NFL Analysis
2/20/25
18 min read
Ranking Every NFL Offensive Play-Caller Entering the 2025 Offseason
Play-calling in the NFL is an art. We've seen how important the structure and design of an offense can be to helping a team reach its full potential. There's no one correct way to do it, but having a plan and adaptability can be as impactful as having the best players on the field, if not more.
With that in mind, we're going to rank the offensive play-callers whether it be as head coach or offensive coordinator, heading into the 2025 season.
We're leaving off four play-callers with zero NFL experience to evaluate: Tanner Engstrand (New York Jets), Nick Caley (Houston Texans), Josh Grizzard (Tampa Bay Buccaneers), and Kevin Patullo (Philadelphia Eagles).
2025 Offensive Play-caller Rankings
1. Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers 
Shanahan is still the standard, even after a year when the San Francisco 49ers fell short of expectations. Despite a number of injuries last season, San Francisco still finished the season 11th in EPA per play on offense.
There is also no “Shanahan offense” anymore, given the amount of times this offense has evolved. The 2024 version featured less play-action than ever for a Shanahan-led offense and thrived on opening up plays deeper down the field.
2. Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams
Like Shanahan, McVay has been a master of evolution and change. The Jared Goff offense looks nothing like the Matthew Stafford offense, and even the current Stafford offense doesn’t look like what it did when he was first acquired.
The Los Angeles Rams pivoted from their zone-heavy system to more gap running, which opened up more in the passing game, too. Los Angeles bounced around between the pistol offense that finished 2023, the empty offense that worked through 2021, and a more traditional dropback game.
3. Matt LaFleur, Green Bay Packers
Early in the season, LaFleur made a pivot to get good plans from a Malik Willis-led offense that looked completely different than the Jordan Love offense. The Love offense was also efficient despite some turnovers. The Packers ranked 11th in EPA per play.
LaFleur designed one of the most creative run games, with many ways to reach the same split zone run. This was still the youngest offense in the league with a few moving pieces, so the arrow is still pointing up here.
4. Kevin O’Connell, Minnesota Vikings
The 2024 Coach of the Year has been one of the league’s most creative play-callers during his Minnesota tenure. He had the best and most expansive menu of creating space on crossers and that expanded to outs and digs with Sam Darnold at quarterback.
The O’Connell offense, a branch from the McVay tree, has excelled at creating space and easy throws for quarterbacks, which could be what the offense leans on if there is a transition to J.J. McCarthy this offseason.
5. Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs
Reid gets graded on a bit of a curve here. The Kansas City Chiefs clearly spend most of the regular season figuring out what could work at the end of the season, but there has also been a heavy reliance on the quarterback bailing the offense out in bad situations.
There are still great plays and sequencing, but there’s not always enough to make up for some of the deficiencies the offense has had with receiver and offensive line injuries. Still, this team was 10th in EPA per play during the regular season as they were working things out.
6. Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears
Johnson’s job with the Chicago Bears will be much different than it was with the Lions. There will be a stark shift in the quality of the offensive line and the style of the quarterback. But Johnson now has a multi-year stretch of adjusting the offense to his players and setting up the best situation for them to succeed.
All the trick plays are memorable, but it’s not just the singular plays. Johnson has an exceptional down-to-down plan with great sequencing that has allowed some of those bigger plays to work, and the former is what is going to be his differentiator in Chicago.
7. Sean Payton, Denver Broncos
At the start of the season, there was a bit of a feeling-out process, but once Sean Payton figured out what Bo Nix did and didn’t do well, he structured an efficient offense around it.
Payton created a great screen game and allowed Nix to get the ball out quickly, which also helped the quarterback not drift out of the pocket as he did early in the season. The quick game also opened up more shots down the field, which Nix was willing to take as the year progressed.
8. Mike McDaniel, Miami Dolphins
It’s hard to completely grasp McDaniel and the Miami Dolphins offense from this past season. Miami’s offense is unique in the way it asks the quarterback to get rid of the ball quickly and the receivers to get down the field faster than any other offense in the league. We saw how that doesn’t work quite as well with the backup quarterbacks on the roster.
McDaniel was able to throw a changeup every year but didn’t really have one this year. Tua Tagovailoa was better out of structure, but that wasn’t so much on the play calling.
After designing the best run game in the league last season, the Dolphins managed one of the least efficient in the league this year. Still, Miami got the ball to De’Von Achane in space in the passing game to counter.
In games that Tagovailoa was on the field, the Dolphins averaged 0.08 EPA per play, which would have tied with the Philadelphia Eagles at eighth during the regular season.
9. Kliff Kingsbury, Washington Commanders
There were questions about Kliff Kingsbury’s offense coming into the year and still some throughout the season, but most of those questions were answered. Kingsbury kept the up-tempo portion of the offense but was more willing to move players around and not be as static before the snap, something that hindered some of his Arizona offenses.
Not only did the Washington Commanders have better in-game and week-to-week adjustments, but there was also a clear developmental plan for Jayden Daniels, with a new layer added to the offense each week as the rookie progressed through the season.
10. Joe Brady, Buffalo Bills
Brady had a difficult task in Buffalo and delivered by helping Josh Allen to an MVP season in what was supposed to be a soft reset of the offense.
Much of the structure of Brady’s offense allowed the Buffalo Bills to rely on a strong run game and shorter passes over the middle of the field to keep the ball out of harm’s way. With more down-to-down consistency, Allen was more effective when hunting for the big plays.
11. Liam Coen, Jacksonville Jaguars
Coen took a long path to get here with multiple offensive stops around the NFL and college football, but his work as the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay last season was one of the most impressive coaching jobs of the 2024 season.
Tampa Bay finished fourth in EPA per play overall with the league’s best screen game and an effective run game that was only second to the Baltimore Ravens by EPA per play. Coen designed a quick-hitting offense that allowed Baker Mayfield to play in rhythm and not have to extend too much on his own.
He also opened up the intermediate middle of the field for Mayfield, one of the most valuable parts of the field to target.
12. Todd Monken, Baltimore Ravens
The 2024 Baltimore Ravens' running game was a big focus, with Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry in the same backfield, but Baltimore's biggest jump in quality was in the passing game.
Jackson was a significantly improved pocket passer, and some of that improvement stemmed from the most open passing concepts he’s worked with in the NFL.
Monken has also been versatile in his personnel usage, sending the Ravens to the bottom of 11 personnel while mixing in 12, 21, and 22 and being able to throw and run from anything.
13. Dave Canales, Carolina Panthers
The first-year head coach had some bumps early in the season with the play and benching of Bryce Young. Getting Andy Dalton in the lineup helped open some things up in the passing game, and then when Young returned with more confidence, everything meshed better together.
The Carolina Panthers put together a strong run game — 11th in EPA per play for the season and seventh in the second half of the season — putting some fears away about Canales's weakness as the offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay.
The Panthers were 12th in EPA per play on offense from Week 10 on.
14. Kellen Moore, New Orleans Saints
Moore’s journey to head coach has not been a linear climb. He always had some good ideas as an offensive play-caller, but it didn’t always fully click for one reason or another — whether that be being held back under the Mike McCarthy umbrella or the general lack of juice on offense during his season with the Chargers.
But with one of the best collections of offensive talent in the league with the Eagles, Moore was let loose. He’s always structured a good run game, and that was taken to the extreme with Saquon Barkley and the offensive line. He also had more modern passing concepts with more motion that helped Jalen Hurts on early downs and opened up answers against the blitz.
We’ll have to see how that carries over to a New Orleans team that does not have that same level of talent.
15. Kevin Stefanski, Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns' offense has been a mess during the last few seasons, and that hasn’t been Stefanski’s fault. Even though the Joe Flacco offense still produced negative EPA during the back half of the 2023 season, it showed the bones of how the intended offense could work.
After a failed experiment with Ken Dorsey to create an offense better suited for Deshaun Watson, Stefanski will take back the offense, though the quarterback situation raises bigger questions.
16. Shane Steichen, Indianapolis Colts
What Steichen did for Gardner Minshew in 2023 created some optimism about what he could do with a full season of Anthony Richardson. However, the Richardson offense never fully clicked in 2024. Between missed easy throws, a continued focus on downfield passing, and spotty use of the quarterback run game, the Indianapolis Colts left a lot to be desired.
Steichen still has a long track record of fitting an offense to the surrounding talent, so a full offseason with a healthy Richardson heading into Year 3 could look much different.
17. Chip Kelly, Las Vegas Raiders
Chip Kelly landing in Las Vegas is one of the most fascinating hires of the offseason. Kelly helped revolutionize NFL offenses during his Eagles tenure but failed to adapt once defenses caught on.
As he went back to college, Kelly had some fun run concepts at UCLA and then let loose while just focusing on the offense last season at Ohio State as offensive coordinator. If Kelly brings more adjustments to his offense, it could leap up these rankings quickly.
18. Drew Petzing, Arizona Cardinals
Petzing is one of the most fascinating offensive coordinators in the league. There’s a lot to like, and when things are good, they’re good. The Arizona Cardinals were second in EPA per drive and touchdown rate on opening drives, highlighting Petzing’s ability to have the right script to start games.
However, there were some hiccups along the way, including not figuring out how to best match the skill sets of Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. The reliance on back-shoulder fades was a frustrating piece of the offense for most of the season.
We’ve seen coordinators with good ideas struggle to adjust on the fly, which can stifle what would otherwise be a promising offense, but there’s enough to like about this offense for it not to be a big concern.
19. Zac Robinson, Atlanta Falcons
Zac Robinson had a high degree of difficulty in his first year as an offensive coordinator. He was saddled with an immobile Kirk Cousins and then had to transition to an offense to fit for Michael Penix late in the season.
In both instances, Robinson constructed a good passing game that opened up the middle of the field. Simple solutions like short motion to change up the slot receiver before the snap helped to create some mismatches in coverage.
All of that was on top of a good run game that freed up Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier.
20. Brian Daboll, New York Giants
Since taking over as head coach of the New York Giants, Daboll's results have been inconsistent, including a tug-of-war over play-calling duties with offensive coordinator Mike Kafka.
There were some great plays drawn up for Malik Nabers during his rookie season, but reliance on Wan’Dale Robinson's targets on third down brought questions about the plan and the talent surrounding the roster.
If Daboll gets to build an offense around a quarterback of his choosing, we could see an offense that is a little more coherent than one just trying to hide the flaws of the quarterback.
21. Arthur Smith, Pittsburgh Steelers
Smith can be a great run designer with an effective play-action game off of it, but that didn’t work out with the Pittsburgh Steelers' offensive line and quarterback play.
Once Russell Wilson took over, if there was an explosive play on offense, things worked out. However, there wasn’t a lot to manufacture those types of opportunities outside of hoping a moonball hit.
22. Zac Taylor, Cincinnati Bengals
Taylor is in a strange position of being beholden to what his quarterback wants to do on offense — more shotgun and empty, working 1-on-1s on the outside — but also benefiting from what his quarterback brings to the table.
Throughout the years, there has been a better combination of the Burrow passing game and a run game that builds off it, but it’s still not always a perfect match. Of course, the Cincinnati Bengals just had their best offensive season, which included Burrow being forced to throw often while trailing.
23. Josh McDaniels, New England Patriots
We’ll see how McDaniels approaches his third stint with the New England Patriots. His track record without calling plays for Tom Brady is spotty, outside of Mac Jones’s rookie season. Drake Maye is a better quarterback than the non-Brady passers McDaniels has worked with, so we’ll see if that translates to better play.
McDaniels has had varied offensive philosophies, and marrying some of his run game with the play-action pass, plus adding in the rushing threat of Maye, could lead to a well-rounded offense.
24. Klint Kubiak, Seattle Seahawks
The first two weeks of the 2024 season were not a glimpse into what the Saints offense would become, but there was a lot that still translated and worked as the roster fell apart.
Kubiak stays true to his name with an effective play-action offense working with an outside zone run game. Finding out how to cover up an offensive line with holes yet still create openings off play-action will be the focus now in Seattle, which used the lowest rate of play-action in the league last season.
25. Greg Roman, Los Angeles Chargers
Roman is what he is at this point — a creative run designer who leans on the ground game but lacks the spacing and route concepts needed in the modern game.
The best part of the Los Angeles Chargers’ offense last season was Justin Herbert starting to use his legs as a scrambler. With a shaky offensive line and not a lot of easy openings, Herbert was forced to take off more often.
26. Brian Callahan, Tennessee Titans
It’s hard to fully grasp Brian Callahan's play-calling abilities since his first season with the Tennessee Titans featured maddening Will Levis mistakes and trying to make an offense work around those.
The offense with Mason Rudolph was functional. There was more short game mixed in, and the success rate jumped from 38 percent to 43 percent.
27. Brian Schottenheimer, Dallas Cowboys
Brian Schottenheimer has a long track record of being fine as a play-caller. He hasn’t added much but has also often been under more conservative head coaches.
In his opening press conference as the Dallas head coach, he talked about more modern concepts, so maybe the Cowboys see a bit more innovation with Schottenheimer getting full control of what he calls.
28. John Morton, Detroit Lions
Morton last called plays for the 2017 Jets, and while that offense was disappointing overall, it ranked 16th in EPA per dropback with Josh McCown as quarterback. Since then, Morton has been an assistant with the Lions, Raiders, and Broncos.
The fact that the Lions went with Morton after having Ben Johnson should give some optimism, but it’s been a while since we saw Morton in this position.
