The foot stays on the gas in the offseason here, as we have yet another thorough power rankings ready to roll. We're rapidly approaching training camps beginning across the NFL, and training camps starting is almost an unofficial 'start' to the regular season, if you think about it.
The preseason action starts shortly after camps begin, and soon enough, September rolls around. We've squeezed out about as many NFL power rankings as we can in the offseason, but we're not quite done yet, this time, giving an updated look at the best quarterback-head coach duos across the league.
We'll use the success of each duo in 2025 and their total body of work as the main basis for these rankings.
Ranking the best quarterback-head coach duos as training camp looms
12. Justin Herbert & Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers
The one thing that the Los Angeles Chargers should be able to take with them for the long-term is that the duo of Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh appears to be a very, very high-floor duo. The Chargers have won 11 games in each of the last two regular seasons, finishing second in the AFC West each time.
The Chargers, in both years, have also gotten throttled in the Wild Card Round, and Herbert himself is now 0-3 in the playoffs with three forgettable performances. If nothing else, the Chargers should seemingly always be viewed as a double-digit win team. Harbaugh wins wherever he goes as a head coach, and Herbert is plenty good enough to keep the ship from sinking.
This does make us wonder if the duo can eventually lead the team on a Super Bowl run. As of now, that does not appear to be possible.
11. Joe Brady & Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
You might wonder why I have this duo so high given that Joe Brady is in his first year as the Buffalo Bills head coach, but Josh Allen does carry much of the weight here. The Bills have won double-digit games each year since 2019, also winning the NFC East from the 2020-2024 seasons.
Unless Brady is an all-time bad head coach, Buffalo is going to be just fine, and making this switch from former coach Sean McDermott to Brady could end up being what this team was missing from a Super Bowl run. As we have al seen, Buffalo has suffered a plethora of playoff hearbreaks over the years. While that could be Allen's fault, the Bills obviously aren't going to move on from him and instead made the switch off McDermott.
Being a head coach in the NFL is a tough job, so Brady does have his work cut out for him despite inheriting an Allen-led team.
10. Jordan Love & Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers
The duo of Jordan Love and Matt LaFleur come in at No. 10 in our power rankings. LaFleur has cemented himself as one of the more solid, consistent head coaches in the NFL, and Love has done the same at quarterback. However, Love has won exactly nine games in all three years of his starting career, missing four regular season games over the past two seasons.
The Packers have also not won the NFC North in the Love/LaFleur era, and have also failed to make much progress in the playoffs as well. Like other duos ranked in this tier, especially one that has been together for multiple years, we may be getting to a point where we're seeing this 'high-floor' level of success.
What, exactly, did the Packers do this offseason that would make us think they could win it all, and what have Love or LaFleur done to make us believe they can lead this operation to the big game?
9. Bo Nix & Sean Payton, Denver Broncos
Had it not been for a broken ankle suffered in the AFC Divisional Round victory over the Buffalo Bills, the Denver Broncos may have very well won the Super Bowl this year, or at least reached it. The duo of Sean Payton and Bo Nix comes in just inside the top-10 in our power rankings.
They have combined for 24 regular season wins over the past two seasons, and this includes a 24-8 record following Nix's first two games of his NFL career. Denver was tied with Seattle and New England with the most wins in the NFL this year, and while the team does sport an elite defense, Nix really emerged as the most clutch quarterback in the NFL, forming a juggernaut of a team capable of winning it all.
As the Broncos head coach, Payton has seen his win total grow all three years as well.
8. Drake Maye & Mike Vrabel, New England Patriots
Out of nowhere, almost, the Patriots made a Super Bowl run this year. Drake Maye was second in the NFL MVP voting, and Mike Vrabel helped the franchise do a total 180. The Patriots did benefit from a very easy schedule, and that is absolutely a thing worth mentioning, but the success of this duo in 2025 really gives them some optimism for the future, as teams just don't stumble into making a deep playoff run like they did.
Maye and Vrabel come in at No. 8 in our quarterback-head coach power rankings for 2026.
7. Joe Burrow & Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Burrow and Zac Taylor come in at No. 7 in our power rankings, but it's a bit complicated. In the 2021 and 2022 seasons, the Bengals made a Super Bowl run and then got back to the AFC Championship Game the following yea, proving that this duo can lead the team on a deep playoff run.
However, for varying reasons, the Bengals have missed the playoffs three seasons in a row. Burrow, though, is 44-33-1 as a starter and 5-2 in the playoffs. One huge thing to note here is that the Bengals front office hasn't done this team many favors. They've continually underspent or simply not spent at all to shore up major weaknesses.
This offseason was a bit different, though. The front office doesn't totally impact these duo rankings, but the team likely could have had way more success had they displayed some sort of aggression.
6. Jalen Hurts & Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles
Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni are a Super Bowl-winning duo, coming in at No. 6 in our power rankings. It does seem like both are elevated by the roster that's around them, though. As a quarterback, while Hurts is a dual-threat quarterback, he's never thrown for 4,000 yards in a season or more than 25 touchdown passes, either.
Sirianni also can't seem to figure out consistent stability on offense, and it does always seem like there is some sort of drama surrounding the team. At the end of the day, you can't argue with all the winning they have done, but it's not been as seamless as the record on paper shows.
They can put much of the criticism to bed this season, though, if Philly can rebound.
5. Brock Purdy & Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers
The duo of Brock Purdy and Kyle Shanahan comes in at No. 5 in our power rankings, having amassed a ton of playoff success in a short time. This also may be one of the unlikeliest duos on this list, as Purdy was the final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, and as quickly as his second season, Purdy was starting in the final game of the season.
Purdy is 30-15 as a starter, which averages out to 11-6 across a 17-game season. Shanahan is also a top head coach and has sustained success at this level for much of his coaching career, as he's already set to enter year 10 on the job.
As a passer, Purdy has also been quite good, owning a 104 career passer rating across four seasons.
4. Jared Goff & Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions
Jared Goff and Dan Campbell come in at No. 4 in our updated power rankings, having steered the Detroit Lions in the right direction over the past four seasons. Since 2022, the Lions have never finished with a losing record and did win 27 regular season games across the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
It didn't start off this well, though, as the Lions won just 3 games in Campbell's first season back in 2021. In total with the Lions, Campbell owns a 48-36-1 record as head coach with two division titles and two playoff appearances.
3. Sam Darnold & Mike Macdonald, Seattle Seahawks
Before the season, there may not have been many believers that Sam Darnold and Mike Macdonald could have did what they did this offseason. Winners of the Super Bowl this year, Darnold displayed an elite ability as a downfield thrower, and Macdonald won four more games as head coach than in his first year, when the Seattle Seahawks finished 10-7 and actually ended the year as the only double-digit win team to not make the playoffs.
Darnold did turn the ball over 20 times in 2025, which is a concern, but he has won 28 games the past two regular seasons, and Macdonald has already made a major mark as a head coach in just two seasons on the job.
2. Patrick Mahomes & Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs
Both Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid will be in the Hall of Fame one day. The duo won three Super Bowls, coming in 2019, 2022, and 2023, and having gotten there in 2020 and 2024. The Chiefs shockingly only won six games this past season, so both Mahomes and Reid 'declined' in that regard, but we can't just bury them in these rankings.
For years, nearly a decade at this point, Mahomes and Reid, working together, have turned the Chiefs into one of the most decorated franchises in the history of the league.
1. Matthew Stafford & Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams
The duo of Matthew Stafford and Sean McVay come in at No. 1 in our power rankings, as both were at the top of their game in 2025 and were plenty good enough to win it all. The Los Angeles Rams defense did struggle down the stretch in 2025, but it wasn't anything that Stafford and McVay did, obviously.
Stafford won the MVP, and McVay again proved why he's a top-2 head coach in the league. Back in 2021, in their first year together, the Rams won it all, and with the moves this team made in the offseason, Los Angeles has been looked at as a Super Bowl favorite for the 2026 season.
How did we do with our rankings? Where did we go wrong?