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How the NFL's seven new head coaches will fare season
After diminishing returns in Philadelphia, can Chip Kelly revive Colin Kaepernick's career in San Francisco? Rich Schultz/Getty Images

How the NFL's seven new head coaches will fare season

Seven NFL teams dumped their coaches either during the season or after, starting with the Miami Dolphins after just four games. Now that the New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans, San Francisco 49ers and Dolphins have filled their head coaching vacancies, how will each new man fare in his first season with his new title? Let's take a look.

Bob McAdoo, Giants

After missing the playoffs for the third consecutive season, the New York Giants decided to move on from head coach Tom Coughlin — Coughlin resigned, technically — and chose offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo to take control of the team. The Giants are high on McAdoo, as he called the plays for an offense that ranked eighth overall, and has an excellent relationship with quarterback Eli Manning. That being said, McAdoo will have some serious challenges to address on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball if he wants to improve upon the Giants' 6-10 record in 2015.

To start, the Giants are in desperate need of finding a pass rush. The G-men finished with 23 total sacks on the season, third worst in the NFL. If the Giants are to have any hope of making the playoffs next this season, this must improve.

Granted, perennial Pro Bowl defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul played only half the season, but missing several fingers on this right hand due to a fireworks accident, Pierre-Paul just didn’t look the same. He's also set to become a free agent this offseason, so the Giants may look to move on.

Other than Robert Ayers, who recorded 9.5 sacks, the next player on the Giants roster with the most sacks in 2015 is linebacker Jonathan Casillas with a measly two. Whether they choose to address this problem via the draft or free agency, the Giants must improve upon their pass rush tremendously in 2016 if they want to have a shot at winning their division.

On offense, we all know the marvelous talent that is Odell Beckham Jr., but other than the Pro Bowl wide receiver, the Giants have relatively little talent at the skill positions. Rashad Jennings and Andre Williams hardly inspire confidence from the running back position, and wide receiver Rueben Randle certainly doesn't inspire fear in the hearts of opposing defensive backs. The New York front office needs to find a weapon outside of Beckham Jr. whom coach McAdoo can utilize.

All things considered, the Giants have a shot to make the playoffs next year simply by playing in one of the weakest divisions in football, the NFC East. That being said, at this point in time there are too many glaring issues on both sides of the football to feel too confident about the Giants' chances next season, especially with a rookie head coach. Throw in the impending return of Tony Romo in Dallas, and all of a sudden New York’s playoff hopes don’t look so great.

Prediction: Another 6-10 season.

Doug Pederson, Eagles

After a disappointing season in which high-profile acquisitions Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray failed to make any sort of meaningful impact, the Philadelphia Eagles chose to cut ties with head coach Chip Kelly shortly before the final game of the regular season. Kelly, who was also in charge of the Eagles’ roster, was heavily criticized for moving on from immensely talented players like DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin and replacing them with players like the aforementioned Murray, Josh Huff and Miles Austin.

Ironically, Philly decided to hire former head coach Andy Reid’s offensive coordinator, Doug Pederson, form the Kansas City Chiefs. There’s a strong amount of talent on the Philadelphia roster, but Pederson will have his work cut out for him if he wants the Eagles to do better than 7-9.

To start, Pederson will need to decide if Sam Bradford is the right quarterback to lead the Eagles into the future. Based on what we saw from Bradford in 2015, Pederson would be wise let the free agent quarterback move on and find a new quarterback to separate the team from the Chip Kelly era. Finding a quality starting quarterback in the NFL via free agency or trade is never easy, so there’s an excellent chance the Pederson era in Philly could begin by taking a quarterback early in the 2016 NFL Draft. With the 13th overall pick in the first round, Jared Goff, Paxton Lynch and Connor Cook could all be viable options for the Eagles to put behind center.

Also, the Eagles' pass defense was a mess last season. Cornerback Byron Maxwell, the team’s prized 2015 free agent signing, had a miserable first season with the team, and second-round draft pick Eric Rowe didn’t fare much better. Whether it’s a problem with the players at hand or the coaching staff, Pederson must find a way to improve upon the Eagles' 28th-ranked pass defense.

Philadelphia is looking to move on from the Chip Kelly era as quickly as possible, but in reality it wasn’t all that bad. Kelly went 26-21 in his time with the team. In the end, it was his personnel choices with the roster that doomed him, not his coaching. Trying to gauge how the Eagles will fare next season is tricky, but with so much uncertainty at the quarterback position, it’s hard to imagine Doug Pederson’s first year as head coach will be a rousing success.

Prediction: Another 7-9 season.

Chip Kelly, 49ers

This Chip Kelly guy just won’t go away. A few weeks after leaving the Eagles, the San Francisco 49ers brought in Kelly to be the man to lead their team into the future. And the best part for 49ers fans? Kelly isn’t in charge of team personnel! Trent Baalke and Jed York are (wait, that’s better, right?). After a disastrous 5-11 season, there’s nowhere to go but up for the Niners with Kelly leading the charge, right? Well, let’s take a look.

The arrival of Kelly likely signals that Colin Kaepernick will remain the 49ers' starting quarterback. Kaepernick is an ideal fit for Kelly’s up-tempo style of offense, but he still has serious limitations as an NFL quarterback, especially when it comes to reading opposing defenses. Still, if there was ever a coach to get the most out of Kaepernick, it would be Kelly.

Also, Kelly and the 49ers front office will need to find new receivers for Kaepernick to throw to. Anquan Boldin is 35 years old, while Torrey Smith and Quinton Patton are hardly reliable options week to week.

Truth be told, the real problem with the 49ers isn’t so much with the team itself, but rather the division they play in, the NFC West. They share a division with the Arizona Cardinals, Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams. Yeah, good luck with that.

Crazier things have happened in the NFL, but to expect the 49ers to drastically improve upon their 2015 season playing in a division with opponents of that caliber is just unrealistic at this point in time. Regardless of what Chip Kelly can do with Kaepernick and the San Francisco offense, playing in the NFC West will likely be too tough of an obstacle to overcome — at least for now.

Prediction: The 49ers go 6-10 next season.

Dirk Koetter, Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers shocked the football world this offseason when they fired head coach Lovie Smith. Just two years into his contract, everything appeared to be on track, but apparently the Tampa brass felt it was time for a change.

Enter new head coach, 2015 offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter. Koetter, 56, will be a head coach in the NFL for the first time, but with 30-plus years of experience coaching in college and the pros, he is hardly a rookie.

Koetter’s success in Tampa is largely dependent on the development of starting quarterback Jameis Winston. Winston had a successful rookie campaign but is still far away from being an elite NFL quarterback. Still, Winston went 6-10 as a rookie starter on a rebuilding Tampa team, so he’s hardly the problem.

What is the problem with the Bucs? Well, it’s exactly that: They’re rebuilding. Rebuilds in the NFL take time. It takes time for teams to develop young players and for them to learn how to win. And typically speaking, firing and hiring a new head coach doesn’t accelerate that process. In fact, it's usually a sign of the exact opposite.

Once again, as with the other teams already covered, it’s difficult to imagine the Bucs improving too much next season, let alone at all.

Prediction: 6-10, 7-9, 5-11? Something like that.

Hue Jackson, Browns

They’re doomed. Moving on.

OK, it’s not as simple as that, but for football fans that’s the way it feels when it comes to the Cleveland Browns. The Browns hired their ninth head coach since 2000 this January in Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson. The three other teams in their division, the Bengals, Steelers and Ravens, have had six other head coaches combined during that time span. Let that sink in for moment. Now let’s all wish Hue Jackson the best of luck, because he’s going to need it.

The Browns are coming off a typically Browns season in which they finished 3-13. The only piece of good news to come out of Cleveland since the Jackson hiring is that the new head coach is expected to move on from the fiasco that is Johnny Manziel. Jackson appears poised to begin his regime in Cleveland by selecting a quarterback with the Browns' first-round pick, the second overall in the draft. That doesn’t mean the Browns can’t trade back and pick up a few extra (and much needed) draft picks, but all indications seem to point to the Browns taking a quarterback like Goff or Lynch early in the draft.

Regardless of whom their next quarterback is or any personnel moves Cleveland makes, Jackson's success as the Browns head coach is largely dependent on a factor outside of X’s and O’s: getting the Browns to believe they can actually win. Playing in a division with Bengals, Steelers and Ravens, and given their recent history, nobody believes the Browns can win. And that represents Jackson’s greatest challenge — getting the Browns players and fan base to believe they can be a successful football team. Maybe, just maybe, Jackson is the man to do just that, but to expect anything else other than a non-playoff season in Cleveland next season would be a mistake.

Prediction: The Browns show improvement but still finish last in the AFC North.

Mike Mularkey, Titans

After a 1-6 start to the 2015 season, the Tennessee Titans fired head coach Ken Whisenhunt. Interim head coach Mike Mularkey didn’t fare too much better, going 2-7 the rest of the way. Despite Mularkey’s own abysmal record as coach, the Titans decided to remove his interim tag and officially make him the head coach this offseason.

At the surface, hiring Mularkey as head coach seems like an odd choice, but when you consider that the Titans still have to pay off the remaining three years of Whisenhunt's contract, it makes sense financially. But from a football perspective, the Titans may have botched this one.

Mularkey has been a head coach in the NFL twice before: for two years in Buffalo and one year in Jacksonville. The results were not pretty. Mularkey went 16-32 in his three years as a head coach, and based on his performance as the Tennessee interim coach, there’s little reason to believe he’ll fare much better.

That being said, the Titans have a superstar quarterback in the making with Marcus Mariota, a potential stud wideout in Dorial Green-Beckham, and with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft, more talent will be added to the roster.

But let’s be real. The Titans are in rebuild mode right now. They may play in one of the weakest divisions in pro football, the AFC South, but as of right now, they’re the weakest of the weak in that division. It’s hard to do worse than 3-13, but to expect more than a modest improvement from the Titans would be misguided.

Prediction: The Titans go 5-11, or 6-10 in 2015.

Adam Gase, Dolphins

Miami expected big things with the huge offseason signing of Ndamukong Suh to bolster the defense and the continued improvement of quarterback Ryan Tannehill. Instead what the Dolphins got was a 1-3 start after which they decided to ax head coach Joe Philbin and promote Dan Campbell to interim coach.

While Miami showed more fight and pulled out five victories under Campbell, the front office was eager to move on from the entire Philbin era. Enter Adam Gase, whose name has surfaced pretty frequently for head coaching vacancies the past few years.

Gase was at the helm of John Fox's offense during his time in Denver, in which the Broncos became a potent offense after bringing Peyton Manning into fold. He then followed Fox to Chicago, where Gase worked with Jay Cutler to help the much-maligned quarterback have one of his best seasons ever. He'll look to do the same with Tannehill in Miami.

Clearly, the Dolphins signal caller has the talent to succeed, and he's shown flashes. Perhaps Gase is the one to help him put it all together, particularly with weapons like Jarvis Landry, Jordan Cameron and Lamar Miller.

However, it might be Gase's defensive staff that needs to really get to work. Despite a ton of talent, the defense greatly underachieved, finishing near the bottom of the NFL in total yards allowed and sacks. That's not good.

Gase very well may improve Miami's offense and turn it into a dynamic attack, but in an AFC East that is paced by Tom Brady and the New England Patriots and boasts the talented Jets and Bills, any hopes of the postseason are far-fetched at this point.

Still, under an interim coach and less than ideal circumstances, Miami did manage six wins in 2015, so maybe all hope is not lost.

Prediction: 8-8 seems about right for a team with this talent yet in a tough division.

Can you name every NFL team's three most recent head coaches?

Only coaches who worked an entire season are counted; no interim coaches.

SCORE:
0/96
TIME:
20:00
ARI, 2004-2006
Dennis Green
ARI, 2007-2012
Ken Whisenhunt
ARI, 2013-
Bruce Arians
ATL, 2007
Bobby Petrino
ATL, 2008-2014
Mike Smith
ATL, 2015-
Dan Quinn
BAL, 1996-1998
Ted Marchibroda
BAL, 1999-2007
Brian Billick
BAL, 2008-
John Harbaugh
BUF, 2013-2014
Doug Marrone
BUF, 2015-2016
Rex Ryan
BUF, 2017-
Sean McDermott
CAR, 1999-2001
George Seifert
CAR, 2002-2010
John Fox
CAR, 2010-
Ron Rivera
CHI, 2004-2012
Lovie Smith
CHI, 2013-2014
Marc Trestman
CHI, 2015-
John Fox
CIN, 1996-2000
Bruce Coslet
CIN, 2000-2002
Dick LeBeau
CIN, 2003-
Marvin Lewis
CLE, 2013
Rob Chudzinski
CLE, 2014-2015
Mike Pettine
CLE, 2016-
Hue Jackson
DAL, 2003-2006
Bill Parcells
DAL, 2007-2010
Wade Phillips
DAL, 2010-
Jason Garrett
DEN, 2011-2014
John Fox
DEN, 2015-2016
Gary Kubiak
DEN, 2017-
Vance Joseph
DET, 2006-2008
Rod Marinelli
DET, 2009-2013
Jim Schwartz
DET, 2014-
Jim Caldwell
GB, 1999
Ray Rhodes
GB, 2000-2005
Mike Sherman
GB, 2006-
Mike McCarthy
HOU, 2002-2005
Dom Capers
HOU, 2006-2013
Gary Kubiak
HOU, 2014-
Bill O'Brien
IND, 2002-2008
Tony Dungy
IND, 2009-2011
Jim Caldwell
IND, 2012-
Chuck Pagano
JAX, 2012
Mike Mularkey
JAX, 2013-2016
Gus Bradley
JAX, 2016-
Doug Marrone
KC, 2009-2011
Todd Haley
KC, 2011-2012
Romeo Crennel
KC, 2013-
Andy Reid
LAC, 2007-2012
Norv Turner
LAC, 2013-2016
Mike McCoy
LAC, 2017-
Anthony Lynn
LAR, 2009-2011
Steve Spagnuolo
LAR, 2012-2016
Jeff Fisher
LAR, 2017-
Sean McVay
MIA, 2008-2011
Tony Sparano
MIA, 2012-2015
Joe Philbin
MIA, 2016-
Adam Gase
MIN, 2006-2010
Brad Childress
MIN, 2010-2013
Leslie Frazier
MIN, 2014-
Mike Zimmer
NE, 1993-1996
Bill Parcells
NE, 1997-1999
Pete Carroll
NE, 2000-
Bill Belichick
NO, 2000-2005
Jim Haslett
NO, 2012
Joe Vitt
NO, 2006-11, 2013-
Sean Payton
NYG, 1997-2003
Jim Fassel
NYG, 2004-2015
Tom Coughlin
NYG, 2016-
Ben McAdoo
NYJ, 2006-2008
Eric Mangini
NYJ, 2009-2014
Rex Ryan
NYJ, 2015-
Todd Bowles
OAK, 2011
Hue Jackson
OAK, 2012-2014
Dennis Allen
OAK, 2015-
Jack Del Rio
PHI, 1999-2012
Andy Reid
PHI, 2013-2015
Chip Kelly
PHI, 2016-
Doug Pederson
PIT, 1969-1991
Chuck Noll
PIT, 1992-2006
Bill Cowher
PIT, 2007-
Mike Tomlin
SF, 2015
Jim Tomsula
SF, 2016
Chip Kelly
SF, 2017-
Kyle Shanahan
SEA, 1999-2008
Mike Holmgren
SEA, 2009
Jim Mora
SEA, 2010-
Pete Carroll
TB, 2012-2013
Greg Schiano
TB, 2014-2015
Lovie Smith
TB, 2016-
Dirk Koetter
TEN, 2011-2013
Mike Munchak
TEN, 2014-2015
Ken Whisenhunt
TEN, 2015
Mike Mularkey
WAS, 2008-2009
Jim Zorn
WAS, 2010-2013
Mike Shanahan
WAS, 2014-
Jay Gruden

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