In the offseason of lists and rankings, Touchdown Wire’s Jarrett Bailey gives us the rankings of all 32 NFL head coaches. Arizona Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon is ranked perhaps surprisingly high based on a four-win first season.
After that season, he is not the lowest-ranked head coach in the NFC West.
In Touchdown Wire’s rankings, you might be surprised, though, who lands at the top.
Below are the four head coaches in the divisions ranked.
1. Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams
McVay comes in at No. 2 overall, behind only Kansas City’s Andy Reid.
It might be a surprise to see him so high when San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan just took the 49ers to the Super Bowl last season for the second time in five seasons and was in the NFC title game the previous year.
McVay took a different approach to his offense last season and turned the Rams into a run-through-your-face power run team with a lot of play action mixed in. Matthew Stafford still has the ability to sling it, and it’ll be fun to see what the offense can do in year two of Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp as a duo.
He helped the Rams evolve and go from what was an aging team to one with budding young stars.
2. Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers
Shanahan is second in the division but fourth in the league.
The 49ers led the NFL in offensive EPA per play, success rate, EPA per dropback, EPA per rush, dropback success rate, and rushing success rate in 2023- that’s so incredibly difficult to do, but with Shanahan and their cast of stars, they made it look simple. No one will be surprised if they are one of the final four teams come January, nor will anyone be shocked if they are back in the Super Bowl. Let’s see if they can finally win one.
They do it with a quarterback many in the NFL don’t believe is great. Their defense has some of the best players in the league.
3. Jonathan Gannon, Arizona Cardinals
Gannon is third in the division and No. 19 overall, just behind his old boss, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni.
We all made jokes about the Gannon hire a year ago. Some of us even said he’d be a one-and-done head coach (whoops). It turns out that Gannon had his team playing as hard as any around the league for 18 weeks. While the record may not have been pretty, this was a team that everyone penciled in to have the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. It’s Year 2, and the defense still has a lot of holes to plug and a lot of young guys playing big roles, but Gannon proved himself as a capable head coach.
He has a coaching style that is deliberate, communicative and accountable. He is proving to be a great leader.
4. Mike Macdonald, Seattle Seahawks
Macdonald is a rookie head coach replacing Pete Carroll and comes in at No. 23 in the league, highest among the new head coaches in 2024, excluding Jim Harbaugh.
While it was somewhat surprising to see the Seahawks move on from Pete Carroll, replacing him with one of the best defensive minds in the NFL today was a great move. Macdonald made the Ravens a top three defense in football a season ago, and will carry Seattle into this new era.
There will likely be growing pains in his first season and he has a solid but unspectacular starting quarterback in Geno Smith. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him rise in rankings next year.
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