This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/nfl by /u/sip-em_bears on 2024-02-22 21:16:01.
Here is my attempt to rank each NFL head coach based only on their playing careers:
| Rank | Team | Coach | Playing Career Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles Chargers | Jim Harbaugh | 14 NFL seasons, 1x Pro Bowl, 4th in MVP voting in '95. |
| 2 | New England Patriots | Jerod Mayo | 8 NFL seasons, 2x Pro Bowl, 1x 1st Team All-Pro |
| 3 | Houston Texans | DeMeco Ryans | 10 NFL seasons, 2x Pro Bowl, 1x 2nd Team All-Pro |
| 4 | Las Vegas Raiders | Antonio Pierce | 9 NFL seasons, 1x Pro Bowl. |
| 5 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | Todd Bowles | 8 NFL seasons. |
| 6 | Detroit Lions | Dan Campbell | 10 NFL seasons. |
| 7 | Jacksonville Jaguars | Doug Pederson | 10 NFL seasons. |
| 8 | Minnesota Vikings | Kevin O’Connell | 1 NFL season (2 games) |
| 9 | New Orleans Saints | Dennis Allen | NFL Training camp, 2 year starter in the SWC at DB. |
| 10 | Cincinnati Bengals | Zac Taylor | NFL training camp, CFL practice squad, 2 year starter in Big 12 at QB. |
| 11 | Denver Broncos | Sean Payton | Backup QB during '87 strike, played in CFL and AFL. |
| 12 | Chicago Bears | Matt Eberflus | 2x 1st Team All-MAC, Toledo HOF. |
| 13 | Cleveland Browns | Kevin Stefanski | 2x All-Ivy League |
| 14 | Indianapolis Colts | Shane Steichen | 1.5 year starter at QB in MWC. |
| 15 | Pittsburgh Steelers | Mike Tomlin | 1x All-Yankee conference |
| 16 | Buffalo Bills | Sean McDermott | 1x All-Yankee conference |
| 17 | Green Bay Packers | Matt LaFleur | 3 year starter in D2, school all-time leader in passing yards. |
| 18 | New York Jets | Robert Saleh | 4 year starter in D2, 1x all-conference |
| 19 | Dallas Cowboys | Mike McCarthy | 2 year starter in NAIA D2, 2x all-conference |
| 20 | Tennessee Titans | Brian Callahan | 4 year letter winner at UCLA |
| 21 | Los Angeles Rams | Sean McVay | 4 year letter winner in MAC |
| 22 | Arizona Cardinals | Jonathan Gannon | Career ending injury freshman year at Louisville. |
| 23 | Baltimore Ravens | John Harbaugh | Played in MAC. |
| 24 | Atlanta Falcons | Raheem Morris | 4 year letter winner in FCS. |
| 25 | Miami Dolphins | Mike McDaniel | 4 year letter winner in Ivy League |
| 26 | Washington Commanders | Dan Quinn | 4 year starter in D3. |
| 28 | Philadelphia Eagles | Nick Sirianni | 3 year starter in D3. |
| 27 | New York Giants | Brian Daboll | 2 year starter in D3. |
| 29 | Carolina Panthers | Dave Canales | Played at NAIA. |
| 30 | San Francisco 49ers | Kyle Shanahan | Walk-on at Texas |
| 31 | Kansas City Chiefs | Andy Reid | On team at BYU, but didn’t play. 1971 Punt, Pass, and Kick legend. |
| 32 | Seattle Seahawks | Mike Macdonald | Studied finance and coached high school football while at Georgia. |
Breakdown:
1-11 all played in the NFL. 1-3 were pretty tough, and ultimately I thought it was more impressive to have a borderline MVP caliber season at QB than being an All-Pro linebacker once.
12-19 were mostly All-Conference players at various levels. For the most part, I ranked them based on how good their school/conference was, with a couple QBs being the exceptions.
20-23 were all FBS players, but I couldn’t find them to be distinguished in anyway.
24-29 all played at lower levels and were essentially ranked based on their level of competition.
30-32 were all a bit unique cases and I tried my best to rank them accordingly.