When it comes to the top offensive play-callers in the NFL, Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay and San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan get consistently mentioned. With the NFL season right around the corner, the final preseason rankings and anonymous quotes from executives are getting published. Earlier this week, two polls ranking offensive play-callers got released.
In a recent poll by The Athletic’s Jeff Howe, 31 NFL coaches were polled on the top offensive play-caller. With 25 votes, McVay was at the top with Shanahan behind him at 18. However, The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen polled six defensive coordinators and defensive coaches around the league. In Nguyen’s poll, it was Shanahan who came out on top with McVay in second.
Said one defensive coach on McVay,
“I think he can just see it live the best. He has a full Rolodex of plays. He can get to anything on his call sheet, but he can also get to anything in his head. If he needs to adjust in-game, he can completely come up with a new game plan on the spot. So it’s almost to the point now where he’s seen a lot. He has such a good memory of everything, with 12 years of experience calling plays and reacting to stuff. If you’re playing this (defense), he’s going to go to this … and he can do it in a second. That’s weird that he can just adjust so easily.”
At the end of the day, the rankings themselves don’t necessarily matter. Most rankings this time of year are simply offseason content to get to the regular season. Still, it is eye-opening to see what other coaches that are often on the other sideline have to say.
For example, one of the biggest critiques of McVay is that he doesn’t adjust. However, based on the quote from a defensive coach, that may not be fully accurate from the perspective of the other sideline. It’s important to remember that teams install a specific game plan every week. The entire playbook is rarely available as teams don’t practice the entire playbook. Still, McVay has the ability to adjust in-game and get to specific personnel groupings to take advantage of certain matchups and create different looks.
Teams aren’t going to an entirely new game plan in-game. It’s possible that an offense can go back to something that was previously installed, but teams aren’t completely shifting the game plan from the sideline. That’s why teams prepare during the week.
The interesting part with these two rankings specifically isn’t that Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan ended up at the top. Most would consider McVay and Shanahan the top two offensive coaches in the NFL. What is interesting is that in two different polls by the same outlet, McVay topped one list while Shanahan topped the other. Said one defensive coordinator on Shanahan,
“They challenge all your rules. They’re obviously 21 personnel, but whatever you try to do, they always have an answer for it because they can align in anything out of that personnel…He understands your rules and he tries to manipulate your rules.”
Whatever order McVay and Shanahan are in, there’s no denying their impact around the NFL. On Nguyen’s list of 10 offensive play-callers, two of them are McVay and Shanahan and three more of them are from that tree. Those other three are Kevin O’Connell, Matt LaFleur, and Liam Coen.
Choosing between Shanahan and McVay is splitting hairs. Most in the media would probably have Shanahan ahead of McVay, but it’s very close. At the end of the day, they are undoubtedly two of the best at what they do. They are the two that the league most respects when it comes to calling a game. Neither are perfect and each have their own strengths and weaknesses. That’s also what makes their rivalry that much better.
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