Every single year, there are no fewer than five NFL teams with head coaching vacancies. Teams are looking to reset from the top down of their franchise and after a rough week of coaches and general managers being fired around the league, teams begin to rebuild rather quickly. Unfortunately, one of the dumbest rules the NFL has had in recent years has prevented some of the best candidates -- coaches on teams still alive in the playoffs -- from really being eligible for interviews and being part of the hiring frenzy.
One of the most common things we see in the coaching cycle year after year? The NFL is a copycat league and they are always looking to pluck from coaching trees that are among the most successful. The Shanahan/McVay coaching tree, for instance, has so many branches around the NFL right now.
For whatever reason, though, Andy Reid -- the coach of the modern NFL dynasty in Kansas City -- doesn't have much of a coaching tree around the NFL. At least not in the form of some of his more recent assistants and disciples.
Teams interviewed former Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, whose decline in the coaching ranks has been rather staggering and perhaps proof of the skepticism people had regarding his head coach candidacy. But Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has been a head coach in the NFL before and, unlike Bieniemy, is actually calling plays for the defense in Kansas City.
Spagnuolo is scheming up against offenses and has been dominating for a handful of years now, to the point that the Chiefs have found a way to win a staggering 17-straight one-score games. So the question absolutely must be asked -- Are NFL teams in need of new head coaches actively contributing to the recent Chiefs' dynasty?
Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo continues to be passed up for head coaching gigs
The Chiefs are consistently among the best in the NFL when it comes to total defense over the last handful of seasons. They are always coming up with huge turnovers at exactly the right time. Spagnuolo is drawing up fantastic and unexpected pressure concepts all throughout the season and we saw him save his best for last against Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.
Among Andy Reid's assistant coaches in recent years, Spagnuolo is unquestionably the best and most historically proven. So why doesn't he have a head coaching gig? Why do Brian Schottenheimer and Liam Coen have coaching gigs and not Steve Spagnuolo?
Why are NFL teams in need of head coaches and culture changes not going after the architect of a defense that has been among the best in the NFL and frankly been even more consistently dominant than Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City offense?
At this point in time, the New Orleans Saints are the only NFL team with a remaining head coach vacancy. They are not expected to hire Spagnuolo but maybe they should. If anything is going to end the Chiefs' dynasty, it's going to be a lack of continuity. I'm not sure why some NFL team out there wouldn't try to kill two birds with one stone.
Why not find out if Spagnuolo can turn around your culture and simultaneously make life harder on the Chiefs? Heck, even the Chiefs' three division rivals have all hired new head coaches within the last two years and none have even considered Spagnuolo. The Raiders retained Antonio Pierce without even giving Spags so much as a second thought. At least the Broncos and Chargers have taken some big swings at future Hall of Fame coaches.
Spagnuolo might be the best assistant coach in the NFL. He might be the best defensive coordinator in the NFL. It's wild that the rest of the league is just okay with him remaining in Kansas City.