The NFL is a cold world. A quarter of the league's head coaches were out of a job this offseason. There is a clear top tier of HCs that consistently contend for the Lombardi Trophy. Past them, how do the rest of the NFL's coaches stack up against one another?
Patrick Daugherty of NBC Sports ranked the NFL head coaches. He explained each ranking in detail.
Saints head coach Dennis Allen was ranked last of coaches that are not new hires.
We lost a lot of bad coaches last winter. Arthur Smith, Brandon Staley, Josh McDaniels and Ron Rivera send their regards. That means we are left with the merely mediocre to round out our list. No one is more committed to the bit than Dennis Allen. A defensive coordinator trapped in a head coach’s body, Allen has treated Sean Payton’s leftover offense like a museum heirloom that disintegrates if you touch it. This is an attack that hasn’t innovated in three years, right down to banging Alvin Kamara between the tackles for no reason and rushing Taysom Hill onto the field any time there’s a critical down. Well, it’s not entirely true there’s been no innovation. Allen has decided to find out just how boring Drew Brees-style quarterbacking can become. Andy Dalton pushed the envelope in 2022. Derek Carr reached new heights in 2023.
Allen, who admittedly takes care of business on defense, has finally moved on from Payton Ball on offense but replaced it with … Kubiak Ball. Not Gary, but Klint. It’s a fine system in a vacuum. It’s also become mummified under Klint, with no new wrinkles inserted since the Peyton Manning days in Denver. Maybe 2023 49ers passing-game coordinator Klint learned something under coach Kyle Shanahan. That’s what the Saints’ season and Allen’s future employment hinges on: This old Kubiak dog picking up some new Shanahan tricks. I suppose there are worse plans, but I’m not seeing many for 2024.
He makes plenty of good points. Allen has proven to struggle as a HC both times that he has gotten a chance in his NFL career.
Overall, he is 24-46 as a head coach between his time with the Saints and Raiders. his defenses have been consistently solid in New Orleans, but the offense has never found its footing.
Now, with an aging defense, he is hoping that a new offensive scheme can turn the overall tides regarding the success off the organization.
Decision-making and clock management have been quite questionable during Allen's tenure, and he's done himself no favors when discussing players' decisions in postgame press conferences.
As Daugherty noted, it has to if Allen wants to keep his job. He was on the hot seat after the Saints did not make the postseason this past season, and that throne will be scalding if the same happens in 2024. Even a slow start may doom Allen in his quest to remain head man in New Orleans. No matter what - he has everything to prove with as much pressure as feasibly possible now.
Allen was ranked 26th in Daugherty's rankings from last offseason.
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