A ranking of NLF coaches gives Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks bulletin board material for the new season.
Pete Carroll has 17 years of head coaching experience in the NFL. The last 13 years have been spent with the Seattle Seahawks, where he has become absolutely beloved — a franchise legend who could ultimately join the Hall of Fame one day.
The Seahawks and Carroll won the Super Bowl in 2013. Carroll is the engineer behind the famed 'Legion of Boom.' He helped mold Russell Wilson into one of the best quarterbacks in football. And now, he's the ninth best coach in the NFL, according to CBS Sports' Cody Benjamin.
Wait… ninth? Yes, that's right — ninth.
NFL head coach rankings give Pete Carroll bulletin board material
Carroll's résumé is undeniable. His career record of 161-112 leaps off the page. The man ahead of him on the list — Denver's Sean Payton — has a slightly better career win percentage (63.1), but can he really claim superiority over Carroll after spending a year in the broadcast booth?
Ultimately, your mileage will vary here. Payton's résumé is equally impressive — maybe both coaches should be higher. Payton gets credit for molding Drew Brees into a Hall of Fame quarterback, and the Broncos are hoping he can unearth similar success with the beleaguered Russell Wilson.
But, why should Payton's hypothetical QB whispering get him the No. 8 slot when Carroll coached Wilson to Pro Bowl heights, only to see the Wisconsin product crumble into dust as soon as he left Seattle?
Carroll has been equally adept at maximizing quarterbacks. Look no further than Geno Smith, who had a career year with the Seahawks while Wilson went bust in Denver. Geno Smith delivering one of the most efficient passing seasons in the NFL was on approximately zero bingo cards last summer. Carroll deserves his flowers too.
Other names ahead of Carroll include Buffalo's Sean McDermott (No. 7), Pittsburgh's Mike Tomlin (No. 6), and Baltimore's John Harbaugh (No. 5). Tomlin and Harbaugh are argument-proof, but McDermott feels like a controversial pick. McDermott has spent seven years in the driver's seat for Buffalo and he has very little playoff success to show for it. Carroll might have a bone to pick with that one too.
Of course, ranking all 32 head coaches is an impossible task. There are so many factors at play, so many different ways of reading the game and perceiving value.
Nick Sirianni, who has swiftly elevated the Eagles to NFC powerhouse status, comes in at No. 12. He's younger than most, definitely inexperienced. But twelfth? Really?
Carroll isn't the only coach who can get bulletin board material here. The smart coaches are probably staying off of social media and staying focused on practice, but it wouldn't surprising if more than a few head coaching eyeballs ended up on these rankings.
Andy Reid is the understandable No. 1; everyone else has something to prove.
