In an effort to get ahead of the offensive revolution currently sweeping across the NFL, there has been a lot of unconventional hires by NFL teams. Instead of relying on their veteran offensive coordinator to adjust to the modern game, teams have turned to younger coaches with little experience.
In fact, only three offensive coordinators come into the 2019 season with more than two years of experience at their current post. Pete Carmichael Jr. has been the New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator for a decade, Josh McDaniels is entering his eighth year with the Patriots and Ken Whisenhunt has spent three seasons in southern California with the Chargers’ coaching staff.
Crazy to think there are just 3 Offensive Coordinators that have been w their team more than one year:
10 yrs: Pete Carmichael (NO)
7 yrs: Josh McDaniels (NE)
3 yrs: Ken Whisenhunt (LAC)Nearly half the NFL (15 tms) will have coaches in their 1st year calling plays w that team.
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) May 5, 2019
Outside of that trio and San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, the other 28 offensive coordinators have been hired within the last two seasons. There are 15 teams who are set to enter the season with a first-year play-caller on their offensive coaching staff.
The 15 teams w play callers in 1st full yr in that role on team:
-ARI Kingsbury*
-ATL Koetter
-BAL Roman
-CIN Taylor*
-CLE Kitchens*
-DAL Moore
-DEN Scangarello
-DET Bevell
-GB LaFleur*
-JAX DeFilippo
-MIA O’Shea
-MIN Stefanski
-NYJ Gase*
-TB Leftwich
-TEN Smith*=Head Coach
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) May 6, 2019
With the NFL becoming an increasingly offensive game, most franchises have hired head coaches with an offensive background. Of the 14 NFL coaches hired in the past two seasons, only Mike Vrabel, Matt Patricia, Brian Flores and Vic Fangio have a defensive background.
Not only is there a lot of turnover at the offensive coordinator position, but the coaches are getting younger, too. Entering 2019, the average age of NFL offensive coordinators is 45 and 11 OCs are under the age of 40, with just six offensive coordinators over the age of 50. There are even four first-year offensive coordinators under the age of 35: Dallas’s Kellen Moore (30), Houston’s Tim Kelly (32), Cincinnati’s Brian Callahan (34) and Washington’s Kevin O’Connell (34).
All this unfamiliarity puts a lot of pressure on these coaches. Training camp becomes far more important for coaches and players who are trying to get on the same page. While coaches will have just a short time to adapt their scheme to their players’ unique skill sets, players will have to become familiar with a brand new offensive scheme in a short time before games start to count. The clock is ticking.