Finding a good head coach may be nearly as hard as finding a franchise QB. Let's power rank the top head coaches in the NFL for 2025. There really are a lot of competent head coaches in the NFL, but there aren't many elite ones.
And in today's league, head coaches come in different flavors - you have the young, vibrant, hot-shot head coaches like Sean McVay and Kevin O'Connell, but you also may have the older, battle-tested coaches like Andy Reid and Sean Payton.
Being able to find the right head coach for a given NFL team is a huge challenge, as there are around five or more coaching openings per year. We took the liberty of ranking the 10 best head coaches in the NFL for the 2025 season. Does your team appear on this list?
Let's get into it.
NFL Power Rankings: Which head coaches are the best of the best?
10. Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers
The interesting thing about Kyle Shanahan's tenure is that every 'down' year he's had with the San Francisco 49ers has been plagued by a ton of injuries. He's got an 8-4 playoff record and has never won fewer than two games when his teams get into the playoffs. From 2021-2023, the 49ers won double-digit games in each season, so let's not act like he can't coach.
San Francisco went 6-11 in 2024. Shanahan comes in at no. 10 in our head coach power rankings.
9. Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers
In his first year back in the NFL after a decade away, Jim Harbaugh led the Los Angeles Chargers to a strong 11-6 record and a playoff appearance. LA had won five games the year prior, so Harbaugh helped them more than double their win total. It was an astounding accomplishment, but the Chargers did get manhandled in the postseason.
We'll see if they can unlock more of a ceiling in 2025 - Harbaugh is a very good head coach in whatever team he's on and always gets immediate results. Can they make a run with Justin Herbert under center?
The only Harbaugh on this list, Jim comes in at ninth in our head coach power rankings ahead of the 2025 NFL Season.