NFL offseason: Ranking every head coaching hire since 2021 - ESPN

For the 10 NFL teams that either hired or are about to hire a new head coach this offseason, Super Bowl LX is the blueprint for how quickly things can change if they make the right calls. The Seahawks hired Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald and reached the Super Bowl in the 38-year-old's second season at the helm. The Patriots did them one better, as Mike Vrabel has taken his old team to the Super Bowl in his first year on the job in New England.

Macdonald and Vrabel are two of the 37 full-time head coaches hired over the past five years, not including the eight hired so far this month and the handful of interim coaches who didn't earn full-time jobs. I want to sort through those hires. Which coaching hires worked out best? Which ones were disasters? Was it better to hire offensive wizards, as many teams prefer, or go against the grain to hire defensive-minded coaches? Vrabel and Macdonald both come from that side of the football, but are they the exceptions to the rule?

So I'm going one through 37 and ranking those coaching hires. Performance and playoff success obviously matter most, but I'm also trying to look for evidence of the impact these guys have had as coaches. Do they do a good job of managing fourth downs and late-game situations? Have players who were already on the roster improved after their arrival? Have free agents added from other teams excelled after joining the lineup? And do their draft picks routinely exceed expectations?

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Where the team succeeds also matters. For coaches with an offensive background, I'm going to give more credit if the team is thriving by virtue of that side of the ball, as opposed to being carried by the defense (such as Matt Nagy