This belief has been used countless times over the years. In 2007, some, including myself, believed Bill Parcells would take Chris Long over Jake Long because he’s a defensive coach. A few picks later, some, including myself, had Glenn Dorsey over Matt Ryan because Mike Smith is a defensive coach. Last year, some, excluding myself – I learned my lesson – had Aaron Curry over Matthew Stafford because Jim Schwartz is a defensive coach.
This year, the baton has been passed to Steve Spagnuolo. Known for his incredible defensive line in New York, Spagnuolo seems set on drafting either Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy – or so many people believe.
The purpose of this article is to debunk two common NFL Draft myths:
1. That defensive head coaches draft defensive players in the first round.
2. That defensive head coaches shy away from taking quarterbacks in the first round because they value playing tough defense and running the ball.
The following chart, arranged chronologically, comprises every single current defensive head coach in the NFL, as well as all of the former defensive head coaches in the league, dating their hire back to the 2002 realignment year (arbitrary).
The chart lists every single first-round pick used by that head coach in his first three seasons (the rebuilding years). Note that some head coaches had as many as five picks; they were just fortunate enough to be drafting twice in the first round some years.
The last column is the number of offensive players and the number of total players taken by each coach in his initial three first rounds.
Defensive NFL Head Coach |
Team |
Year Hired |
Pick 1 |
Pick 2 |
Pick 3 |
Pick 4 |
Pick 5 |
Offensive / Total |
Eric Mangini |
CLE |
2009 |
C |
1/1 |
||||
Jim Mora Jr. |
SEA |
2009 |
OLB |
0/1 |
||||
Raheem Morris |
TB |
2009 |
QB |
1/1 |
||||
Rex Ryan |
NYJ |
2009 |
QB |
1/1 |
||||
Jim Schwartz |
DET |
2009 |
QB |
TE |
2/2 |
|||
Mike Singletary |
SF |
2009 |
WR |
1/1 |
||||
Steve Spagnuolo |
STL |
2009 |
OT |
1/1 |
||||
John Harbaugh |
BAL |
2008 |
QB |
OT |
2/2 |
|||
Mike Smith |
ATL |
2008 |
QB |
OT |
DT |
2/3 |
||
Wade Phillips |
DAL |
2007 |
OLB |
RB |
CB |
1/3 |
||
Mike Tomlin |
PIT |
2007 |
LB |
RB |
DT |
1/3 |
||
Dick Jauron |
BUF |
2006 |
SS |
DT |
RB |
CB |
1/4 |
|
Eric Mangini |
NYJ |
2006 |
OT |
C |
CB |
OLB |
TE |
3/5 |
Rod Marinelli |
DET |
2006 |
LB |
WR |
OT |
2/3 |
||
Romeo Crennel |
CLE |
2005 |
WR |
OLB |
OT |
QB |
3/4 |
|
Herm Edwards |
KC |
2005 |
OLB |
DE |
WR |
1/3 |
||
Mike Nolan |
SF |
2005 |
QB |
TE |
ILB |
OT |
3/4 |
|
Nick Saban |
MIA |
2005 |
RB |
S |
1/2 |
|||
Jim Mora Jr. |
ATL |
2004 |
CB |
WR |
WR |
2/3 |
||
Lovie Smith |
CHI |
2004 |
DT |
RB |
1/2 |
|||
Jack Del Rio |
JAX |
2003 |
QB |
WR |
WR |
3/3 |
||
Marvin Lewis |
CIN |
2003 |
QB |
RB |
LB |
2/3 |
||
Bill Parcells |
DAL |
2003 |
CB |
OLB |
DE |
0/3 |
||
Dom Capers |
HOU |
2002 |
QB |
WR |
CB |
OLB |
2/4 |
|
Tony Dungy |
IND |
2002 |
DT |
TE |
1/2 |
|||
John Fox |
CAR |
2002 |
DE |
OT |
CB |
1/3 |
||
Marty Schottenheimer |
SD |
2002 |
CB |
CB |
QB |
1/3 |
||
Bill Belichick |
NE |
2000 |
DT |
TE |
1/2 |
|||
Jeff Fisher |
TEN |
1994 |
DE |
QB |
RB |
2/3 |
||
Totals |
16/29 |
17/23 |
8/17 |
2/5 |
1/1 |
44/75 |
As the chart shows, most current and recent defensive NFL head coaches tend to take offensive players in the first round. Out of 75 first-round picks, 44 were offensive players, meaning the defensive coaches opted to go with offense 58.7 percent of the time.
Going further, most current and recent defensive NFL head coaches focused on drafting first-round offensive players early in their tenure. Looking solely at each coach’s first two first-round selections, offensive players were chosen 33 out of 52 times, for a whopping 63.5 percent.
Why do defensive head coaches opt for offense so frequently? My guess is that because most head coaches are overly confident in their abilities, so these defensive guys believed they could coach up “lesser” defensive players.
Conversely, a defensive coach might be worried about his job security if his offense isn’t up to par. Thus, the coach will overcompensate in the draft and select talented players who can take care of the other side of the ball.
Defensive head coaches draft defensive players in the first round: NFL Draft Myth Debunked.
Let’s move on to a more specific position – the one that inspired this article.
The question is, what are the chances that Steve Spagnuolo eschews drafting Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy in favor of Jimmy Clausen or Sam Bradford, should he feel that either Clausen or Bradford is worthy of the No. 1 pick (which, I have to say, is likely)?
First, let’s look at the aforementioned defensive coaches and discard the ones who already had a franchise quarterback, a promising young signal-caller or a highly priced veteran on their team:
We’ve eliminated 15 defensive head coaches who didn’t have the opportunity to draft a quarterback because they had a guy they already dedicated their resources to. That leaves us with 14 defensive coaches who had the luxury of drafting a franchise signal-caller. Let’s see if they took a quarterback or not.
Defensive NFL Head Coach |
QB Taken? |
Name of Quarterback |
Year QB Taken |
Raheem Morris |
Yes |
Josh Freeman |
1st |
Rex Ryan |
Yes |
Mark Sanchez |
1st |
Jim Schwartz |
Yes |
Matthew Stafford |
1st |
John Harbaugh |
Yes |
Joe Flacco |
1st |
Mike Smith |
Yes |
Matt Ryan |
1st |
Romeo Crennel |
Yes |
Brady Quinn |
3rd |
Mike Nolan |
Yes |
Alex Smith |
1st |
Nick Saban |
No |
— |
— |
Jack Del Rio |
Yes |
Byron Leftwich |
1st |
Marvin Lewis |
Yes |
Carson Palmer |
1st |
Bill Parcells |
No |
— |
— |
Dom Capers |
Yes |
David Carr |
1st |
John Fox |
No |
— |
— |
Jeff Fisher |
Yes |
Steve McNair |
2nd |
In summary, 11 of the 14 defensive head coaches who had the opportunity to draft a quarterback in the first round did so – and nine of them did it in their first year.
Of course, Marc Bulger’s massive salary prohibited the Rams from selecting Mark Sanchez last year – though the Rams were reportedly intrigued with Sanchez.
Now, without a salary cap, St. Louis has the luxury of cutting Bulger and drafting either Jimmy Clausen or Sam Bradford atop the 2010 NFL Draft.
And as this research has shown, whether they pass on Clausen and Bradford has absolutely nothing to do with Spagnuolo having a defensive background. On the contrary, Spagnuolo’s defensive mindset makes a quarterback selection even more likely.
Defensive head coaches shy away from taking quarterbacks in the first round because they value playing tough defense and running the ball: NFL Draft Myth Debunked.
The next time you hear someone say, “Coach X is a defensive-minded guy. He’ll take a defensive player with his first-round pick,” please refer them to this page.
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