Who Is the Youngest NFL Coach This Year?
Who Is the Youngest NFL Coach This Year?
The Youngest NFL Coach
It’s official: the NFL’s youngest coach is taking over the reins of the San Francisco 49ers. Kyle Shanahan, who turns 37 in December, is fresh off a Super Bowl win as the offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons.
Who is the youngest NFL coach this year?
This season, the NFL will have seven head coaches who are 40 years of age or younger. That’s the most in league history. The seven coaches are:
-Brian Flores, Miami Dolphins (age 38)
-Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals (age 38)
-Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers (age 39)
-Freddie Kitchens, Cleveland Browns (age 43)
-Kliff Kingsbury, Arizona Cardinals (age 43)
-Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams (age 33)
-Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks (age 67)
The previous record for youngest coach was six, set in both 2006 and 2011. There’s a chance that record could be broken again next season, as there are currently five head coaches who are 39 years old or younger: Matt Patricia (Detroit Lions), Adam Gase (New York Jets), Matt Nagy (Chicago Bears), Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers) and Anthony Lynn (Los Angeles Chargers).
How did they get the job?
In order to become an NFL coach, you first have to pay your dues by working your way up through the ranks. Most coaches start out as assistants, working with the position players or the offensive or defensive coordinators. From there, they may move on to become head coaches at the college level before finally making it to the NFL. Sean McVay, for example, started out as an assistant wide receivers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2008. He then became the offensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins in 2014 before being hired as the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams in 2017.
The Coaching Carousel
This past offseason, there was a lot of movement among NFL coaching staffs. Some teams made changes because they were not happy with their results from the previous year. Other teams made changes because their head coach got a job with another team. The New York Jets are one of the teams that made a change at head coach. They hired Adam Gase to be their head coach for the 2019 season.
What is the coaching carousel?
The coaching carousel is the process of NFL teams hiring and firing head coaches. It typically happens during or after the season, and it can be a very hectic time for everyone involved.
This year, there are four new head coaches in the NFL: Matt LaFleur (Green Bay Packers), Zac Taylor (Cincinnati Bengals), Brian Flores (Miami Dolphins), and Kliff Kingsbury (Arizona Cardinals). All four of these coaches are young, but Kliff Kingsbury is the youngest at just 40 years old.
The coaching carousel can be a very stressful time for players, staff, and fans alike. It can also be a time of great excitement, as fans hope that their team will hire the right coach who can lead them to success.
Who are some of the coaches that have been hired and fired this year?
The NFL season is over, and that means it’s time for the coaching carousel to begin spinning. Here are some of the coaches who have been hired and fired this year:
Hired:
-Matt Rhule, Carolina Panthers (age 42)
-Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals (age 35)
-Brian Flores, Miami Dolphins (age 37)
-Jay Gruden, Washington Redskins (age 54)
Fired:
-Steve Wilks, Arizona Cardinals (age 48)
-Adam Gase, Miami Dolphins (age 40)
– Vance Joseph, Denver Broncos (age 46)
– Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals (age 63)
The NFL’s Youngest Coaches
The NFL has seen a recent trend of hiring younger coaches. This year, the average age of an NFL head coach is 45.8 years old. This is the youngest average age of head coaches in the NFL in the last 20 years. Let’s take a look at the three youngest coaches in the NFL this year.
Who are the NFL’s youngest coaches?
There are currently 32 head coaches in the NFL. They range in age from 37 to 73, with the average being 54 years old. The eight youngest coaches are all under 50, and four of them are under 40. Here’s a look at the NFL’s youngest coaches:
Sean McVay, 37, Los Angeles Rams
Kyle Shanahan, 40, San Francisco 49ers
Matt Nagy, 40, Chicago Bears
Zac Taylor, 35, Cincinnati Bengals
Sean McDermott, 47, Buffalo Bills
Anthony Lynn, 50, Los Angeles Chargers
Brian Flores, 42, Miami Dolphins
Pete Carroll, 73, Seattle Seahawks
What are their ages?
There are currently four coaches in the NFL who are under the age of 40. They are:
-Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams (age 33)
-Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers (age 39)
-Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals (age 35)
-Brian Flores, Miami Dolphins (age 37)
What are their backgrounds?
Most of the NFL’s youngest coaches are former coordinators or position coaches who have been groomed for head-coaching positions. Some, like the Los Angeles Rams’ Sean McVay, even skip the coordinator position altogether. Let’s take a look at the backgrounds of each of these coaches.
Matt LaFleur, 37, Green Bay Packers head coach: LaFleur is a former quarterback who played for the Ottawa Rough Riders of the CFL and the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL. He began his coaching career as an offensive assistant with the Houston Texans in 2008. He then held various offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach positions with the Washington Redskins, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Cleveland Browns, and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) before being hired by the Packers in 2019.
Sean McVay, 33, Los Angeles Rams head coach: McVay was a wide receiver at Miami University (Ohio) and began his coaching career as a tight ends coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2008. He then held various offensive assistant and offensive coordinator positions with the Florida Tuskers of the UFL, Washington Redskins, and Rams before being hired as the Rams’ head coach in 2017.
Zac Taylor, 35, Cincinnati Bengals head coach: Taylor played quarterback at Nebraska from 1999 to 2002 and was drafted by the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks in 2007. He began his coaching career as an offensive quality control coach for Texas A&M University in 2008 and then held various offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach positions with Louisville Cardinals, Miami Dolphins, and Cincinnati Bengals before being hired by the Bengals as their head coach in 2019.
Brian Flores, 37, Miami Dolphins head coach: Flores played linebacker at Boston College from 1991 to 1994. He began his coaching career as a scouting assistant with the New England Patriots in 2004 and then held various defensive assistant positions with the Patriots before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2018. He was hired by the Dolphins as their head coach in 2019.
