Sean McVay is considered to be one of the best head coaches in the NFL by many, but the head man of the Los Angeles Rams is not considered a top-tier head coach according to analytics. In an article by PFF’s Connor McQuiston, he took a look at the best head coaches in the NFL based on an analytics model, and McVay was ranked outside of the top 10.
The coach rankings were a result of McQuiston’s analytics models, so the rankings aren’t in order of who he would personally choose. The model takes into account the salaries of players on both sides of the ball and the talent level of each team. The goal is to determine how many games a coach would win with an average team.
We can then use Pythagorean wins to estimate how many games the coach would win with an average team, defined as a team scoring and allowing 348 points in a season. This was the average mark for all teams between the 2017-2021 seasons.
