The NFL has long been described as a copycat league. When one or two teams have success, the less successful franchises look to the others to try to replicate what they are doing. Currently, the trend is teams now hiring young offensive coordinators to be their head coaches.
It doesn’t take much to see why.
Looking at last weekend’s conference championship games, you saw four offensive head coaches leading their teams in the competitions. Three of the four head coaches involved in the games are very young.
There was 36-year-old Sean McVay of the Rams, 38-year-old Zac Taylor of the Bengals and 42-year-old Kyle Shanahan of the 49ers. The exception in terms of age was Andy Reid, a brilliant offensive mind, who is 63.
In the NFC, all seven teams that made the playoffs were coached by head coaches who have offensive backgrounds.
Teams see the success the Rams have had under McVay, and the 49ers under Shanahan, and they want something similar. That’s why anyone with a connection to McVay’s offense has been hired as a head coach — Taylor, Matt LaFleur, Brandon Staley and now Kevin O’Connell. This coaching cycle, LaFleur’s offensive coordinator in Green Bay, Nathaniel Hackett, got the Denver job.
Of the seven head-coaching hires that have been made this offseason, six have been offensive-minded coaches, five of whom are 46 or under. The exception is 54-year-old Doug Pederson, who won a Super Bowl with the Eagles four years ago.
McDaniel, who was just hired by Miami, is 38 and has coached under Shanahan since 2011. His hiring by Miami, which has young offensive players in Tua Tagovailoa and Jaylen Waddle whom they're looking to develop, makes all the sense in the world.
The league has changed its rules to favor offenses. Any team that wants to win knows it needs a quality quarterback and an offensive-minded coach to help develop them. It’s no coincidence that the Giants, Broncos and Vikings all got rid of defensive head coaches in favor of offensive ones. Minnesota even seemingly preferred O’Connell to Jim Harbaugh despite Harbaugh’s incredible resume. The only team that didn’t get the memo is Chicago, which was advised by Bill Polian, and hired former Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus.
The trend toward young offensive coaches is so strong right now, that if Pete Carroll or Bill Belichick were currently in their 40s, they probably wouldn’t get much of a look for head-coaching opportunities.
Between Belichick, Carroll, Mike Vrabel, Mike Tomlin and Sean McDermott, there are still good defensive head coaches out there, but they’re a dying breed.
The trend doesn’t bode well for the head-coaching chances of defensive-minded coaches such as Raheem Morris, Dan Quinn, Vance Joseph, Jonathan Gannon, Jerod Mayo and Brian Flores.
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