We’re drawing nearer to the tip of a summer time collection evaluating totally different elements of the groups inside the NFC South. After taking a look at every of the place group rooms:  quarterbacks, operating backs, huge receivers, tight ends, offensive traces, defensive traces, linebackers, cornerbacks safeties, and specialists we now take a look at the teaching staffs within the division to try to get a really feel for which group can get probably the most out of their rosters via scheme, tradition, self-discipline and motivation.

Admittedly, this can be probably the most subjective rankings of your entire collection as there may be a lot that goes into a training employees’s talents, with a lot of it achieved away from the prying eyes of media and followers alike. And within the curiosity of transparency, my focus might be on the coordinators of the three main phases of the sport (or the pinnacle coach if he has an outsized affect in a selected a kind of three phases)

With these disclaimers out of the best way, let’s take a look at the NFC South teaching rankings.

Carolina Panthers

Panthers head coach Frank Reich – Picture by: USA Immediately

Regardless of being unceremoniously dismissed from the Colts mid-season final yr, Frank Reich simply has probably the most completed head teaching monitor file within the division. He’s the one head coach with a profession profitable file (40-33-1). Reich can be an completed offensive thoughts as a part of the workforce that ran the 2017 Tremendous Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. That workforce ranked seventh in yards and third in factors scored. Following that yr Reich took over the Colts the place his groups ranked fifth, sixteenth, ninth and ninth in factors scored from 2018-2021 earlier than the wheels fell off in 2022. 

Reich was in a position to accomplish all of this in Indianapolis regardless of having a brand new quarterback every year together with such superstars as Jacoby Brissett, the ghost of Phillip Rivers and the ghost of the ghost of Carson Wentz. Reich has proven to be a grasp of adapting his offense to the expertise he has as he transitioned away from a fast unfold sport to a extra RPO-heavy workforce when he moved from having Rivers to Wentz.

Reich is closely concerned within the offense and has dealt with play-calling as the pinnacle coach beforehand. He has employed Thomas Brown to be his offensive coordinator and Brown will deal with installs for the workforce. He comes from the McVay teaching tree, having spent three years there teaching operating backs and tight ends whereas ascending to the place of assistant head coach.

Ejiro Evero enters his second yr as a defensive coordinator and his first with the Panthers. He led the 2022 Denver Broncos protection to a strong exhibiting of seventh place in EPA/play.

Finest EPA/Play amongst #NFL defensive groups in 2022 and lowest missed sort out charge. #ForeverNE pic.twitter.com/9A8oeG0C67

— SportSource Analytics (@SportSourceA) Might 24, 2023

Evero and his unit primarily stored Denver in nearly each sport in 2022 regardless of a lackluster offense. This turned a little bit of a operating joke all through the Twittersphere final season. The mixture of Reich and Evero is a formidable one inside the NFC South.

Rounding out the Panthers coordinators is Chris Tabor. Reich retained Tabor after he had a profitable 2022 season. Tabor helped kicker Eddy Pineiro to his finest season since getting into the league and Tabor’s fingerprints had constructive results on nearly each aspect of the particular groups’ sport resulting in the workforce being ranked tied for sixth by Professional Soccer Focus.

Atlanta Falcons

Falcons head coach Arthur Smith – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Falcons have struggled to this point beneath head coach Arthur Smith. However at 14-20 he nonetheless has a greater head teaching file than each different counterpart within the division, save Reich. And Smith has his bona fides as an offensive coach. In his two years as coordinator in Tennessee his offenses ranked twelfth and second in yards and tenth and fourth in factors. In his second yr as head coach in Atlanta he was in a position to transfer their offense to fifteenth in factors and third in dashing yards. Dave Ragone is Smith’s offensive coordinator, helping him with implementing Smith’s model of the huge zone offense.

On protection, Smith has recruited Ryan Neilsen who was the Saints defensive coordinator in 2022. Neilsen led a powerful unit that completed tenth in yards allowed and fifth in factors allowed final yr. Plus, there may be this nugget.

The Saints protection within the 2nd half of final season:

-2nd in DVOA
-1st in yds/play
-1st in opp passer score
-4th in EPA/play pic.twitter.com/YPyYYADWOT

— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) June 15, 2023

With lots of the additions the Falcons have made to their roster on the defensive facet of the ball, Neilsen is poised to be a breakout coordinator in 2023. Rounding out the Falcons coordinators is Marquise Williams. Williams has led one of many finest particular groups’ items in soccer and helped kicker Younghoo Koo earn a Professional Bowl.

New Orleans Saints

Saints head coach Dennis Allen – Picture by: USA Immediately

The final two spots within the NFC South teaching rankings had been a detailed battle. Finally, I’ve the Saints edging the Bucs out for third by the slimmest of margins. Head coach Dennis Allen is an uninspiring possibility in my view. I’ve criticized his decision-making previously equally to that of Bowles. Allen’s 7-10 file in 2022 represents a high-water mark for his profession, as he went 8-28 throughout his 2-plus yr stint as the pinnacle coach with the (then) Oakland Raiders.

Nonetheless, Allen is a defensive savant. The rankings I cited for Neilsen final yr as defensive coordinator for the Saints have quite a bit to do with Allen’s affect. Since 2019 the Saints protection has ranked eleventh or higher in yards allowed and High 13 in factors allowed. That features High 10 finishes in each classes every of the final three years.

Working the offensive facet of the ball is offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael. Carmichael has been the offensive coordinator for the Saints since 2009 however actually had his largest alternative to place his stamp on the offense final yr following the retirement of former head coach Sean Payton. With no Drew Brees and no Payton, Carmichael orchestrated an offense that completed nineteenth in yards and twenty second in factors. It’s honest to marvel if he’s extra of an average-to-solid coordinator given these outcomes.

Darren Rizzi is likely one of the finest particular groups coordinators within the NFL. His items have constantly ranked within the top-10 of PFF’s grading system yr over yr. Since Rizzi took over the place in 2019 the Saints have ranked fifth, eighth, 1st and tied for sixth by their grading methods.

Rizzi’s presence is absolutely what gave the Saints the sting over the Bucs for the third spot within the NFC South teaching rankings.

Tampa Bay Bucs

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles – Picture by: Cliff Welch/PR

The Bucs teaching employees has query marks. And people query marks trigger them to rank final within the NFC South. Head coach Todd Bowles has a greater head teaching file than his counterpart in New Orleans. However he nonetheless has just one profitable season as the pinnacle man and a .405 profession profitable proportion.

And like Allen, Bowles has some critical defensive chops. The Bucs have had robust defenses in every of his 4 seasons in Tampa Bay, with the 2020 unit proving to be one of many league’s finest. The considerations surrounding Bowles are whether or not he can enable a coordinator to optimize the offense or whether or not his defensive method to the sport will hinder the opposite facet of the ball. And there are critical questions whether or not Bowles can embrace in-game analytical decision-making to reinforce his workforce’s alternatives to win.

Offensive coordinator Dave Canales has gotten off to a sizzling begin with the Bucs followers and media. His work with Russell Wilson and Geno Smith led each to being among the many finest quarterbacks within the NFL at totally different factors within the final 10 years. However let’s take a step again and acknowledge that he’s a first-time coordinator who has by no means known as performs at a major stage of soccer. There isn’t a assure he might be profitable, though his solutions to questions relating to offensive philosophy are actually promising.

Kieth Armstrong continues to work because the Bucs particular groups coordinator, and plenty of proceed to marvel why. The Bucs have had traditionally unhealthy particular groups items beneath his management. Per PFF, the Bucs have completed twenty ninth, twenty seventh, thirtieth and twenty ninth within the NFL over his 4 years with the workforce.

The NFC South options three head coaches who could also be on the recent seat this yr in Smith, Allen and Bowles. All three path Reich by a substantial margin in NFC South head teaching resumes. However all 4 characteristic a strategist with a inventive thoughts on one facet of the ball. And that ought to result in some enjoyable battles within the NFC South division this yr.