Which new HC will have the most success year 1?

[12AngryHawks]

I've been wanting to ask this, but decided to wait until after the draft to do so. Now that all the new coaches have their draft haul, which one do you think will have the most success in their first year on the job, and why? I'm not including Mike Macdonald for obvious reasons.

I'm not saying "success" in terms of number of wins & losses necessarily, but which one will be most improved in other ways like where their offense/defense ends up being ranked compared to last year. An example being if Seattle went from being the 30th ranked defense last season to the 14th ranked defense this season.

Reminder of who the choices are:

Dan Quinn/Commanders
Dave Canales/Panthers
Brian Callahan/Titans
Jim Harbaugh/Chargers
Jerod Mayo/Patriots
Antonio Pierce/Raiders
Raheem Morris/Falcons

Bonus question: Where do you think the Seahawks' offense & defense will end up being ranked once the season is over?

 

[ivotuk]

Dan Quinn based on what he learned in Atlanta and what he absorbed after, as a DC.
Add to that, their draft haul, and the elite players they already had on the roster.

 

[Threedee]

James Harbaugh

 

[Scout]

Harbaugh is walking into a dream scenario.

Herbert is right there ready to be unleashed and they added the uber talented Alt at tackle. Palmer has been shredding defenses up the seem ever since he has entered the league. They drafted Johnston last year in round 1 and they followed that up with McConkey in the 2nd this year. And for reserves they have Rice and Johnson both drafted in round 7 this year.

They are three deep at TE with Dissly, Hurst and Parham which means they can do a lot of damage out of 12 personnel and play action.

Dobbins and Edwards are a very potent 1-2 punch. Followed by the electric Spiller and they drafted Vidal.

Defensively they still are a talented squad and they just need better direction as a unit.

Telesco is no longer their GM but one thing Telesco was good at was stacking talent through the draft.

 

[Wsumatt1982]

I’m gonna go Morris. I could go a few directions here but ultimately I choose the falcons. Good defense. Good weapons on offense with a solid QB now. Not to mention that division is probably the weakest

 

[12AngryHawks]

Harbaugh is walking into a dream scenario.

Herbert is right there ready to be unleashed and they added the uber talented Alt at tackle. Palmer has been shredding defenses up the seem ever since he has entered the league. They drafted Johnston last year in round 1 and they followed that up with McConkey in the 2nd this year. And for reserves they have Rice and Johnson both drafted in round 7 this year.

They are three deep at TE with Dissly, Hurst and Parham which means they can do a lot of damage out of 12 personnel and play action.

Dobbins and Edwards are a very potent 1-2 punch. Followed by the electric Spiller and they drafted Vidal.

Defensively they still are a talented squad and they just need better direction as a unit.

Telesco is no longer their GM but one thing Telesco was good at was stacking talent through the draft.

These are all good points. Harbaugh is my answer too. But if I'm being honest, that feels like the obvious answer, the Chargers had an excellent roster that just happened to underachieve last year.

The teams I predicts will do better than expected are the Falcons & Titans. Like wsumatt said, the NFC South is perhaps the weakest division in the league, I can easily see them in position to win the division. And I can see Callahan elevating Tennessee's offense to where they can compete for their division title as well. I also predict Bryce Young will take a leap forward under Canales' coaching, and Carolina will improve, but I don't think they're gonna be in playoff contention this season.

 

[nanomoz]

I think Carolina will be the most improved team from this list, but much of that is down to better investments in personnel. And the fact that they were putrid last year.

I think Seattle will start slowly all around. Especially on defnese. But by the end of the season the d will be middle of the pack in scoring defense, and the offense will be top 8 or so.

 

[toffee]

What's the definition of "most success"? Taking a 2-15 team to 7-10 is +5 wins, a 9-8 team to 11-6 is +2 wins, but the 11-6 team is going to the playoff, the 7-10 team isn't.

The "most unsuccessful" is easier, if the new coaching leads the team to a worse record, they are unsuccessful.

 

[Scout]

The flipside is that Mac has loads of talent on defense to work with on the Hawks. Mac last season pieced together a pass rush with a rag tag group via committee that over achieved on the edge but the center piece was Madubuike. In Seattle Mac has just as much talent in the front seven as he had with the Ravens. But I think overall the Hawks have more talent on the backend which favors how Mac likes to deploy his DBs in disguised zone looks.

On offense, he has a loaded cast that can put up points and allow his defense to really feast when there is a lead.

 

[12AngryHawks]

What's the definition of "most success"? Taking a 2-15 team to 7-10 is +5 wins, while a 9-8 team to 11-6 is +2 wins, but the 11-6 team is going to the playoff, the 7-10 team isn't.

The "most unsuccessful" is easier, if the new coaching leads the team to a worse record, they are unsuccessful.

"Most improved" is what I mean. Carolina or Washington going 8-9 would be better improvement than Seattle or the Chargers going 11-6. Both Seattle & LA have loaded rosters but underachieved, them going 11-6 this season wouldn't be much of a shocker. However, most people aren't expecting Washington or Carolina to go 8-9.

 

[toffee]

"Most improved" is what I mean. Carolina or Washington going 8-9 would be better improvement than Seattle or the Chargers going 11-6. Both Seattle & LA have loaded rosters but underachieved, them going 11-6 this season wouldn't be much of a shocker. However, most people aren't expecting Washington or Carolina to go 8-9.

The most improved will of course be our own Mcdonald, Pete's team especially the defense seriously underperformed. With Mcdonald the defense genius, we are looking at 10-7 if not better. Most members on dot net predicted 12-5, now that is by-week territory.

 

[Bear-Hawk]

I’m gonna go Morris. I could go a few directions here but ultimately I choose the falcons. Good defense. Good weapons on offense with a solid QB now. Not to mention that division is probably the weakest

Yes, go with the team that got a huge upgrade at QB.

 

[Scout]

The Falcons have talent on offense in spades, but that defense has most of the talent on the back end. That is why the Falcons made it an effort to upgrade the pass rushing of their front seven unit through 2024 draft and add help for Jarrett and Onyemata. Morris is good at disguising zone looks but his defense really relies on edge pressure and a dominant interior 3 tech.

The problem is Cousins is entering the NFCS where the Bucs, Saints and Panthers send a lot of blitzes and I am not sure how he will hold up due to his injury history.

Falcons and Saints were not far off from winning the NFCS last year, but I am not sure the Falcons are the most likely to have the most success.

Mayo may have the easiest path because he doesn't have to contend with a stacked NFCW or AFCW. Patriots defense was elite last year and an average offense would have helped them punch a ticket into the playoffs. The Bills will be competitive but I am not sure if they will be dominant. Dolphins on paper should be a dynamic offense again and the Jets should be SB champs on paper but that division comes down to December football and consistency.

Pierce has tough sledding going against Chiefs Reid, Broncos SP and Chargers Harbaugh without an answer at the QB position. Minshew is scrappy and the Raiders do have talent on both sides of the ball.

Callahan has a nice offensive roster to work with but the limiting factor for him is that still has a very green Levis under center. The Titans defense will be sneaky good. But the Colts, Texans and Jaguars all have QB's that I feel are further along and stronger rosters overall.

Canales is taking over a talented Panther team and shoring up weak areas along the interior OL while adding more to the skill positions. Defensively Evero is a dynamo when it comes to working with less and dong more but losing Burns will slow down what Evero can do defensively. So it really hinges on what Young shows in terms of improvement.

 

[GemCity]

Harbaugh is walking into a dream scenario.

Herbert is right there ready to be unleashed and they added the uber talented Alt at tackle. Palmer has been shredding defenses up the seem ever since he has entered the league. They drafted Johnston last year in round 1 and they followed that up with McConkey in the 2nd this year. And for reserves they have Rice and Johnson both drafted in round 7 this year.

They are three deep at TE with Dissly, Hurst and Parham which means they can do a lot of damage out of 12 personnel and play action.

Dobbins and Edwards are a very potent 1-2 punch. Followed by the electric Spiller and they drafted Vidal.

Defensively they still are a talented squad and they just need better direction as a unit.

Telesco is no longer their GM but one thing Telesco was good at was stacking talent through the draft.

 

[morgulon1]

I’m gonna go Morris. I could go a few directions here but ultimately I choose the falcons. Good defense. Good weapons on offense with a solid QB now. Not to mention that division is probably the weakest

What you said .

 

[toffee]

P

I’m gonna go Morris. I could go a few directions here but ultimately I choose the falcons. Good defense. Good weapons on offense with a solid QB now. Not to mention that division is probably the weakest

I respectfully disagree, Falcons were 7-10 in 2023, we were 9-8. We should have been 11-6, if not 12-5 if our defense played better. We had a better roster in 2023 than the Falcons.

Our problematic defense is now under a defense genius and a draft to stock with Macdonald guys.

We are 12-5, nothing less.

 

[Bear-Hawk]

P

I respectfully disagree, Falcons were 7-10 in 2023, we were 9-8. We should have been 11-6, if not 12-5 if our defense played better. We had better roster in 2023 than the Falcons.

Our problematic defense are now under a defense genius, and a draft to stock with Mcdonald guys.

We are 12-5, nothing less.

If you can predict Seahawks are 12-5, I predict Bears go 12-5. They play for NFC championship!!

 

[toffee]

If you can predict Seahawks are 12-5, I predict Bears go 12-5. They play for NFC championship!!

See ya at the conference championship game, as a Seahawks homer, I predict the Hawks win that game too

 

[bileever]

I think it's a solid class of new coaches, and I think that each of them has a chance to improve their teams from the previous year. But I think Jim Harbaugh will have the best year of the bunch.

Jim Harbaugh has had success everywhere he's gone, and the Chargers will be no different. Brandon Staley underperformed there, and it won't be hard to improve on what he did there.

Dan Quinn will be solid. He turned around a 6-10 Falcons team in 2015 and took them to the Super Bowl the next year. I think players like to play for him.

Dave Canales, I think, is the big unknown. Plus he is walking into a fairly uncertain situation with Bryce Young and the rest of the roster. And even though the Panthers finished 2-15 last year, I don't see Canales turning things around overnight.

The rest--Macdonald, Mayo, Callahan, Pierce and Morris--will oversee modest improvements to their respective teams.