NFLPA Ranks League's Top Coordinators
The NFLPA recently conducted a league-wide poll among its members via a third party in which players were asked to rank the top offensive, defensive, and special teams coordinators around the league.
To no one's surprise, the New York Giants coordinators--Mike Kafka (offense), Wink Martindale (defense), and Thomas McGaughey (special teams) didn't place among the top five among their respective categories, but one NFC East opponent had all three of its coordinators land in the top five spots, the only spots that were released by the player's union.
That would be the Dallas Cowboys. Defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, the architect of the league's eighth-best defense, finished third in the polling behind Aaron Glenn of the Lions and Steve Wilks of the 49ers.
Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer also finished third in the polling behind Frank Smith of the Dolphins and Thomas Brown of the Panthers. Schottenheimer doesn't call plays for the Cowboys--that falls on head coach Mike McCarthy. Interestingly, former Cowboys offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, now with the Chargers, finished fifth in the poll.
For special teams, John "Bones" Fassel, whose father Jim once led the Giants to a Super Bowl berth in 2000 as head coach, finished first among the rankings.
In describing the purpose of the poll, conducted last fall, the NFLPA noted, "The NFLPA is only publishing the Top 5 coordinators in each category to highlight and focus on the positive impact coaches can have on players across the league. We also want to ensure that players' opinions are heard and accounted for by clubs ahead of the next hiring cycle."
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