Colts Head Coaching Superlatives: Best Minds, Best Fits, and More

The Indianapolis Colts have built up quite a list of candidates for the next head coach. Which coach comes ahead as best in each category?

Indianapolis Colts General Manager Chris Ballard said that the team would cast a wide net in their search for a head coach this offseason. He has certainly kept his promise so far, as the team has interviewed/is set to interview 13 candidates for the job (so far).

Here is a list of the qualified candidates that the team has either already talked to or is planning to talk to next week:

• Ben Johnson, Offensive Coordinator of the Detroit Lions (withdrew name)
• Aaron Glenn, Defensive Coordinator of the Detroit Lions
• Shane Steichen, Offensive Coordinator of the Philadelphia Eagles
• Eric Bienemy, Offensive Coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs
• Bubba Ventrone, Special Teams Coach of the Indianapolis Colts
• Raheem Morris, Defensive Coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams
• Ejiro Evero, Defensive Coordinator of the Denver Broncos
• Rich Bisaccia, Special Teams Coach of the Green Bay Packers
• Brian Callahan, Offensive Coordinator of the Cincinnati Bengals
• Dan Quinn, Defensive Coordinator of the Dallas Cowboys
• Mike Kafka, Offensive Coordinator of the New York Giants
• Wink Martindale, Defensive Coordinator of the New York Giants
• DeMeco Ryans, Defensive Coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers

Even with Ben Johnson removing his name from consideration, the Colts have 12 quality candidates out of the 13 remaining coaches for the job. With this long list that is still growing, where is the strong point in each candidate?

Today, I dive into some superlatives in this group in an attempt to separate this vast list.

Best Offensive Mind

Shane Steichen, Philadelphia Eagles

This was a tough award to divvy out, as the Colts have a handful of quality offensive minds to choose from in this process. Mike Kafka has turned the New York Giants into a solid offense, despite not having many quality pieces, and Brian Callahan has done phenomenal work with the Cincinnati Bengals over the past two seasons.

Ultimately, I decided to go with Shane Steichen with the Philadelphia Eagles. The main reason for this choice is the fact that he has turned the Eagles' offense into one of the premier threats across the league. The Eagles' offense ranked top 10 in every major statistical category this past season, and they only trailed the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills in total yards per game.

On top of that, Steichen has experience working with a variety of different quarterbacks. He was the QB coach for Philip Rivers in San Diego, he was the offensive coordinator for Justin Herbert, and he has been the offensive coordinator for Jalen Hurts over the past two seasons.

For a Colts' team that will be transitioning to a rookie quarterback next season, Steichen is the most equipped to take that quarterback to the level that the Colts need them to be at.

Best Defensive Mind

DeMeco Ryans, San Francisco 49ers

This was another tough one to pick, as the Colts have interviewed plenty of good candidates on this side of the ball. Dan Quinn has done masterful work with the Dallas Cowboys over the past two seasons and Wink Martindale has had success in every stop as a defensive coordinator. Ultimately, I decided to go a bit young with my choice here.

DeMeco Ryans is a bit of newcomer to the coaching scene, as he didn't get his start until 2017. Learning under a top defensive mind in Robert Saleh, Ryans was quickly able to climb through the ranks. He took over the 49ers' defense in 2021 and has been phenomenal ever since.

The 2022 49ers' defense is the best defense we have seen in the NFL since 2019. They are a fast and tenacious group that knows how to rush the passer at a high level. Ryans has taken the Vic Fangio/Robert Saleh style of defense and morphed it to fit his talented group in San Fran.

While the Colts should probably go with an offensive guy in this cycle, it wouldn't hurt to bring in the best (and youngest) defensive mind in the league.

Most NFL Coaching Experience

Rich Bisaccia, Green Bay Packers

This was a close race between a handful of candidates. Raheem Morris and Quinn have both been coaching in the NFL for exactly 20 years while Martindale came in at 19 years in the league. Eric Bienemy has also been coaching in the league for 15 years now.

The most experienced NFL coach for the Colts this cycle, however, is Rich Bisaccia. He coached for 17 seasons at the college level before making the jump to the NFL in 2002. He has been in the league ever since, bringing his overall total to 21 seasons in the league.

The 62-year-old coach may not be the flashiest candidate, but it's hard to knock his experience in the league.

Most Super Bowl Championships

Raheem Morris, Los Angeles Rams

The Colts have done an impressive job of interviewing coaches that have experience winning it all. Ejiro Evero, Callahan, Bubba Ventrone, Kafka, Bienemy, Bisaccia, and Quinn have all been a part of Super Bowl teams in the past but only one candidate can say that they have multiple championships to their name.

Morris' first stop in the NFL came with the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a team that would later go on to win the Super Bowl that season. Nearly 20 years later Morris would return to the big stage, this time as the defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams in the 2022 Super Bowl.

While Morris certainly had a bigger hand in the second Super Bowl than the first one, he is a coach that knows what it takes to get to (and win) the most important trophy in the sport.

Best Potential Staff Builder

Raheem Morris, Los Angeles Rams

This is a difficult one to properly break down since we don't know exactly what type of staff each of these coaches would bring if they were to get the job. We do know that coaches tend to bring along other coaches that they are familiar with, so the best we can do is look at the candidates with connections to the best coaching trees.

In that regard, the easy winner here is Morris. The NFL has been churning out countless coaches from the Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay trees of late. Morris has worked with both coaches in the past, so he should be able to put together a superstar offensive staff that picks the best young minds from those two trees.

On defense, Morris has had the opportunity to work under the Monte Kiffin umbrella as well as learning under experienced coaches such as Gus Bradley and Quinn. He would have a wide variety of coaches to choose from on this side of the ball and they would be able to pick from so many defensive styles.

Again, the Colts would probably be wise to choose an offensive coach for their incoming rookie quarterback in 2023, but Morris appears to be the best of the defensive coaching candidates on this list just from his experience and from the staff that he could build.

© Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

Most Equipped To Develop a Young Quarterback

Brian Callahan, Cincinnati Bengals

Shane Steichen, Philadelphia Eagles

Mike Kafka, New York Giants

This last category is mostly me stretching the topic to fit a mini-rant that I need to go on. The most important aspect of this coaching search for the Colts is hiring somebody that can take the Colts' next QB to new heights in the league.

The Colts are, without a doubt, going to be selecting a quarterback with a top-five pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. While this coaching search features several quality candidates, the best ones for the Colts are the ones that can draw up an effective offense for that rookie quarterback and one that will be here for a long while with that player.

A defensive coach (or a special teams coach) is great, but problems will almost certainly arise when those coaches lose their talented offensive coordinators and lose continuity with the young quarterback. The best way to maintain that continuity is by hiring a young offensive coach.

These three candidates above are all more than qualified to be that guy. The Colts need a head coach that can develop the next quarterback, and these three coaching candidates are the most equipped to do that.

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