NFL Coaching Hires Begin in 2022

With the Bengals and Rams punching their tickets for the Super Bowl, the teams hoping to hire the next Super Bowl-bound head coach have begun filling their vacancies. 

Denver Broncos - Nathaniel Hackett 

Beginning the hiring cycle was former Packers’ offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, now the head coach in Denver. The 42-year-old Hackett is now the 18th head coach in Broncos’ history.

The Broncos have had a good defense over the last several seasons, but lacking a good quarterback has kept Denver out of the playoffs since Peyton Manning retired after Super Bowl 50. Forgive the Bronco faithful for hoping the Hackett hire, while a good one by itself, is part of a package deal with quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Hackett and Rodgers have worked together the last three seasons, producing one — and possibly two — MVP awards for the All-Pro.

Expected to win nine games this past season according to NFL odds, the Broncos managed just seven, missing the postseason. 

Chicago Bears - Matt Eberflus 

Last week, the Bears hired former Chiefs’ executive Ryan Poles to be their general manager, then named former Colts’ defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus their coach. Eberflus has led successful defenses in Indianapolis, but the decision to pair a defensive-minded head coach with a young quarterback (Justin Fields) on the roster did raise some eyebrows.

Those eyebrows lowered a bit when news broke that the first hire for Everflus was his new offensive coordinator, Luke Getsy. The 37-year-old Getsy was the quarterback coach in Green Bay for the last three seasons and was a wide receivers coach before that for the Packers under Mike McCarthy. 

He is now tasked with building an offense that highlights Fields as Eberflus focuses on the defensive side of the ball.

The Bears failed to meet even the low expectations set by the sportsbook with their preseason win total of 7½, finishing with a 6-11 record. 

New York Giants - Brian Daboll 

After the incredible turnaround of Josh Allen, it was only a matter of time before former Bills’ offensive coordinator Brian Daboll left Buffalo for head-coaching pastures elsewhere. That destination is the Giants as their fourth head coach in seven years.

Fast math says that’s not good.

Before hiring Daboll, the Giants brought in Bills assistant general manager Joe Schoen to be their G.M., so Daboll became an obvious fit.

Schoen said of his new head coach, “Over the last four years, I have observed first-hand Brian’s strengths as a leader. He’s an excellent communicator, intelligent, innovative and hard working. He is progressive in his vision and values collaboration, two of the attributes we think are essential.”

Daboll had top-five offenses in each of the last two seasons in Buffalo, and his first order of business is to decide what to do about Giants’ quarterback Daniel Jones.

The Giants failed to meet their season-win expectation set by NFL odds of just seven wins. The Giants managed only four, and cashed the under bets in Week 16. 

Las Vegas Raiders - Josh McDaniels 

It was sentimental, hoping that the Las Vegas Raiders would take the ‘interim’ label off head coach Rich Bisaccia… especially after he became the first-ever ‘temp’ head coach to lead his team to the playoffs. 

The Raiders shattered their NFL regular-season-win odds of 7½ in a Week 16 win over the Denver Broncos.

Instead, the Raiders are bringing in former Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.

Unlike the other hires in this cycle, McDaniels has been a head coach before. He was head coach in Denver in 2009-10, and finished with an 11-17 record before getting fired with four games left in the ‘10 season.

Relevant to McDaniels’ hiring in Vegas was his time as an assistant coach in New England, where he was a part of all six of the Patriots’ Super Bowl wins. He was a personnel assistant for their first Super Bowl in 2001, a defensive assistant for New England’s next Super Bowl and has been the quarterbacks' coach/offensive coordinator for the other four Super Bowl wins.

McDaniels was incredibly successful with Tom Brady, and was credited with helping to grow rookie quarterback Mac Jones this past season. The hope in Las Vegas is that he has the same relationship with incumbent Derek Carr.

Joining McDaniels in Las Vegas is former Patriots front office executive Davie Ziegler. Ziegler takes over as the Raiders general manager after a decade in New England. He was in the scouting department for nine years before becoming the director of player personnel in 2021. Prior to his time with the Patriots, Ziegler worked with McDaniels in Denver.

McDaniels, lest anyone forget, was all set to become the coach of the Colts a few seasons ago before unceremoniously ditching Indianapolis at the altar.