Windy City Gridiron
With the New Orleans Saints’ post-Super Bowl hire of Kellen Moore, the 2025 head coaching circuit has officially closed. While many have ranked each standalone coaching hire, we dive deeper into each newly hired head coach’s staff and what to expect moving forward.
The NFL is a year-to-year business. “Not For Long” is a sentiment that both players and coaches share each season. Over the last five seasons, there have been an average of close to seven head coach openings per year and usually about half the number of general manager openings. The 2025 hiring cycle proved to be no different, despite a surprise or two along the way.
With all the dust settled on the initial hiring fracas, it’s time to dive deeper into each coaching staff and their performance. NFL teams have started dipping further into the college ranks over the past few seasons, primarily due to the ever-evolving world of NIL. Pulling from the NCAA has given teams more creative ways to build their staff. Most of the teams on this list dipped into that pool somehow, but specific teams fished in that pond more than others.
For this ranking system, we examined the entire process. Obviously, teams will take the next few weeks to finish filling out their staff, but the primary pieces are in place, allowing us to better understand how each team will look. The heaviest weight of these “grades” will be on the head coach, but the support staff plays a more significant role than I had expected.
OC: Declan Doyle (Denver Broncos)
DC: Dennis Allen (New Orleans Saints)
ST: Richard Hightower (Retained)
Top Assistants: DB Al Harris (Dallas Cowboys), WR Antwaan Randle-El (Detroit Lions), OL Dan Roushar (Tulane), and RB Eric Bieniemy (UCLA).
Outside of The Patriots’ lightning-quick hire of Vrabel, the Bears were the first team that really kicked off the hiring spree. That, in large part, was thanks to a surprising Detroit Lions loss during the divisional round. Chicago hired Johnson without him stepping foot into Halas Hall. His suitors were clear from the start. Once New England acted on Vrabel, it was a three-team race. In the end, Johnson wanted to stay within the division, and the promise of quarterback Caleb Williams played a significant role in getting him to Chicago.
The team’s hiring committee, including general manager Ryan Poles, lauded Johnson for his detailed plan. So far, that has shown during the process of building out his coaching staff. Johnson acted quickly to lock down Harris and Randle-El. Shortly after, he locked down Allen as his veteran defensive coordinator and gave a shot to a young Sean Payton disciple at offensive coordinator. Doyle comes with some risk, but he won’t be calling plays, nor will he be the primary architect of the offense. More importantly, Johnson has insulated himself with a quality mix of top-tier assistants who have proven themselves at the NFL level and plenty of former players who will be...
