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes ended up suffering a season-ending knee injury in Week 15 last season.
Reid won more games than any coach in the history of the Eagles before going to Kansas City and doing the same with the Chiefs, along with winning three Lombardis.
From 1999-2012 in Philadelphia, Reid guided the Eagles to five NFC title games and one Super Bowl. He is fourth on the NFL’s all-time career list with 307 victories.
The Rams fell short against the Seahawks in the NFC title game in January after going 12-5 and winning two playoff games on the road.
The 40-year-old McVay has led Los Angeles to one Super Bowl title, two NFC championships, four division titles, seven double-digit win seasons and seven playoff appearances in nine years.
McVay got four second-place votes along with the three firsts and was on seven of eight ballots.
Macdonald led the Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory in just his second season, beating New England 29-13 to capture the franchise’s second NFL title.
At age 38, he became the third-youngest head coach to win a Lombardi behind McVay (36) and Mike Tomlin (36).
The Seahawks went 10-7 in Macdonald’s first season in 2024. He previously spent two years as the defensive coordinator in Baltimore. His “Dark Side” defense allowed an NFL-low 292 points (17.2 per game) last season.
Macdonald appeared on seven ballots, getting three third-place votes.
Shanahan is the only coach on the top 5 list who hasn’t won a Super Bowl.
He guided the injury-depleted 49ers to a 12-5 record last season and a Week 18 matchup against Seattle for the No. 1 seed. San Francisco beat Philadelphia on the road in the playoffs before losing to Seattle in the divisional round.
In nine seasons, Shanahan has led the 49ers to five playoff appearances and two Super Bowl appearances, including an overtime loss to Kansas City.
Payton led the Broncos to a 14-3 record and the AFC’s No. 1 seed last season in his third year in Denver. They fell short against New England in the AFC championship game after quarterback Bo Nix was injured in the divisional round win against Buffalo.
Payton, who won a Super Bowl with New Orleans, has taken the Broncos to the playoffs twice in three seasons.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
