Last season, we analyzed whether the Pittsburgh Steelers really have one of the league’s smallest coaching staffs. They’ve been criticized for not having enough cooks in the kitchen, for being cheap with their salaries, and not having all hands on-deck, putting them at a disadvantage to other teams.
While we can’t answer all those questions, and there’s pros and cons of a large/small coaching staff, we can quantify how many coaches are on each team. As our 2022 study found, the Steelers did have one of the smallest coaching staffs with just 18 at the time of our late-March count, tied for 30th in football and more than just one team, the New England Patriots.
We’re revisiting the same study for 2023 but doing it a bit smarter. As in, doing it later in the NFL calendar. Pittsburgh and other coaching staffs added to their group after our study was published, the Steelers bringing in Assistant QBs Coach David Corley weeks later. So functionally, they had 19 coaches in 2022.
What about 2023? How many do the Steelers plan to roll with? And are they again at the back of the pack? I’ve gone through all 32 coaching staffs and tallied each group up by total and then broken down by offense, defense, and special teams. It’s worth pointing out I am not including any fellowship coaches, who typically are only around for the summer, or anyone whose role does not suggest they have an on-field coaching impact. These eliminates positions like strength & conditoning (who have a direct impact with players but not in the “teaching of football” sense), statistical analysts, or anyone involved in Football Ops who play key roles but don’t seem to have direct interaction with players.
Unfortunately, I can’t make this table fully sortable for you guys but I have it listed from the most to fewest number of total coaches. The offensive, defensive, and special teams teams will add up one short of the total because it does not include the head coach. But that is the difference, for anyone wondering.
All that said, here’s the 2023 results.
| Team | Total Coaches | Off. Coaches | Def. Coaches | ST Coaches |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Dolphins | 27 | 13 | 11 | 2 |
| Jacksonville Jaguars | 26 | 12 | 11 | 2 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 25 | 11 | 10 | 3 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 25 | 11 | 11 | 2 |
| Carolina Panthers | 25 | 12 | 10 | 2 |
| Houston Texans | 24 | 12 | 9 | 2 |
| New York Jets | 24 | 12 | 8 | 3 |
| Denver Broncos | 24 | 11 | 9 | 3 |
| Las Vegas Raiders | 24 | 11 | 9 | 3 |
| New York Giants | 24 | 11 | 9 | 3 |
| Dallas Cowboys | 24 | 11 | 10 | 2 |
| Washington Commanders | 24 | 12 | 9 | 2 |
| Detroit Lions | 24 | 11 | 10 | 2 |
| San Francisco 49ers | 24 | 12 | 8 | 3 |
| Tennessee Titans | 24 | 10 | 10 | 3 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 23 | 12 | 7 | 3 |
| Los Angeles Chargers | 23 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 23 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| Green Bay Packers | 23 | 10 | 9 | 3 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 23 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| New Orleans Saints | 23 | 12 | 8 | 2 |
| Seattle Seahawks | 23 | 11 | 9 | 2 |
| Cleveland Browns | 22 | 11 | 8 | 2 |
| Atlanta Falcons | 22 | 10 | 8 | 3 |
| Los Angeles Rams | 22 | 10 | 9 | 2 |
| Indianapolis Colts | 21 | 9 | 9 | 2 |
| Chicago Bears | 21 | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| Arizona Cardinals | 21 | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 20 | 9 | 8 | 2 |
| Buffalo Bills | 20 | 10 | 7 | 2 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 19 | 10 | 7 | 1 |
| New England Patriots | 18 | 8 | 7 | 2 |
For the second year in a row, the Steelers sit in next-to-last place. They have the same number of coaches, 19, as they had a year ago after hiring Corley, though there’s been changes there. New coaches who have come in include LBs Coach Aaron Curry, offensive assistant Glenn Thomas, and defensive assistants Jason Brooks and Gerald Alexander (on-staff part of last year but officially announced this offseason). Outgoing coaches include Brian Flores, Jerry Olsavsky, John Mitchell, and Blaine Stewart.
Again, the Steelers remain the only team in the NFL with just one coach carrying a special teams title. That’s Danny Smith, who has as much responsibility as probably any non-head coach in football. He does get help from untitled assistants. Last year it was often Stewart, and it’s unclear who will assist him this year. Every other team in the league has at least two in title, though Tampa Bay assistant Keith Tandy carries a dual defensive/ST assistant title.
Looking out more broadly, Mike McDaniels’ Miami Dolphins team again leads the league with 27 coaches on staff. In 2023, they have one fewer offensive coach and an additional special teams coach. It’s worth pointing out the NFL coaching average saw a spike year-over-year. In 2022, the average coaching staff was 21.7. In 2023, it’ll be 23.0. We’ll see where it trends next season.
The average number of offensive coaches jumped from 9.8 a year ago to 10.8 this season. Defensive coaches saw a smaller increase from 8.4 to 8.8, two fewer than offensive staffs. It’s an offensive league, after all. Special teams saw essentially no change, 2.3 to 2.3.
The New England Patriots have the NFL’s smallest coaching staff for the second straight year with just 18 in total. It didn’t seem to serve them well last year. Maybe 2023 will be better with awkward fits like Matt Patricia gone.
Does any of this matter? Big or small coaching staffs aren’t inherently good or bad. There’s pros and cons for each. Bigger coaching staffs can divide up the work into smaller pieces and offer more individualized attention. But there also can be too many voices in the room and it may be harder to keep a consistent message. More coaches also means more chances of having an ineffective coach and a bigger staff for a head coach to manage.
What do the 2022 results indicate? It’s only one year, the sample size is small, but there is a clear difference between teams who had 23+ coaches (eight teams) versus ones who had 20 or fewer (seven teams). Here are their records and number of playoff teams.
Teams With 23+ Coaches: 71-65 (.522 Winning %) – 4 Playoff Teams
Teams With 20 Or Fewer Coaches: 48-69-1 (.411 Winning %) – 1 Playoff Team
Of course, there’s tons of variables here and it would be foolish to draw a direct correlation between more coaches and team success — players and injuries matter more — but there’s a clear difference. If you’re wondering about the one playoff team from the 20 or fewer camp, it was the Cincinnati Bengals.
We’ll make this an annual summer post and come back to analyze how the Steelers and the rest of the league fared this time next year.
