The coaching carousel had been spinning rapidly since the end of the 2025 NFL regular season. Now that the dust has settled, we have a good view of who will be orchestrating new offenses in the 2026 season. Yahoo analyst Matt Harmon goes over each significant head coaching and offensive coordinator hire, and whether or not he likes it, is fine with it or is skeptical for fantasy football.
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Cardinals hire HC Mike LaFleur
Realistically, the Cardinals were always going to have trouble recruiting a massive name as their head coach. There is deep skepticism in the league about Arizona’s ownership and overall operation. That being said, considering the options, I really like them landing on Mike LaFleur.
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The former Rams offensive coordinator has held that position for the last three seasons and was the Jets’ play-caller from 2021 to 2022. LaFleur was good in that role where he weaponized timely motion, schemed receivers open and made use of creative concepts like pony personnel with Breece Hall and Michael Carter in the backfield together. He was fired as a scapegoat for Zach Wilson not working out, and so the team could pave the way for hiring an offensive coordinator of Aaron Rodgers’ choosing — ironically, that ended up being Nathaniel Hackett, who is now on LaFleur’s staff in Arizona. The decision to abandon a modern offense for the archaic structure Rodgers preferred didn’t age well and Jets star receiver Garrett Wilson had a quote regarding LaFleur that has stuck with me after watching his usage throughout his career.
That creative use and deployment of the pass-catchers is something that’s desperately been needed in Arizona the last few years. There will be some volume-based regression toward the Cardinals’ passing offense in 2025, given that they led the NFL with a 67% dropback rate in neutral situations. However, an offset in volume can be made up for by a boost in the dynamic use of talented pass-catchers like Trey McBride, Marvin Harrison and Michael Wilson. I really like what LaFleur will bring in that regard for fantasy purposes, at the very least. Of course, we need to see this group identify a quarterback solution, as Kyler Murray’s time on this roster has likely come to an end.
If they’re able to get someone, even just viable, behind center, I like what LaFleur brings to the table, married with the talent enough that I’ll be interested in investing in the Cardinals ecosystem when most will likely avoid it.
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Ravens hire HC Jesse Minter and OC Declan Doyle will call plays
The Ravens moved on from John Harbaugh after a long and successful run and immediately landed one of the hottest candidates from his cycle. Jesse Minter interviewed for every available option and ultimately chose to head to Baltimore to pair with a well-regarded organization. He’s filled out a strong staff too, with offensive coordinator Declan Doyle one of the most interesting names.
The 29-year-old Doyle was an offensive assistant under Sean Payton in New Orleans and followed him to Denver, where he became the tight ends coach in 2023 before being tapped by Ben Johnson to be the offensive coordinator in Chicago in 2025. That alone is an encouraging resume for Doyle, who will now get his chance to run the show as the play-caller in Baltimore.
The Bears offense from 2025 carried plenty of similar schematic DNA to what Baltimore was already doing. Chicago and Baltimore both were zone-heavy ground games, made use of heavy-personnel packages and were third and eighth, respectively, in use of motion at the snap on passing plays, per Fantasy Points Data. Chicago leaned a bit more on under-center play-action, which could increase the overall efficiency of the Ravens’ passing attack if implemented here. In total, as long as Doyle has the goods, this should be a seamless and perhaps beneficial transition for current stars like Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson, while making life easier on a pass-catching corps that has mainstays like Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews, but is also due for an influx of talent this offseason.
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We can certainly quibble with the process in which the Bills operated in the aftermath of the Sean McDermott firing and why they ultimately landed on Joe Brady as an internal promotion. However, from a pure offensive scheme perspective, I’m higher on Brady than most in the space. Many of the outside complaints about Brady’s offense — heavy use of mesh, tons of screens/short throws and a tendency to go run-heavy — are mostly forced into the unit because of personnel problems. It cannot be overstated just how limiting it is for the entire operation to have a wide receiver room filled with guys who can’t get open on their own.
Brady comes from the Sean Payton tree, as evidenced by his hiring of long-time Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael to serve in the same role on his staff. That brand of offense wants to run the ball well and produce layup throws for the quarterback, both things we’ve seen Brady do well in Buffalo. However, it’s also predicated on launching the ball down the field to a vertical X-receiver and a flanker who can win over the middle of the field. The Bills haven’t had a league-average starting option at either spot the last two seasons.
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If they solve this position in the offseason, Brady’s offense conceptually fits in right along with all of the smart trends across the NFL right now. Last season, Buffalo ranked fifth in play-action rate, 17th in rate of plays with heavy personnel on the field, first in motion rate on dropbacks and third in under-center rate. Just get some real receivers in the mix here on the outside and this unit can be a huge hit in 2026.
Raiders hire HC Klint Kubiak
Klint Kubiak parlayed his strong season as the offensive coordinator for the Super Bowl champion Seahawks into a gig as Tom Brady’s handpicked head coach for the Raiders. Kubiak did almost everything you want out of a modern offensive coordinator last season. Seattle made use of heavy personnel packages to increase the efficiency of the passing game, ran under center play action and were fifth in dropback motion rate. He’s also not a one-hit wonder, as he was doing most of this for a 2024 Saints team that had its moments offensively but fell apart due to injuries.
Much of what Kubiak brought to the table in Seattle fits in with what the Raiders have on the roster. Ashton Jeanty is a talented back who was held back by an offensive line that ranked 31st in yards before contact on running back runs last year. The Kubiak system elevates the floor of offensive line play, which is sorely needed after the Raiders’ front was one of the worst-coached units in the game in 2025. In the passing attack, Brock Bowers will be easily weaponized in multi-tight end sets this unit likes to run. Some of the pieces at receiver like Tre Tucker and Jack Bech could even fit into the system, although they still clearly need a more defined starter at X-receiver to bring the unit together.
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The fact that Kubiak will get to pick the lone quarterback most have pegged as a Round 1 option in Fernando Mendoza at first overall seals the deal. We’ll see if he works out as a head coach but he’s clearly the right man for fixing an offense that was an outright disaster in 2025.
Chargers hire OC Mike McDaniel
Just like everyone else, I’m excited about the idea of adding Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator to an already strong team under Jim Harbaugh and a talented offense. If you’re interested in chasing the hype, expect to pay a heavy ADP price. The pursuit may well be worth it.
In the passing game, McDaniel will bring a ton more motion to the table to create mismatches and layups for Justin Herbert. According to Fantasy Points Data, the Chargers ranked 19th in both the rate of rushing plays with motion and the rate of dropbacks with motion. The Dolphins ranked first and third, respectively. Ladd McConkey, a versatile inside/out threat with a ton of burst and separation skills, will be a natural fit for most of these concepts. McConkey and Herbert were excellent from a production standpoint last year when Joe Alt was healthy and before the offensive line completely fell apart. They were excellent rebound candidates even before this hire but McDaniel’s scheme only improves the outlook. How they sort out the rest of the complementary receivers like impending free agent Keenan Allen, the volatile Quentin Johnston and Year 2 guys like Tre Harris and Oronde Gadsden II, will be important to track. Depending on how crowded the room gets, a couple of these guys should be strong values.
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How McDaniel changes the run game in L.A. will be key to the outlook of second-year back Omarion Hampton. The Chargers were more of a gap-based run game under Greg Roman but there were some evaluators who thought Hampton would be a better fit as a more one-cut outside zone runner. McDaniel’s base run scheme is more zone-leaning but he mixed up the concepts for a Dolphins’ rushing attack that low-key was cooking down the stretch of 2025. The Dolphins led the NFL in yards per carry on gap runs last year and first in explosive rushing rate on running back runs. For all his creativity as a pass-game designer, McDaniel’s background comes as a run-game mastermind. He could do big things for a run game that was too often too stagnant despite Harbaugh’s core philosophies as a physical football team.
Falcons hire HC Kevin Stefanski and OC Tommy Rees will call plays
Admittedly, I was a little on the borderline with this pairing between the “I like it” and “it’s fine” designation. Kevin Stefanski is essentially running back a very similar staff to the one he had in Cleveland and I’m not sure that offense, while clearly held back by quarterback messes, was such a hotbed of football ideas that we needed to cleanly replicate it in Atlanta. However, Stefanski is still a quality offensive coach and his brand of football fits with the talent already on the Falcons’ roster.
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While he’s mixed it up over the years based on offensive line talent, Stefanski’s bread and butter has been in the zone rushing attack world. The Falcons have been the most zone-heavy run game in the NFL over the last two seasons. That is a natural fit with the offensive linemen already established in Atlanta and won’t change the picture much for Bijan Robinson. If anything, Stefanski and offensive line coach Bill Callahan adding some more gap-based principles for the rushing game would increase the chances for explosive runs with Robinson. That’s what he needs to make that next step to ultra elite levels in fantasy football.
In the passing game, the Falcons landed heavily on multiple tight end formations after being the most 11-personnel heavy team in the NFL in 2024. This was a smart shift by former OC Zac Robinson and one that, based on their history, Stefanski and Rees will likely keep in place in 2026. Kyle Pitts Sr. is an upcoming free agent and the franchise tag is a mere $16.3 million, so you’d imagine they’ll consider keeping him around to feature in those packages.
Drake London was perfectly used in a Rams-style system under Robinson as he was allowed to move around the formation and be featured in the slot on 30-40% of his snaps. His deployment in a more 12-personnel-heavy world is something I’m at least tracking this summer. However, I generally think there is a tier of receiver where they are too good for a coach to bungle their usage — outside of a small handful of play-callers who are in over their heads — and London is among that cohort.
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Commanders hire OC David Blough
The Commanders were one of, if not the first, teams to hire an offensive coordinator this cycle after moving on from Kliff Kingsbury, who didn’t get another OC gig. Despite many big-name options available, Washington was hasty in promoting former assistant quarterback coach David Blough. The 30-year-old is one of many fast risers in this coaching carousel, as he started games at QB for the Arizona Cardinals as recently as 2022 before finishing his playing days on the Lions’ practice squad in 2023.
This is by far my most speculative placement in the “I like it” section because, obviously, Blough’s ability as a coordinator and play-caller is a complete unknown. However, one of the reasons I can get behind his promotion is that I expect he will present a somewhat left-turn schematically from Kingsbury’s offense, despite being on his staff the last two seasons. Blough began his career in 2019 with the Detroit Lions and hung onto the roster through Ben Johnson’s rise up the ranks from offensive quality control coach, tight ends coach and ultimately to a passing game coordinator role in 2021, where, after Anthony Lynn was demoted, he helped Dan Campbell craft what would become the ferocious Lions offense we know today. Blough would return to Detroit in Johnson’s second-to-last season with the club as the offensive coordinator when he was no doubt already eyeing a move to the coaching ranks.
My suspicion was that Blough probably leans more into the tenants of Johnson’s offense — physical ground game with under-center concepts and shot plays via in-breaking routes off play-action — than Kingsbury’s more spread-out shotgun-based attack. In a press conference after Blough’s promotion, Dan Quinn essentially confirmed my hunch.
If there’s a world where Blough keeps some of the high-paced elements of Kingsbury’s offense but adds more of these wrinkles from Ben Johnson’s tree, that can make for a pretty dangerous attack in today’s league. Kingsbury’s brand of football has its appeal but the static alignment of receivers and straight-line routes always creates limitations. It’s purely theoretical but I like the idea of Blough blending in some of the under-center world to make the unit feel more dynamic and break past the stone wall this unit ran into, regardless of Jayden Daniels’ injuries in 2025.
It’s fine
Browns hire HC Todd Monken
The Browns landing on Todd Monken for their head coach opening was a surprise but it makes for a fascinating development. Monken has head coaching experience at Southern Mississippi from 2013 to 2015 and has most recently been the architect of a Ravens offense that ranked third in EPA per play and fourth in success rate since his arrival in 2023. While Lamar Jackson deserves a good chunk of that credit, there’s no doubt that Monken helped evolve the MVP quarterback’s game from the level he operated at under Greg Roman’s watch to start his career.
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Monken has also been somewhat of an identity chameleon in his last four jobs. With the Buccaneers and Browns (ironic, yes) as offensive coordinator from 2016 to 2019, he had a pretty heavy-spread and pass-first identity. When he made the move back down to the college level as Georgia’s offensive coordinator from 2020 to 2022, he leaned into their power run vision. With the Ravens, he featured a heavy outside zone rushing attack and multi-tight end passing game based on the strength of the roster but with tons of flare (eighth-highest rate of motion at the snap on dropbacks, per Fantasy Points Data).
That leaves us with few clues as to what he’ll bring to Cleveland, as not much about the Browns’ offensive roster is set in stone. Monken’s use of tight ends in Baltimore is likely good news for Harold Fannin Jr., who can be used in-line and detached from the formation. However, the team needs a full overhaul in both the wide receiver room and along the offensive line. Not to mention, we don’t know if they have a full-season starter at quarterback. I like Monken’s approach to offense overall and think this is an inspiring hire. I just don’t know what to expect on the field, at the moment.
Lions hire OC Drew Petzing
The Lions picking Drew Petzing for the offensive coordinator job got flamed on the internet but just as the section implies, I thought the hire was…just fine. To be clear, there are some justifiable critiques of his play-calling work and pre-snap alignment of Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson with the Cardinals, and those are areas where the 38-year-old needs to improve. However, I’ve always been fond of how Petzing designs both his run and pass game, in particular.
The problem was that his pass-game design just never fit the arranged marriage the staff in Arizona found itself in with quarterback Kyler Murray. We saw with backups like Jacoby Brissett that, while the offense still wasn’t efficient because of personnel issues, the concepts came to life much more than they did with Murray. In short, both player and coach just needed to get away from each other. In Petzing’s fresh start, he’ll find himself both with a quarterback in Jared Goff who fits much better in his preferred under-center play-action world and under the watch of a head coach in Dan Campbell who already has an established vision for the Lions offense. That will ensure needed tweaks in Petzing’s offense, like a boost to the low-motion rates (28th in 2025, per Fantasy Points Data). Petzing’s route concepts that flow over the intermediate middle just fit much better with the Lions than what a vertical-heavy pass game designer in John Morton, brought to the table last year. This will get painted as some big negative for the Lions and some of their players but I don’t view it that way, at all.
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Bobby Slowik became a bit of a punching bag by the end of his watch as the Texans’ offensive coordinator in 2024 but I think he’s worth a second look at the position. Slowik couldn’t evolve the offense as the team had hoped from the “The Shanahan Greatest Hits” compilation they ran in 2023 to a more three-receiver spread unit in 2024. However, his work in 2023 was legitimately good and his pass-game concepts, in particular, stood out. My guess is the Dolphins’ new regime wants to keep most of the run game and heavy personnel identity the team employed under Mike McDaniel. It makes sense to promote Slowik, who was already in-house and worked well in that world with Houston in 2023. Keeping someone from the old staff is likely good news for existing holdovers like De’Von Achane, Jaylen Waddle and a young offensive line that outkicked expectations in 2025.
Seahawks hire OC Brian Fleury
There are two noteworthy takeaways from the hiring of Brian Fleury in Seattle. For starters, it’s interesting that Seattle, which had some internal candidates to replace Klint Kubiak, decided to go outside the building and pluck another Shanahan tree member. The second is that Fleury, who was most recently the tight ends coach in San Francisco since 2022 and held the title of run game coordinator last year, has an extremely varied background. He was a high school and collegiate quarterback but has held multiple coaching positions at the college and pro level on the defensive side of the ball. Before flipping to offense in 2020, he even began his coaching tenure with the 49ers as a defensive quality control coach in 2019, which came after a stint as the Dolphins’ director of football research from 2017 and 2018, a gig that was preceded by his time in Cleveland as a linebackers coach. Fleury has worn as many hats as anyone hired in this cycle.
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My first read is that grabbing Fleury is a clear indication from Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald that they won’t be changing their offensive identity much from what we saw in 2025 and if anything, they want to improve as an outside zone run team going forward. That should benefit whoever is starting for Seattle at running back, as Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III prepares to test free agency.
Buccaneers hire OC Zac Robinson
I was surprised by the public reaction, which seemed overly negative toward Zac Robinson getting this job in Tampa Bay. Robinson wasn’t perfect but it should be acknowledged that he was consistently working with quarterbacks who had their own issues in fully unlocking the offense. The Falcons led the NFL in pistol dropbacks with 125 last year and were second-most with 139 in 2024. They used that to split the difference between the under-center concepts that have made the McVay-offshoot offenses so dangerous the last few seasons, and the shotgun world that both quarterbacks felt more comfortable in. Kirk Cousins struggled with the mobility needed to get under center after his Achilles injury, while Michael Penix Jr. has never operated in that area with much volume since his collegiate days. I’m open to Robinson’s offense looking much more cohesive with a quarterback in Baker Mayfield, who is coming off a down season, but is more comfortable with the base tenants off this offensive tree, considering he had his best season under Liam Coen in 2024.
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Robinson put together a strong zone-based run game with the Falcons and a dynamic passing attack that led the NFL in motion rate at the snap on dropbacks, per Fantasy Points Data. That second wrinkle is a big reason both Darnell Mooney and Drake London received heavy slot usage and thrived when healthy in 2024. Bringing some of that down to Tampa Bay can help elevate a crowded Bucs’ wide receiver room that too often felt static in its alignment last year.
Titans hire OC Brian Daboll
Brian Daboll has quarterback development skins on the wall he can point to during his recent stints with the Bills and Giants. However, you can also argue that the Bills got better offensively when they moved away from his heavy spread concepts after he departed and Daniel Jones played his best football in a much better-designed unit last year with the Colts. That’s generally my view on Daboll, at this stage. He can get your young quarterback on track and even put together a dynamic spread offense, but you’re going to run into roadblocks when it’s time for said passer to take another developmental step. For the 2026 Titans, all that matters is getting Cam Ward rolling after a rough statistical rookie season. So, he can likely accomplish that goal and some of what Daboll does as a spread architect even maps well to Ward’s college tape. Now the Titans need to fully rebuild the pass-catching corps to give Ward a fighting chance in Year 2.
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The Broncos clearly felt the heat from what was a relatively hot cycle of interest from other teams in their 31-year-old former quarterback coach, Davis Webb. Denver fired long-time Sean Payton assistant Joe Lombardi to promote Webb to offensive coordinator and there are even some whispers that he may call plays for the team. That would be a big departure from Payton’s history but it shows how highly the team thinks of Webb, who was on an active NFL roster as recently as 2023. I doubt that the internal promotion of Webb, who is well-regarded, and even if he’s calling plays, will still mirror Payton’s vision, material changes the outlook for any Broncos players. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting development to track as Webb’s name will likely be floated in the next head coaching cycle once again.
I’m skeptical
Eagles hire OC Sean Mannion
Sean Mannion’s hire was the one I had the most trouble categorizing. I like the idea of getting ahead on the 33-year-old riser, who was on NFL rosters as a player as recently as 2023 and spent the last two years with the Packers as an offensive assistant and then quarterbacks coach.
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My skepticism stems mostly from how schematic a left turn this is for the Eagles’ offense. Green Bay has been a heavy under-center, play-action-based offense that attacks the middle of the field and uses a ton of motion. The Eagles were 28th in motion rate last season (per Fantasy Points Data) and didn’t go under center much to use play-action, with a quarterback in Jalen Hurts who hasn’t been a high-volume, middle-of-the-field passer. This is a big shift in the passing game and Mannion will be in charge of rebuilding a running game without legendary offensive line coach and run game coordinator Jeff Stoutland, who left Philly after he got the offensive coordinator gig.
The ceiling on Mannion is, without a doubt, higher than anyone else in this section. However, we should be ready to admit this will require some evolution for the entire offense — the quarterback specifically — so it might take some time to see the statistical benefits a schematic shift like this, if it works at all.
Chiefs hire OC Eric Bieniemy
The Chiefs returning to Bieniemy as the offensive coordinator will probably turn out fine, especially since he won’t be the primary play-caller. I just would have loved to see Andy Reid and the Chiefs get out of their same old schematic family in an effort to evolve the offense. They need more than just a boost in accountability and personality that Bieniemy will bring to solve some of the systemic and personnel issues that I outlined in depth in a column this past November. As long as Patrick Mahomes gets healthy and they improve the skill-position talent, this unit will ultimately end up being good again in 2025. An schematic evolution still feels overdue to push this offense out of a self-inflicted rut and that’s unlikely coming with this coordinator hire.
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Giants hire HC John Harbaugh and OC Matt Nagy will call plays
The Chiefs essentially fired Matt Nagy. They can try to soften it and launder it through the media but they let him walk out the door without a thought to keeping him before he took a coordinator job in February, only after the Giants didn’t land Todd Monken. That’s a firing.
Hiring Nagy feels like a scramble move for the Giants, who didn’t have a Plan B to turn to after Monken took the Browns’ head coach gig. Nagy’s Chiefs offenses were based on static, spread, RPO and shotgun-based trends that the NFL has moved away from in recent years. He wouldn’t have been my first pick to shepherd Jaxson Dart’s development. Dart’s collegiate offense shared some similar DNA to what Nagy likely brings — so that’s at least a fit for Year 1 — but I’ll be shocked if we don’t run into a ceiling rather quickly with this pairing.
Steelers hire HC Mike McCarthy
I don’t think Mike McCarthy is some miserable hire by the Steelers, but I think we can agree it was uninspiring and likely doesn’t push them out of the stagnation that befell them during the late Tomlin years. I have two major hang-ups about McCarthy as the offensive architect in Pittsburgh. For starters, the idea that this move is meant to entice Aaron Rodgers back to Pittsburgh in 2026 should not be viewed positively. Rodgers was a bottom-tier starter last season and there is no real reason to revisit that path.
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More importantly, while McCarthy isn’t some offensive buffoon, it’s hard not to notice that the Packers, and even the 2025 Cowboys, immediately got better right after he left as a younger play-caller took over and installed a more dynamic offense with under-center concepts and more motion. McCarthy’s tried-and-true West Coast background has its place, but it also presents limitations and doesn’t fit the Steelers’ offense as currently constructed. I don’t think anyone in Pittsburgh gets any sort of boost with McCarthy calling plays.
Jets hire OC Frank Reich
Alright, if there’s one move I just outright do not understand at all, this is it. By no means was the Jets offense perfect in 2025 but I thought Tanner Engstrand constructed a unit that was well-designed in both phases, even if the sequencing and game-day management needed work. Even if you did decide it was time to pull the plug there, what is the logic in hiring Frank Reich? Last we saw Reich was back in 2023, running a stale offense for the Carolina Panthers before being fired midseason. The league has summarily moved on from his brand of offense and I’m not sure a short 4-8 stint as the 2025 interim head coach at Stanford really did much to help his innovation path. I’m not sure I can sell this as an upgrade, let alone a needle-mover, for any player or unit on the Jets roster.
