The NFL is Burning Through Head Coaches Faster Than Ever

At the same time, the hiring pool is shrinking.

SANTA CLARA, CA - NOVEMBER 12:  Head coach Ben McAdoo of the New York Giants looks on against the San Francisco 49ers during their NFL game at Levi's Stadium on November 12, 2017 in Santa Clara, California.  (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
SANTA CLARA, CA - NOVEMBER 12: Head coach Ben McAdoo of the New York Giants looks on against the San Francisco 49ers during their NFL game at Levi's Stadium on November 12, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Ben McAdoo had called plays for two seasons prior to getting the head coaching gig with the New York Giants in Jan. 2016. But now, he’s on the road to be fired because of his inability to lead, writes The RingerAnd it is not necessarily him getting signed by the Giants that was a surprise, but that if they hadn’t signed him, someone else would have.

There are six NFL teams who’ve made four or more coaching changes in the last decade, reports The Ringer. This is double the number of the previous 10 years. Last season, the San Francisco 49ers fired their first-year head coach in two consecutive offseasons, becoming the first team in NFL history to do that.

The Ringer writes that there are a lot of issues in the NFL right now, including a “quarterback shortage, an offensive line problem, a tackling problem, a play-calling problem, and the list goes on.” But a good coach can fix these issues, while a bad coach causes them. The Ringer says that executives around the league are annoyed at how watered down the coaching market is, but it is kind of their fault, since they are firing coaches and replacing them in “uncreative ways.”

Because teams are shrinking the hiring pool while also churning through coaches faster than ever, a coach hasn’t been hired from the college ranks since Chip Kelly in 2013. There is only one NFL coach who came directly from the college game, and that is Pete Carroll. The Ringer writes that he is widely considered one of the best in the league.

The Ringer writes that coaches are more risk-averse when they are worried about getting fired, and with the way things are going in the NFL right now, everyone is risk averse. The NFL has created a “closed system where only a handful of candidates pop up despite there being what looks like another full slate of vacancies this offseason.”

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