Copyright Athlon Sports
Athlon Sports aims to feature only the best products and services. We may receive compensation for links to products and services on this website. Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells famously once said, “You are what your record says you are.” So when it comes to grading the current NFL head coaches midway through the 2025 season, it’s no surprise that the rankings from best to worst are going to closely reflect their teams’ records. Still, there’s more to consider. What were the expectations for their teams going into the season? How have they handled critical injuries? What kind of adjustments have they made? A lot can happen between now and the end of the season that may alter these grades, but here’s how they shape up as of now (note: we’re not including the two coaches that have already been fired, Bill Callahan of the Tennessee Titans or Brian Daboll of the New York Giants. If you get fired, that’s an automatic F). Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots Think the Titans regret firing Vrabel after the 2023 season? In six seasons as the Titans head coach, Vrabel was 54-45. Since getting rid of Vrabel, the Titans are 4-22. Ten games into his tenure as Patriots coach, he already has twice as many wins as New England had last season. Drake Maye has been the sexy story for the Patriots, but it is Vrabel’s leadership that has the team in position to unseat the Buffalo Bills in the AFC East. Grade: A Shane Steichen, Indianapolis Colts In addition to having his team on pace to be the AFC’s No. 1 seed in the postseason, Steichen deserves credit for the way he handled the Colts’ QB situation going into this season. Daniel Jones’ play this has made it an obvious call, but a less decisive coach may not have moved on from Anthony Richardson as easily as Steichen did. Grade: A Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers For a coach who’s taken his team to the Super Bowl twice, this may actually be Shanahan’s best job. He’s been aided by the return of Robert Saleh as defensive coordinator — Saleh failed as head coach of the Jets, but he’s done a terrific job this season with a defense that has been ravaged by injuries. The offense has had its share of injuries as well, and while they still have an MVP candidate in Christian McCaffrey, Shanahan has worked wonders with backup QB Mac Jones and a patchwork receiving corps. Grade: A- Sean Payton, Denver Broncos The Broncos have required some fourth-quarter magic this season, but that’s no accident — Payton’s teams are always well coached and well conditioned. Payton has Denver positioned to end the Chiefs’ streak of nine straight AFC West titles. Grade: A- Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams Matthew Stafford is having an MVP season and the wide receiver duo like Davante Adams and Puka Nacua is devastating, but McVay hasn’t rested on the laurels of that combo. He’s mixed things up and gotten his tight ends more involved. Grade: A- Mike Macdonald, Seattle Seahawks Macdonald was hired in Seattle last year as a defensive wiz, and that unit is starting to make its mark. The offense, meanwhile, has adopted nicely to quarterback Sam Darnold while receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba has blossomed into a superstar. Seattle’s 4-0 road record is a sign that Macdonald has this team focused. Grade: B+ Todd Bowles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers Baker Mayfield’s late-game heroics were the story in the first month of the season. Since then, it’s been more about surviving a rash of injuries to key players and maintaining Bowles’ aggressive style of defense. Bowles’ blitz-happy unit has held four opponents to 20 points or less, and he’s kept the Bucs atop the NFC South while they await the return of running back Bucky Irving and receiver Chris Godwin. Grade: B+ Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions Brain drain? What brain drain? Despite having to replace his two talented coordinators, Campbell has the Lions where he wants them. Coming into the season, many NFL analysts said the Lions’ tough schedule meant they could be just as good as last season even if they don’t match last season’s 15-2 record. The defense is still fighting injuries but the offense is as potent as ever. Campbell took over play-calling duties in Week 10 and all they did was put up 44 points. Grade: B+ Jonathan Gannon, Arizona Cardinals Considering how well Steichen has done with the Colts and the fact that Arizona is at least a competitive squad, it helps you understand why the Eagles took a step back after the 2022 season when Philly lost both of those coordinators. Gannon’s record with the Cardinals (15-28) might not reflect it, but his team plays up to the competition. Gannon took plenty of heat earlier this season when he confronted running back Emari Demercado after his bonehead play, but he hasn’t lost the team. Quite the contrary, they are still competitive, even with backups playing QB and RB. Grade: B Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles For a coach who’s been to two of the last three Super Bowls and is the reigning NFL champion, Sirianni seems to get grief if things aren’t absolutely perfect. Maybe he deserves a little more credit. He’s had three coordinators leave for head coaching jobs in the last three years, yet no one cries “brain drain” in Philly. Maybe Sirianni can do a better job keeping A.J. Brown from causing a media stir, but he’s still got this team positioned to make a run at repeating. Grade: B Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears Johnson deciding to stay one more season in Detroit rather than take a head coach job in 2024 was the best thing that could have happened to the Bears. Johnson’s offensive creativity is starting to take with Caleb Williams and the Chicago offense, but what’s even more apparent is that Johnson has instilled confidence and determination in this team that never existed under his predecessor, Matt Eberflus. Grade: B Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs Fourth on the all-time win list and a first-ballot Hall of Fame shoo-in, Reid’s career grade is as high as it gets. As for this season, the jury is still out. His stranglehold on the AFC West is finally being challenged. The Chiefs lost the season opener to the Los Angeles Chargers, but they face the Chargers one more time and still have two meetings with the Broncos on the schedule. Those three games will help decide this team’s fate. In the meantime, however, Reid has kept this team focused after an 0-2 start. Grade: B DeMeco Ryans, Houston Texans Even after back-to-back AFC South titles, people wanted to see if the Texans’ offense would show up after fading last season. So an 0-3 start in 2025 could have sent this team into a death spiral. But Ryans’ steady leadership has kept this team afloat. The offense is still struggling, but don’t forget the loss of running back Joe Mixon before the season was a big blow. At 4-5, with an elite defense and two games against division-leader Indianapolis still to come, Ryans deserves a lot of credit. Grade: B Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers Harbaugh’s team has bounced back nicely after a 1-3 stretch from Weeks 4-7. The Chargers are squarely in the playoff mix, and Harbaugh deserves credit for what he’s done with the offense. Historically a run-first coach, Harbaugh has done well to rely on an elite quarterback in Justin Herbert. He’s dealt with major injuries to both the offensive line and the running back room, and continues to win. Grade: B John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens AFC North mainstays John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin are in the same boat: consistent winners for almost 20 years, whose fan bases are selfishly growing tired of settling for good. It’s foolish to think Harbaugh has worn out his welcome in Baltimore, especially now that the Ravens have won three straight and will be favored to win their next five. Despite a 1-5 start and three weeks without Lamar Jackson, Harbaugh has his team in good shape to win the division. Grade: B Liam Coen, Jacksonville Jaguars Like Dave Canales in Carolina, Coen was hired in Jacksonville to help a quarterback meet his potential as a former No. 1 overall pick. Trevor Lawrence has fared better than Bryce Young, though he’s not exactly been a world-beater. Coen’s team has shown grit in close games, and his overall grade may still rest on how the Jaguars do in two games against the Colts, both in December. Grade: B- Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers The expectations are always high in Green Bay, and LaFleur’s career record has set a high standard. After a 2-0 start, some were calling the Packers a Super Bowl frontrunner. But they haven’t really had a dominant performance since the Week 1 victory over Detroit. Grade: B- Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers Even when the Steelers started 4-1 and looked like they might run away with the sketchy AFC North, nobody was really buying into this team. Despite the addition of Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf, the offense hasn’t formed much of an identity. The defense, meanwhile, has badly underperformed. Tomlin is vying for an incredible 19th consecutive non-losing season. But unless he gets more than what his team has shown thus far, the remaining schedule might not allow it. Grade: B- Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers Just when it looked like the Panthers were turning a corner, they lost a Week 10 clunker to the lowly Saints. And the fact Carolina scored just seven points against a New Orleans defense that was allowing 27 per game underscores the issue. Canales was hired to make Bryce Young a viable quarterback. But even though the Panthers have already matched their win total of a year ago, it hasn’t been because of Young. Grade: C+ Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills Buffalo’s Week 10 loss at Miami was pretty damning. Last week’s win over the Chiefs was big, but the Bills’ history under McDermott tells us that regular-season wins over Kansas City are meaningless. So why wasn’t McDermott able to keep his team from having a letdown against the Dolphins? This team came into 2025 riding a “Super Bowl or bust” mentality, but they look like they’ve taken a step back. Grade: C+ Kevin O’Connell, Minnesota Vikings Nobody expected the Vikings to match last year’s 14-3 record, so a 4-5 start this season isn’t damning. O’Connell is a good coach, but his legacy — at least for this season — is based on whether or not he can make J.J. McCarthy a winning quarterback. He let Sam Darnold leave because he was betting on McCarthy. Since the second-year QB has only played four games after missing time with an injury, it’s too soon to grade O’Connell — but we will anyway. McCarthy is 2-2 as a starter thus far, and he hasn’t looked all that great. Grade: C Raheem Morris, Atlanta Falcons This team has too much talent and is too inconsistent. In the last two weeks, the Falcons have lost to 8-2 Indianapolis in overtime and 8-2 New England by one. But they’ve also lost to the Panthers and Dolphins by a combined 54 points. Grade: C Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns Stefanski is an offensive coach whose offense has failed to score more than 17 points in seven of its nine games. His quarterback situation isn’t ideal, but Stefanski’s future in Cleveland depends on whether or not he can get Dillon Gabriel — or perhaps Shedeur Sanders — to play winning football. Grade: C- Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas Cowboys When Jerry Jones hired Schottenheimer, the news was met with a resounding shrug. It’s safe to say he hasn’t exceeded expectations, as mediocre as those expectations were in the first place. His team’s best game this season was a tie. His three wins are against teams with a combined record of 7-22. Grade: C- Pete Carroll, Las Vegas Raiders Carroll has always belied his age, but the oldest head coach in NFL history has not been able to breathe life into this team. Coming into this season with 170 career victories, expectations in Las Vegas were high. In retrospect, the Raiders’ Week 1 win over the Patriots is more and more stunning. Grade: C- Dan Quinn, Washington Commanders Quinn didn’t get as much credit as he deserved for his first season as Commanders head coach because quarterback Jayden Daniels was such a superstar. But while we will give Quinn his due for last season, he’s allowed the team to take several steps backward in 2025 — and he takes full responsibility for letting Daniels get injured in the Week 9 loss to Seattle because he didn’t take out his star QB when the game was out of reach. Grade: D Kellen Moore, New Orleans Saints Another offensive guru trying to make chicken salad out of what he’s been handed at quarterback. Should he have given Spencer Rattler eight starts before seeing what he had in rookie Tyler Shough? Shough is probably not the answer, either, and it will be much more important to judge Moore on what he does next season. But his rookie campaign has been nothing to write home about. Grade: D Aaron Glenn, New York Jets It feels like someone who played in New York, who played for Bill Parcells and coached under Dan Campbell would have been more prepared for the media spotlight that is New York. Not that this team was a playoff contender, but Glenn hasn’t raised the bar. That sequence at the end of the first half against Denver remains a head-scratcher that will symbolize his first year as head coach. Grade: D Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals Remember when this team was a Super Bowl contender, and Taylor would hang out with fans at a bar after a home victories? Yeah, we don’t remember that, either. Even with Burrow’s injury history and even with the defense’s shortcomings, there is too much talent on this team for the Bengals to be also-rans. That’s on the coach. Grade: D- Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins
