Keeping tabs on the new NFL head coaches entering the 2022 season, from first-timers like Brian Daboll to household names like Josh McDaniels.
There’s one game left in this rip-roaring NFL season — which means the busy, ever-crucial offseason period has begun for every team under the sun not named the Cincinnati Bengals or Los Angeles Rams. And after the solemn tradition known as Black Monday saw seven head coaches get sacked, the coaching carousel began anew, and some seriously high-profile jobs are up for grabs.
From Mile High to the Meadowlands, let’s meet the newest NFL head coaches.
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Which NFL Teams Have Hired New Coaches for 2022?
Dennis Allen (New Orleans Saints)
Hired: Feb. 7, 2022
Replacing: Sean Payton
Previous job: New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator
Overall head coaching record: 8-28 (Oakland Raiders, 2012-2014)
The Saints suddenly found themselves in unfamiliar territory when longtime boss man Sean Payton stepped aside. For the first time since cutting ties with Jim Haslett following the 2005 season, they needed a new head coach. Enter Dennis Allen, who ran Payton’s defense for the last seven years following three struggling seasons in the top job with the Raiders.
Brian Daboll (New York Giants)
Hired: Jan. 28, 2022
Replacing: Joe Judge
Previous job: Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator
Overall head coaching record: None (first-time head coach)
Why would the Giants bring Brian Daboll down from Orchard Park? Ask the quarterback he helped raise up to a perennial Pro Bowl level, Josh Allen:
Question: how would you rate Brian Daboll in terms of his creativity?
— Matthew Bové (@Matt_Bove) October 27, 2021
Josh Allen: pic.twitter.com/W2EYzEFE1U
The Joe Judge era was brief and inconsistent, but the G-Men didn’t overcorrect and swoop in for a more established name with head coaching experience. Enter Daboll, who helped bring the Bills agonizingly close to a second straight AFC Championship Game.
Matt Eberflus (Chicago Bears)
Hired: Jan. 27, 2022
Replacing: Matt Nagy
Previous job: Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator
Overall head coaching record: None (first-time head coach)
After the Bears took a shot at a first-time head coach with an offensive background in Matt Nagy only to cut ties with him after four years and a 34-31 record, they’ve opted to go the defensive route with Matt Eberflus. Before arriving in Indy, the 51-year-old coached linebackers for the Dallas Cowboys and Cleveland Browns.
Not for nothing, was a college linebacker at Toledo and spent the 1990 season playing under Nick Saban.
Nathaniel Hackett (Denver Broncos)
Hired: Jan. 27, 2022
Replacing: Vic Fangio
Previous job: Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator
Overall head coaching record:None (first-time head coach)
Nathaniel Hackett takes the top job at Mile High after three seasons running Matt LaFleur’s offense with the Green Bay Packers. His run includes overseeing an Aaron Rodgers MVP award in 2020 and the No. 1 seed in the NFC this time around. Previous stops as an NFL assistant include the Jaguars, Bills, and Buccaneers.
Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins)
Hired: Feb. 6, 2022
Replacing: Brian Flores
Previous job: San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator
Overall head coaching record: None (first-time head coach)
Though we’re still a long, long way from putting to bet the legal drama that ignited last week when former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores brought a class action lawsuit against the team, the Giants, the Broncos, and the NFL itself over a litany of alleged abuses and wrongdoings, Miami now has its man: 38-year-old Mike McDaniel, who heads to SoFla after one year running Kyle Shanahan’s offense in San Francisco.
Josh McDaniels (Las Vegas Raiders)
Hired: Jan. 30, 2022
Replacing: Rich Bisaccia (interim)
Previous job: New England Patriots offensive coordinator
Overall head coaching record: 11-17 (Denver Broncos, 2009-2010)
Remember Josh McDaniels? Of course you do! The most recognizable offensive coordinator in football is leaving Bill Belichick’s employ once again, taking the reins for a Las Vegas Raiders team that fired Jon Gruden mid-season only to make the playoffs under the leadership of interim boss Rich Bisaccia.
McDaniels’ only other head coaching stint involved two losing seasons in charge of the Denver Broncos more than a decade ago. (He infamously accepted the top job in Indianapolis in 2018 only to withdraw from the role on the very same day and return to Foxborough.)
Kevin O’Connell (Minnesota Vikings)
Hired: (Announcement not official)
Replacing: Mike Zimmer
Current job: Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator
Overall head coaching record:None (first-time head coach)
This one isn’t quite etched in stone due to a previous commitment known as Super Bowl LVI, but Kevin O’Connell is imminently your next head coach in the Twin Cities. After making previous stops as an assistant with Washington, San Francisco, and Cleveland, the 36-year-old is due to succeed Mike Zimmer after two seasons in charge of Sean McVay’s offense — and he might just do so with a championship ring on his finger.
Doug Pederson (Jacksonville Jaguars)
Hired: Feb. 3, 2022
Replacing: Darrell Bevell (interim)
Previous job: Philadelphia Eagles head coach
Overall head coaching record: 42-37 (Philadelphia Eagles, 2016-2020)
And just like that, a former Super Bowl champion coach is back in the game. After the Urban Meyer experiment crashed and burned, Shad Khan and the Jaguars are handing the clipboard to Doug Pederson, who famously broke the Philly sports curse in guiding the Eagles to a Super Bowl LII title over Tom Brady’s New England Patriots.
He made it to the mountaintop with an unsung Nick Foles stepping in for an injured Carson Wentz at QB. Now, he gets to cultivate Trevor Lawrence, arguably the league’s most exciting prospects at the position since Andrew Luck.
Lovie Smith (Houston Texans)
Hired: Feb. 7, 2022
Replacing: David Culley
Previous job: Houston Texans defensive coordinator and associate head coach
Overall head coaching record: 89–87 (Chicago Bears, 2004-2012; Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2014-2015)
The Texans only gave David Culley one season at the helm, but their chosen replacement doesn’t just keep things local — he’s got far more head coaching experience than the rest of the names on this list combined.
After five seasons in the college ranks leading the University of Illinois, Smith returned to the NFL last year to run Culley’s defense. Now, he’s back in the big chair to continue a career that includes three NFC North titles and three playoff victories to date.
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