The two most important positions for any NFL team to fill are quarterback and head coach. Every team in the league has multiple QBs, for better or for worse. Seven of them need new head coaches.
Black Monday seeped into Still-Grayish Tuesday, adding the New York Giants to a robust list of full-time head coach vacancies. Fortunately for those franchises, there’s a strong cache of candidates ready to command a sideline in 2022. These clubs will be able to pull from a pool of former NFL head coaches, rising star assistants, and college standouts in order to find the perfect author for their new playbooks.
The question now is which of these jobs is most desirable? My colleague Charles Curtis already broke down which teams can offer the softest landing spot for a head coach looking to break into the league’s elite. Let’s take this ranking in a different direction; let’s look at the quarterback situation each franchise will either use as a selling point or quickly gloss over when they’re making pitches this winter.
Quarterback play isn’t just about the guy behind center. It’s about building the Rome all football roads lead to. A great coach is nothing without someone who can implement his offense effectively and efficiently. For some of the teams looking for new top guys, that’ll be the QB who took snaps in 2021. For others, the position will be all about looking to the future and keeping options open.
Which teams can offer the best environment for quarterback success? Let’s break down each of these coaching vacancies by a number of factors that determine whether a passer thrives or shrivels on Sundays. I took each of the seven vacant coaching positions and ranked them according to seven factors. Those were:
- current QB (defined by expected points added per play)
- potential QB growth (based on age, draft position, and current level of play)
- draft assets (Day 1 and 2 picks in 2022 and 2023)
- salary cap space (how much cash is available to spend on veterans who can play in the new coach’s system)
- pass blocking rank (via Ben Baldwin’s combined PFF/ESPN rankings)
- incumbent wide receiver and tight ends (who’s around to catch the ball)
- running game strength (who’s around to dissuade defenses from dropping eight guys into coverage)
By lining up each team’s strengths and weaknesses, I was able to figure out which team can offer the most to a potential head coach champing at the bit to develop a playoff-caliber passing game. Let’s start at the bottom.