When the Rams hired Sean McVay as their head coach on Jan. 12, 2017, the move was heavily scrutinized.
It’s understandable that many were surprised by the decision. After all, the Rams were bringing aboard the youngest head coach in league history; McVay was just 30 years, 11 months and 19 days old at the time that he was hired.
Still, the Rams front office trusted their instincts and their boom-or-bust investment turned into a massive win. McVay has become one of the best coaches in the NFL, leading the Rams to a Super Bowl title and making the playoffs in four of his five seasons.
McVay’s rapid rise to the top of the coaching game also created something called the “Sean McVay effect.” This was the term coined to refer to the other NFL teams that mimicked Los Angeles’ plan and targeted young, offensive-minded coaches to lead their teams. It was employed by many franchises, including those that targeted some of the wunderkind’s assistants as their next head coaches.
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Nearly six years after being hired, McVay is still set to be the NFL’s youngest head coach in 2022. Here’s a rundown of who is joining him on that list, including a quartet of coaches in their 30s.
Youngest NFL coaches of 2022
NFL coaches used to skew older, but five of the league’s current head coaches are in their 30s. Below is a look at those five individuals as well as the five others who round out the league’s youngest coaches for the 2022 NFL season.
Age listed as of the NFL season debut on Sept. 8.
Sean McVay, Rams
- Age: 36
- Experience: 6th season
- Record: 55-26
McVay was the youngest coach ever hired to run an NFL team, as he was just shy of 31 years old when the Rams tapped him as the successor to Jeff Fisher. The results have been nothing short of terrific.
McVay has led the Rams to the playoffs in four of his five seasons as head coach so far. They have never posted a losing record under his watch and have double-digit wins in four of his five seasons. Los Angeles has also made it to two Super Bowls during McVay’s brief tenure and won Super Bowl 56 over the Bengals in 2022.
Though McVay is entering his sixth NFL season, he is still the NFL’s youngest coach and has been since he was hired in 2017. He has been a driving force behind the NFL’s shift to younger coaching candidates because of his success and his ability to develop quality candidates on his staff.
Kevin O’Connell, Vikings
- Age: 37
- Experience: 1st season
- Record: 0-0
O’Connell capped a rapid rise in the NFL’s coaching ranks by being hired as the next coach of the Vikings. The former San Diego State quarterback was a third-round pick by the Patriots in 2008 but largely bounced around the league, playing for five different teams during his five NFL seasons.
That said, O’Connell has found much more success as a coach. He first joined an NFL staff in 2015, when he was named the quarterbacks coach for the Browns. He then spent the 2016 season with the 49ers before heading to Washington for a few seasons. In his last year there, he became the team’s offensive coordinator before jumping over to take that same role under McVay with the Rams.
O’Connell comes to Minnesota after spending two years as McVay’s offensive coordinator in Los Angeles. He is expected to bring some of McVay’s innovative offense to the Vikings after the team used more of an old-school approach under coach Mike Zimmer’s staff.
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Zac Taylor, Bengals
- Age: 39
- Experience: 4th season
- Record: 16-32-1
Some believed Taylor was in danger of falling off the NFL’s youngest coaches list before last season. He struggled in his first two years with Cincinnati, but everything came together during his third season with the team.
The Bengals surprised nearly everyone and mounted a Super Bowl run during the 2022 postseason. Taylor helped design Cincinnati’s explosive offense, which was headlined by Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Joe Mixon, and that allowed the team to go 10-7 during the regular season and 3-1 during the postseason.
Taylor, who coached with the Rams in 2017 and 2018, was unable to upset his mentor McVay in Super Bowl 56, but he established himself as one of the NFL’s strongest young coaches. He also proved to be yet another viable branch of McVay’s impressive coaching tree.
Mike McDaniel, Dolphins
- Age: 39
- Experience: 1st season
- Record: 0-0
Believe it or not, McDaniel also has a connection to McVay. The two worked together in Washington during the 2011 and 2012 seasons while Mike Shanahan was in charge of the team. McDaniel ultimately ended up coaching under Kyle Shanahan for five seasons in San Francisco before coming to Miami.
McDaniel will be asked to turn around a Miami offense that was too often stagnant under Brian Flores. He has four years of experience as a run-game coordinator and spent the 2021 season as the 49ers’ offensive coordinator; he helped lead the team to an NFC Championship Game appearance so his ceiling is high.
Brandon Staley, Chargers
- Age: 39
- Experience: 2nd season
- Record: 9-8
Staley landed his first NFL job in 2017, when the Bears hired him as their outside linebackers coach. By 2021, the Chargers were ready to name him their next head coach after he found success coordinating the defense of — you guessed it — the Rams.
Staley led the Chargers to a winning record in his first season as head coach. However, he was unable to get them to the playoffs, as Los Angeles lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Raiders in Week 18. Las Vegas kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired in overtime; a tie would have sent both teams to the postseason.
Regardless, Staley established himself as a solid young coach with a propensity for making aggressive play calls on fourth down. He may need to tone down that aspect of his game on occasion, but he is still off to a strong start with the Chargers.
Arthur Smith, Falcons
- Age: 40
- Experience: 2nd season
- Record: 7-10
Smith is the youngest head coach in the NFL who has never worked with Sean McVay. Smith spent a decade with the Titans from 2011 to 2020 before taking the Falcons’ head coaching job in 2021.
Atlanta competed for a wild-card spot in Smith’s first year with the team, but ultimately sputtered toward the end of the season. Smith, the son of FedEx founder Frederick Smith, will now be tasked with guiding the Falcons through a mini rebuild after the team traded Matt Ryan to the Colts during the offseason.
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Kevin Stefanski, Browns
- Age: 40
- Experience: 3rd season
- Record: 19-14
Stefanski spent the first 14 years of his NFL coaching career with the Vikings. He served in a variety of roles and coached quarterbacks, running backs and tight ends before being named the team’s interim — and then permanent — offensive coordinator.
Stefanski’s head coaching career got off to a strong start in 2020 when he led the Browns to the playoffs, earned the team a playoff win and was named Coach of the Year by the AP and The Sporting News. However, Cleveland’s performance dipped in 2021 largely thanks to a Baker Mayfield injury, and the Browns missed the playoffs as a result.
Now, Stefanski will be facing his toughest task yet: keeping the Browns competitive with new quarterback Deshaun Watson out of the lineup for 11 games.
Nick Sirianni, Eagles
- Age: 41
- Experience: 2nd season
- Record: 9-8
Sirianni exceeded expectations in his first year as a head coach and guided the Eagles to a surprising playoff berth. Philadelphia was the No. 7 seed in the NFC and though it lost to the Buccaneers in the wild-card round, the Eagles were certainly happy that Sirianni was able to accelerate what was expected to be a rebuild.
The Eagles have higher expectations in 2022, so it will be interesting to see if Sirianni can deliver in spite of those. His mentor, Frank Reich, has struggled to do so consistently in Indianapolis, but that doesn’t mean the same will apply to Sirianni.
Kyle Shanahan, 49ers
- Age: 42
- Experience: 6th season
- Record: 39-42
Shanahan was hired as a head coach at the same time as McVay and was considered one of the bright, young offensive geniuses that kickstarted the new wave of NFL hiring styles. To date, Shanahan has enjoyed success, even if the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
The 49ers have routinely been competitive under Shanahan, making the playoffs twice and reaching the Super Bowl (2020) and NFC Championship Game (2022) on his watch. There have been some blips on the radar, but those have largely been due to issues at the quarterback spot, including injuries to Jimmy Garoppolo.
Shanahan is now set to roll with former No. 3 overall pick Trey Lance as the team’s starting quarterback with Garoppolo serving as the backup. That gives the team depth at the QB spot; still, the squad’s success in 2022 will be predicated on whether the relatively raw Lance is ready for a starting job. If he is, Shanahan’s career coaching record could creep above .500 for his career.
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Matt LaFleur, Packers
- Age: 42
- Experience: 4th season
- Record: 39-10
LaFleur may not be long for the NFL’s youngest coaches list, but he is one of the most successful coaches on it. The 42-year-old has won 13 regular-season games in each of his first three years with the Packers. He has experience working under Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay and Mike Vrabel, and he has combined that to make himself one of the best-rounded coaches in the NFL.
The one knock on LaFleur is that his squads haven’t found playoff success; the Packers are just 2-3 overall during their three playoff appearances under his guidance. Aaron Rodgers and Co. will look to change that and finally deliver another Super Bowl to the Green Bay faithful in 2023.
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