Liam Coen, Shane Steichen climb in 2026 top 10 offensive play caller rankings

It was Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay and then everyone else for a long time when it came to the NFL’s top offensive play callers. Ben Johnson took a step into that elite tier with his wildly successful tenure as the Lions’ offensive coordinator, then solidified his status last season after turning the Bears into one of the NFL’s most explosive offenses. After Johnson, the rankings become a lot more debatable.

To determine the league’s best offensive play callers and what makes them so difficult to prepare for and play against, I talked to their nemeses: eight defensive play callers and defensive assistant coaches from around the league. Who better to rank and analyze them than the coaches who spend days and nights scheming to stop them? Anonymously, each defensive coach ranked their top 10 play callers in the league. I compiled their rankings to determine the order and added their analysis.

1. Kyle Shanahan, 49ers

Highest ranking: 1
Lowest ranking: 4
Last year’s ranking: 1

Shanahan remains the most respected play caller in the league. Last season cemented his place as the 49ers finished sixth in points per drive and second in offense DVOA, FTN’s efficiency metric that accounts for strength of schedule, despite dealing with multiple injuries to key players, including quarterback Brock Purdy missing eight games. Shanahan schemed up multiple 100-yard games for Kendrick Bourne, and even journeyman Demarcus Robinson had 111 yards in the playoffs against the Eagles — neither receiver had a 100-yard game since 2022.

“He’s the best in the business because he can adapt better than anybody. It doesn’t matter who’s lining up, whether you got Jauan Jennings — like, he’s a good player, but he shouldn’t be your best wideout,” an AFC defensive coach said. “Shanahan’s finding ways to get guys open and win games with no (George) Kittle, no Jauan (Jennings), no Purdy. He does an incredible job.”

Shanahan gets credit around the league for starting the position-less football trend and fully weaponizing Christian McCaffrey’s receiving ability. His system also makes things very black-and-white for his quarterbacks.

“It’s interesting with the 49ers because they don’t really do anything at the line,” an NFC defensive coordinator said. “Shanahan just calls two plays and all the quarterback does is ‘can’ the call. They don’t adjust any protections, but he has enough answers within the play design.”

Defensive coaches believe Shanahan is unique because he also understands the techniques that defensive players use and their individual weaknesses, and he knows exactly how to expose them.

2. Sean McVay, Rams

Highest ranking: 1
Lowest ranking: 6
Last year’s ranking: 2

McVay has had quarterback Matthew Stafford since 2021, and he’s maximized that continuity. The Rams finished first in several metrics, including points per drive (2.78) in DVOA. They were also one of two offenses to score more than 24 points against the Seahawks defense last season, and they did it twice.

“I love the fact of how he is actively looking to go opposite the trends in the league,” an AFC defensive coordinator said. “He’s been adaptable — personnel-wise, formation-wise and schematically because their zone run game when they first had success was a lot different than what it is now.”

McVay’s constant evolution is a common theme defensive coaches lauded. Because of Puka Nacua’s injury, he started the 13 personnel (one back, three tight ends, one receiver) trend that will sweep the league next season by necessity. McVay’s three-tight end looks forced defenses into playing base defense (four or fewer defensive backs), which made them more predictable. Then he would call his 11 personnel (one back, one tight end, three receivers) pass concepts to create mismatches against linebackers.

“He has a really good feel for the inflow mechanics of how the game is going and not necessarily coming up with something new that you haven’t seen before, but it might be a different formation or just getting you in space in a different way and forcing you to do some things that you don’t want to do,” an NFC defensive coordinator said.

McVay is more systematic in his approach than play callers who tailor their game plans more week to week. He isn’t reinventing the wheel with flashy play designs. McVay runs his core concepts, but his system has answers for whatever defenses throw at him. His genius lies in his ability to force defenses into the calls that he wants them to be in.

“He’s trying to make it so that there’s less variables the defense can do,” an AFC defensive coordinator explained. “He’s thinking, ‘What’s the personnel or formations that I can get out there where I get less defensive calls? So we don’t have to go over the 20 calls this guy has. I know they’re going to do these three things against me, and I have some stuff that I’m going to be doing against it, and boom, we’re going to be fine.’”

With one of the smartest and most gifted throwers under center for him in Stafford, the Rams don’t need flashy play designs to be the best offense in football.

3. Ben Johnson, Bears

Highest ranking: 1
Lowest ranking: 4
Last year’s ranking: 3

Johnson received a couple of first-place votes — that’s how quickly he’s garnered respect in the league. He’s heralded for his unrelenting hunt for explosive plays. He’ll set up big plays for later, call shot plays on second-and-short and pepper in well-timed trick plays that are impossible to prepare for. Johnson’s aggressive mindset and his ability to anticipate defenses helped the Bears become one of the league’s most explosive offenses. In 2024, the Bears ranked 28th in explosive plays rate. They jumped up to sixth in Johnson’s first season in Chicago.

The trick plays are hell to deal with for defensive coordinators, but it’s the counter to the defense’s counterpunches Johnson has in his bag that are really dangerous.

“He anticipates what your counterpunch might be or what your complement to something might be and then exploits that schematically. He thinks through what might be the next thing you do to build off this (call),” an NFC defensive coach said. “And then once he kind of gets you into that next step or the next thing you’re building off of, he already has answers for that.”

Like Shanahan, Johnson gives his quarterbacks explosive answers at the line of scrimmage in the form of “can” calls. He does an excellent job of pairing two calls together that answer what the defense could show. His ability to predict how defenses will game plan against him makes him unpredictable.

One defensive coordinator said he struggled all week trying to figure out Johnson’s tendencies, something he says he normally can do. He said he changed his approach trying to anticipate Johnson’s counters.

The defensive coordinator noted that against Johnson, he called the same coverage several times in a row, which is something he never did, because he thought Johnson wouldn’t expect it. His tactic resulted in a takeaway, but Johnson’s offense still found ways to score. He also noted that he had a tricky red zone disguise that he can usually count on to trick most play callers and quarterbacks, but Johnson had a perfect call for it.

“Ben’s had to have some experience on the defensive side of the ball,” the coordinator said. “He knew, ‘OK, what would give this call problems?’ And he did. I thought that was good.”

If Caleb Williams and the young Bears offense take another step in their development in their second year under Johnson, don’t be surprised to see him at the top of this list next season.

4. Matt LaFleur, Packers

Highest ranking: 3
Lowest ranking: 9
Last year’s ranking: 6

The Packers have only finished outside of the top 10 in offensive DVOA once since LaFleur was hired in 2019. He had the benefit of coaching prime Aaron Rodgers early in his Packers tenure, but even as the team transitioned to Jordan Love and dealt with major injuries to key players, the Packers have consistently been one of the NFL’s best offenses.

Love missed two games last season and was knocked out of one game early; the Packers lost tight end Tucker Kraft for the season in Week 9, and receiver Christian Watson began the season on the PUP list. Green Bay still finished sixth in offensive DVOA and eighth in points per drive (2.36).

“I think he does a good job of tailoring their game plan,” an AFC defensive coordinator explained. “It’s a great testament to his play-calling abilities with what he was able to do when Jordan Love was out and Malik Willis is in and kind of tailoring the offense to the different skill sets that both of them had. You know, because they were doing some different things in the run game when Malik Willis was in versus Jordan Love. And even some of the pistol, you know, run game was different than kind of the under-center run game.”

Matt LaFleur is entering the fourth season with Jordan Love as his starting quarterback. (Mark Hoffman / Imagn Images)

LaFleur has evolved his system after coming from the McVay tree. He developed one of the best shotgun run games that doesn’t involve the quarterback as a runner by mixing in Wing T concepts, and he’s one of the first coaches to call quick game to one side but have crossers coming from the other. His best attribute is how he tailors concepts to play to the strengths of whoever he has on the field, and in the last couple of seasons, several players were in and out of the lineup for whom he’s had to design plays.

“You don’t have a Mike Evans,” a defensive coach said. “He’s out there using jet motion and scheming guys open with Jordan Love, who’s been developing over the past three years.”

LaFleur deftly tailors his pass concepts to the different skill sets of his receivers. Watson emerged as a consistent deep ball threat, but the Packers still haven’t had a bona fide No. 1 receiver since they traded Davante Adams in 2022. LaFleur has found ways to play to the strengths of good receivers with varying skill sets.

5. Liam Coen, Jaguars

Highest ranking: 3
Lowest ranking: 9
Last year’s ranking: 9

Like Johnson with Jared Goff and Williams, Coen helped take a veteran quarterback’s game to the next level (Baker Mayfield) as offensive coordinator at one stop and then helped elevate another young quarterback’s game as a head coach at another. The Jaguars offense started the season slowly as Trevor Lawrence and the rest of the unit were having growing pains learning Coen’s system, but found their rhythm after Week 8 — they averaged 20.86 points per game before Week 8 but 32.8 points after, ranking second in the league behind only the Rams in that span.

Defensive coaches noted Coen’s ability to stay a step ahead of them and their adjustments and timing when to go for shot plays.

“I think he has good timing and I think he would like to get to (certain calls) more,” an AFC defensive coordinator said. “I think Trevor probably limits them a little bit more than what Baker did.”

Coen’s offense in his first season with Mayfield was more expansive than in his first season with Lawrence, but there were other limitations. The Buccaneers had one of the best offensive lines in 2024, which allowed them to do more in the run game.

“In Tampa, some of the run game stuff they had been doing that year was like, that was always something I was trying to study,” the coordinator said. “I thought some of the 21 pony types (two running backs on the field) of looks and some of the different stuff they were doing with like two-back sets was pretty cool to see in the league. There was some nuance to it that kind of made it a little different than what anybody else was doing.”

Even though the Jaguars offense produced at an elite level in the second half of the season, it ranked 25th in rushing success rate in that span. If Lawrence can handle more offense and Coen can get the Jaguars run game going, they have a chance to be one of the league’s best offenses.

6. Andy Reid, Chiefs

Highest ranking: 3
Lowest ranking: 10
Last year’s ranking: 4

Some coaches still consider Reid one of the NFL’s best, and the sentiment is that Reid belongs on this list out of respect, but his system needs an upgrade. The Chiefs finished 12th in offensive DVOA last season after finishing eighth two years in a row before that. The Chiefs’ offensive talent has deteriorated every season since trading Tyreek Hill, but they still have the league’s best quarterback in Patrick Mahomes.

Mahomes and Reid’s early success led to the defensive meta of teams playing two-deep coverages to limit explosives in the passing game, but Reid hasn’t adjusted enough to take advantage of the light boxes they’re seeing.

“A couple of years ago for sure, he was top five to me. In the past, like, year or two, I think it’s cooled down significantly, to be honest with you,” an NFC defensive coordinator said. ” … I just think that it got a little predictable because they had that carousel of personnel there too. He’s definitely on the fringe of it, out of respect, but I don’t necessarily have the same ‘I’m staying up all night’ feel with him.”

The Chiefs have revamped their offensive line and signed running back Kenneth Walker, so there’s a chance that Reid is going to change his approach and run the ball more. Also, defensive coaches believe that bringing back offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy will add an element of toughness that they’ve been lacking. A defensive coach thought it was foolish to write off Reid or believe that you have him figured out.

“I’m anxious to see him evolve this year,” a head coach said. “I think it’s coming. I think he knows it needs to evolve a little bit, and I’m just curious to see what his flavor is this year.”

7. Shane Steichen, Colts

Highest ranking: 4
Lowest ranking: 9
Last year’s ranking: 10

Some were surprised that Steichen made the list last offseason because he was taking heat for the way the Anthony Richardson saga unfolded, but Steichen justified his place during the season. The Colts and Daniel Jones surprised the league, finishing fifth in offensive DVOA. They put up historic efficiency numbers early in the season before cooling off, with Jones tearing an Achilles tendon in Week 14.

“He’s unique compared to the McVay, Shanahan guys. He does a mixture of under-center, but he uses an RPO running game out of the gun a bit more than other people,” a head coach said. “They do a really good job of finding explosive plays that have hurt you in the past. I don’t want to call him a copycat guy, but they find explosives that have showed up against you previously.”

Rather than plays that build off each other, there is a grab-bag nature to Steichen’s system. He’ll look at concepts that went for explosives from the past against defenses he’s facing that week and add them into his game plan with his own twist.

Steichen has had success with multiple quarterbacks, including Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts. His work with Jones, whom most coaches did not expect to play well, has earned him a lot of respect.

8. Josh McDaniels, Patriots

Highest ranking: 1
Lowest ranking: unranked
Last year’s ranking: unranked

McDaniels took a year off after being fired by the Raiders, so he wasn’t ranked last season, but he came back strong and helped second-year quarterback Drake Maye ascend to an MVP level. McDaniels received one first-place vote from a coach who felt his long tenure of success with different quarterbacks and championship pedigree should be considered. McDaniels was also left off four top-10 lists.

“I feel like Josh, and it’s the (Bill) Belichick influence, he calls the game to win the game,” a head coach said. “He doesn’t necessarily call the game to have the best offense. I give him a lot of credit for that.”

Coaches universally agreed with that notion of McDaniels calling games to win them. He understands situational football, and that’s not always the case with some elite play callers.

“He has the patience and the diligence to keep attacking your weaknesses until you get it corrected,” an AFC defensive coordinator said. “And he’s able to do it with whoever he’s had: Tom Brady, Mac Jones and Maye now.”

Josh McDaniels will look to build on Drake Maye’s big second year that included an appearance in the Super Bowl. (Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images)

A defensive coordinator also noted that Shanahan and McVay have relatively easy third-and-long dropback concepts to prepare for, whereas McDaniels’ dropback menu is much more comprehensive and harder to defend. Coaches lauded McDaniels for calling plays to get Maye easy completions with a mix of well-timed shot plays. The Patriots had the highest rate of explosive plays last season (13.6 percent) despite a lack of receiving talent.

The Patriots’ protection was schematically dismantled by the Seahawks’ blitzes in the Super Bowl, so we’ll see if McDaniels can revamp the protection scheme or risk copycats using similar strategies against him. The Patriots have all the ingredients to make improvements on offense with Maye entering his second year of a complicated system and the additions of receivers Romeo Doubs and A.J. Brown.

9. Klint Kubiak, Raiders

Highest ranking: 5
Lowest ranking: 10
Last year’s ranking: unranked

The Seahawks offense was one of the biggest surprises of last season. They finished 10th in offensive DVOA and eighth in explosive play rate (12.1 percent). Coaches said Kubiak isn’t a one-year wonder. He’s had good offenses in Minnesota and had the Saints offense rolling before they were hit hard with the injury bug in 2024.

Kubiak utilizes a pure outside-zone offense with all of the staple concepts on repeat. He’s not reinventing the wheel each week, but knows exactly how to adjust and what to call against whatever scheme he faces. He had a lot of success last season getting defenses into their base with heavy personnel and throwing deep shots.

“His play-action shots are to unlikely targets; it’s not always the receivers, it’s the tight ends, it can be a back,” an AFC defensive coordinator said. “And then I think he’s unaffected by what others might have in their minds of being a successful game. He’s going to play the way they need him to play to win. So it’s true team ball.”

The Seahawks didn’t have a lot of pass-catching talent last season, but Kubiak’s scheme maximized it and unlocked Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Some coaches believed that although Smith-Njigba is an excellent receiver, they didn’t expect him to be the league’s most productive one last season.

“Anytime you’re able to get a receiver like Smith-Njigba, who’s very talented, but anytime you’re able to get him as many touches as you do, that means that somebody’s doing a hell of a job designing plays,” a defensive coach said.

Kubiak did all he could to make it hard for defenses to double Smith-Njigba, including lining him up in the backfield and then drawing up counter punches for when teams overplayed him there. Kubiak will have to start over again with the Raiders. If he can get the offense playing at a high level, he’ll make a significant jump on this list as Coen did.

10. Mike McDaniel, Chargers

Highest ranking: 5
Lowest ranking: unranked
Last year’s ranking: unranked

McDaniel is polarizing. Many agree he might be the most creative play designer in the league, but it’s a separate skill than play calling. He was ranked as high as No. 5 while being left off some lists. Some felt he was limited by his quarterback in Miami and had to cut down his pass-concept menu drastically. That won’t be an issue with Justin Herbert, who has elite arm talent.

“Mike McDaniel’s run game is incredible. He does such a good job with motions and doing things you wouldn’t expect after certain motions,” a defensive coach said. “They can make you think they are running something with the running back’s first two steps to get your linebackers to key things, but it might end up as a different run concept. It’s really hard on the eyes. It’s going to look incredible with (Omarion) Hampton.”

McDaniel is a trendsetter. After organized team activities, John Harbaugh said the Giants would implement McDaniel’s concepts into their offense. Ben Johnson said he was going to spend his break before training camp studying McDaniel’s offense after hiring McDaniel’s former running backs coach, Eric Studesville. Opinions vary on how McDaniel calls the game and the level of physicality in his offense, but coaches agree that he’s a true creative and are very curious to see what he does with Herbert.

Honorable mentions: Denver’s Sean Payton, Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell, Detroit’s Drew Petzing, Dallas’ Brian Schottenheimer, Cleveland’s Todd Monken, Buffalo’s Joe Brady.